I was born in Lex­ing­ton, Ken­tucky. A fun fact about me is that I am adopt­ed. Grow­ing up, I loved play­ing sports. I was an avid swim­mer and bas­ket­ball play­er. Sports taught me dis­ci­pline and team­work. I did well enough in bas­ket­ball to be offered a bas­ket­ball schol­ar­ship to Vir­ginia Mil­i­tary Insti­tute. I played all four years at VMI and received my bach­e­lor’s degree in 2008. 

Dark Days

I was diag­nosed with Bipo­lar Dis­or­der when I was 25, but my symp­toms start­ed when I was in col­lege. My father was diag­nosed with Lou Gehrigs Dis­ease in 2008 with his death being in March 2010. His death sparked severe mood swings in my every­day life. Dur­ing my low­est point in life, I was arrest­ed for assault of a secu­ri­ty offi­cer at a local gym.  Oth­er occa­sions where my men­tal dis­or­der caused prob­lems were arrests, loss of jobs, not tak­ing prop­er med­ica­tions, and fights with family. 

Accep­tance

Hav­ing to accept that I have Bipo­lar Dis­or­der was a very tough thing for me to do. Some­thing that helped me cope with this was when my ther­a­pist gave me home­work to find famous peo­ple with Bipo­lar. Anoth­er great thing that helped change my per­spec­tive on men­tal health was NAMI Lexington’s Fayette Coun­ty Men­tal Health Court and the cool friends that I have made dur­ing my time in Men­tal Health Court. Men­tal Health Court opened my eyes to the fact that I wasn’t the only one with a men­tal ill­ness. Once I grad­u­ate from Men­tal Health Court, my recov­ery does not grad­u­ate along with it. I will con­tin­ue to stay in con­tact with peo­ple from the court as they are in my sup­port group and go to meet­ings, etc.

Treat­ment

Brain dis­or­ders are treat­able. Recov­ery is not lin­ear. Recov­ery is a life­long jour­ney, and not a final destination. 

I accept­ed the fact that I had a men­tal dis­or­der after I was arrest­ed for the sec­ond time. I knew I had to seek treat­ment. I spent 30 days in a psy­chi­atric ward. I was put on a cou­ple of med­ica­tions for Bipo­lar. Some of the side effects I have expe­ri­enced have been weight gain and tiredness.

Cop­ing Skills

Exer­cis­ing reg­u­lar­ly, like play­ing league bas­ket­ball and kick­ball in town, are impor­tant cop­ing skills for me. I also use my hob­bies. I enjoy going to the movies, watch­ing tele­vi­sion, and play­ing pool. I use social sup­port like my moth­er and my broth­er and my friends from the Men­tal Health Court. I go to AA and have found a great sponsor/friend.

Suc­cess­es, Hopes and Dreams

I got a job at a dis­tillery. I vol­un­teer for the ALS Asso­ci­a­tion. I live in my mom’s house, but when I save enough mon­ey, I would like to live inde­pen­dent­ly. I hope to get back into the finance indus­try. My ulti­mate dream is to work inde­pen­dent­ly as a stock/equity trader. 

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