David Susman

One Person’s Story Can Save Another Person’s Life

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Brett Francis This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate, author and radio host Brett Francis about her mental health journey and her current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: When did you first start becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health and how did that affect you before you sought treatment? BF: I was diagnosed at age …

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How To Begin to Disclose Your Mental Illness

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In a recent post, I introduced the “Honest, Open, Proud” program, which addresses the issue of disclosing your mental illness to others. In that post, I reviewed the first lesson of the program, which takes you through a process for considering the pros and cons of sharing your story. The ultimate decision of whether to disclose your illness is yours alone to make. The final two lessons from the Honest, Open, Proud program assume that you have decided to share …

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Every Day is a Step Closer

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Beth Allen This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate and video blogger Beth Allen about her mental health journey and her current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: When did you first start becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health and how did they continue to affect you before you sought treatment? BA: I first noticed a …

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Should You Disclose Your Mental Illness?

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If you have a mental illness, you may struggle with the difficult decision as to whether to share information about your illness with others. You may be reluctant to disclose your experiences for many reasons, including fear of rejection, shame, or not wanting to be labeled negatively because of the stigma associated with mental illness. How much people disclose about their illness can vary greatly. While some people don’t disclose their illness to anyone, many choose to share their experiences …

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Change What You Can Change

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Matt Pappas This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked advocate and life coach Matt Pappas about his mental health journey and his current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? MP: I knew that something was wrong from the …

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Focusing on Minority Mental Health Issues

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It’s unfortunate but true that people in several minority groups often experience higher rates of mental health issues, are less likely to seek mental health treatment, have more difficulty receiving appropriate care, and have higher rates of suicide. Since July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, I took a quick look around the web and rounded up several interesting resources about minority mental health issues. I’ve broken them into three categories: Overviews that frame the major problems in minority mental health …

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Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Dyane Harwood This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked author, mom and advocate Dyane Harwood about her mental health journey and her fascinating book. Here’s our interview: DS: I know that your story is very unique. Tell us about how your mental health concerns first developed. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? DH: My postpartum bipolar …

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10 Simple Ways to Help Manage ‘Overwhelm’

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Overwhelm (noun) – the state or condition of being overwhelmed. Yes, I realize some grammar pundits say overwhelm isn’t really a noun, but I think sometimes we get stressed to the point we reach a state of “overwhelm.” That’s where I’ve resided a little too often lately, so I thought it was time to talk about it and how to begin to manage it. Let me first say that my life has been incredibly blessed with generally good health, a …

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