I've spent the last ten years of my life living with a mental illness, but my first experience with a mental health crisis sits in my mind so clearly it feels like it could have happened yesterday.
I had just started my second year of college, I didn't get into a class I so badly wanted to take, and I broke down. I called my mom, but there wasn't much she could do. Neither of us understood the reaction I was having to a seemingly minor hiccup. Her intuition must've clicked in when she said, "Go to the health center and tell them you need to speak to a counselor. I am not hanging up this phone until you are with a counselor."
Looking back, that singular moment probably saved my life. And thus began my navigation in the world of mental health.
A stigma around mental health still very much exists in the world. At first I was embarrassed that I saw a therapist. I didn't want to be medicated the rest of my life. I just wanted to be "normal," whatever that is.
It took a few years and some wise advice from my sister before I stopped feeling ashamed and embraced the steps I needed to take in order to take care of myself. "If someone had a heart condition and needed medication, they would take it every day, how is this any different?"
I promised myself I would never switch my health insurance to TRICARE. By the time I married my husband, an active duty Sailor, I finally had the perfect therapist and the right combination of medication.
My depression and anxiety was manageable and I didn't want to mess with a good thing. After all, like many other new spouses, I had heard horror stories of how the military cared for behavioral health. I worried I wouldn't have access to a therapist of my choosing or medication I knew already worked for me, and would constantly hit walls when I needed care.
Fast forward four years, and switching my care to the military has been one of the best decisions for my mental health.