A Dove in the Shadows - My Mental Health Journey from Patient to Professional

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Have you ever felt completely broken?</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Like you're barely surviving each day just existing?</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Relying on something to keep you going ... but then it's gone.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>And that's when you chose to rely on no one but yourself ...</span></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Your</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> dreams ... </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Your</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> drive ... </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Your</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> hope.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>You discover it's all in your control and learn how you turn your pain into your power.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Author Jennifer Silbaugh was caught in a system she depended on to keep her alive but reached the end of the road looked around and saw nothing but darkness.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>When the mental health community ran out of options to help her she chose to turn within. She decided to live fully with hope seeking joy knowing that she needed to be in charge to create what she wanted in life.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>And that's when she transformed her darkness into the most beautiful light.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Though she was once behind locked doors looking for ways to stop the pain in her head she was able to heal and find peace.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>She discovered that the place where she'd suffered the greatest was the place where she was meant to work to help others in the shadows. As a certified peer specialist she could tell others she believes in them too that they can recover like she did.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Join Jennifer on her journey from decades as a patient in the mental health system to becoming a person who helps others as they travel similar paths. She strives every day to maintain her recovery and make her wellness her number one priority.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>If you've struggled with mental health-through depression anxiety despair desperation-then know there really is hope for change.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>And sometimes it lies within.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Jennifer's story inspires the reader to be their own advocate friend and hero on the journey from broken to belonging. </span></p>