I am not my mental illness

I was 23 years old sitting on the floor crying, cutting myself trying to make the voices go away. My friend called the police and I was taken to hospital.That was the beginning of 6 long years of a living hell for me and my family. My mom has said watching the police handcuff and shakle your child is not an easy thing to watch time and time again.

My worse night the voices are so strong, I am stabbing myself in the stomach. The police are called yet again and I am tazered twice before I finally drop the knife. The fear and darkness that followed was awful. I spent 3 months in the hospital afraid to leave my room. One of my nurses suggested I start writing to see if that would calm the voices. The result being my first children’s book (which I have self published). I was then sent to Centra Care for 7 months and what a blessing. I left there almost 4 years ago with the right meds and the coping skill to be in recovery and stay in recovery.

I have a mental illness but I am not the mental illness.

I have written my second children’s book and have the third one at my illustrators. She also has a mental illness. We met one of the times I was in the hospital, we became friends and now work together on my books. Again I have self published but it is a dream of mine to have my books published by someone someday.

I have been doing a lot of public speaking and my mom goes with me at times. We feel it is our mission to bring awareness and hope to others. The most important thing I want people to know is that I have a mental illness but I am not the mental illness I am ME. As my mom once said in an interview, “my son would not be the man he is today if he had not gone through all that he has. He has compassion for those that are walking in this dark time and can show them that there is HOPE.” I have a website for my books www.booksbykeith.com and you can find me on Facebook by searching booksbykeith.