- Hi, everyone.
So I just wanted to hop on here
and have a quick conversation
about something that I've been noticing
has been coming up a lot.
So firstly, I just wanna say a huge, huge, thank you
for all of the amazing comments, messages and emails
that we've received over the last two years.
It is always so wonderful
hearing more about your own personal stories
and I wish that we were able to respond more fully
to every single one of them.
Unfortunately, we are unable to due to the volume of emails
and messages and whatnot that we get
so I just kinda want to create kind of a blanket piece
of advice for a lot of the people who reach out to us.
I've been noticing that a lot of times
we are getting emails from loved ones
of people supporting someone with psychosis or schizophrenia
and they're just not really sure
of how best to handle the situation
and they're kind of feeling burnt out
or they're feeling stressed out
or someone with schizophrenia is feeling kind of hopeless
with their treatment or with their prognosis
in terms of their ability to function.
There's a lot of people who are kind of reaching out to us
for guidance in terms of what to do or where to turn
or just for a sense of hope
and what I tell each of these people
is the importance of reaching out for support.
So I think, I always answer that my biggest piece of advice
for people who are dealing with schizophrenia
whether directly themselves or with a loved one
is to get help and treatment as early as possible
and the biggest part of this
that I want to direct people to, both loved ones
and people living with the illness is therapy.
I think that therapy is so helpful for anyone
no matter what you're going through
or no matter what you're not going through.
I think it's just helpful for anyone and everyone.
So for people who are supporting someone
and they're feeling burnt out
or they're not sure what to do next,
I really, really recommend therapy for yourself,
not for your loved one.
I mean, for your loved one too but especially for yourself
because you need to be taking care of yourself
and prioritizing yourself too
and making sure that your own needs are being met
and I think that therapy is a really great place
to kind of get this grounding
and figure out what your next steps are for yourself
and for your loved one
and likewise, with people who are diagnosed themselves,
I think that therapy is tremendously important
in terms of figuring out what your own personal goals are
and figuring out how to achieve those goals.
I so badly wish that I had the time and capacity
to sit down with each person and provide therapy for them
but that's not my role.
That's not my professional role
and it's also hard to build that connection over email
and it takes time and whatnot.
So I would really recommend connecting with a therapist
who is going to be able to listen
to what you're going through and what your struggles are
and be able to provide you that sense of hope
that you're looking for and that you're needing
and they will also be able to help you navigate
the mental healthcare system
if that's something that you need help with as well.
So therapy, therapy, therapy.
I realize that it is inaccessible
unfortunately for some people
but most places that I know of
have at least some sort of sliding scale option
or some kind of community mental health clinic
that offers subsidized or free mental health therapy.
If therapy is something
that you're having a hard time accessing,
I would encourage you to speak with your doctor
about options that may be available to you.
They'll be able to better be able to guide you
in the direction of getting this type of help and support,
if not from themselves then from a registered therapist.
Okay, so that was my short little biggest piece of advice
for basically a lot of the people who have been reaching out
to us over the past two years.
Again, thank you so, so much
for sharing bits of your stories with us.
It means a lot to hear other people's experiences
and struggles and triumphs and whatnot.
So thank you so much for that.
Thank you also for all of your continued support
and as always, wishing you and your loved ones good health,
See you in the next video, bye.