I wanted to tell my story and to keep the blog to give other people living in recovery real hope that having a full and robust life is possible.

I have looked on the bright side even in the darkest hours and have come through so I know it’s possible for others to claim their own version of well.

I have no agenda to get people not to take medication.

My only agenda is to champion what I call the Triangle of Mental Health: quicker, individualized treatment; appropriate medication; and practical career counseling.

I promote the Triangle of Mental Health as the catalyst for helping people create a better recovery outcome for themselves.

It’s up to another person whether they take medication or not. Every choice has a consequence, and not everyone who discontinues medication succeeds–although some do.

I don’t think it’s a risk worth taking if you have schizophrenia or bipolar.

This is why I’m not in the business of giving medical advice: first of all I don’t have an M.D. and second of all I’m not so delusional to think I should be giving advice.

I talk about strategies that I’ve employed that have made sense to me. Fitness and nutrition aren’t dangerous behaviors. As the former Health Guide at HealthCentral for the last nine years I was instructed to tell my story not give my opinion.

Yet I will always be pro-psychiatry because I had mostly positive experiences with treatment. (I fought for my rights or fired a provider when I received sub-par treatment.)

I do not claim to give advice thus I can only describe my experiences as a peer living in recovery over 28 years so far. What I write is not risky, controversial, dangerous or damaging to a person’s health.

Simply: I want to be part of the solution of making things better in the mental health field–not parrot the tired rhetoric of hate against the psychiatry of the past.

The world can be our oyster truly–so why should any of us have to wait years and years to get the right treatment? Why should any of us be told we’re not worth saving or giving dignity?

There’s a world outside of our rooms–I want that everyone living with a mental health challenge can go out into that world and live a full and robust life.

My story I tell is how I did this: a story of healing that I hope uplifts and inspires others on the road of recovery.