Bell Let’s Talk Day is today, January 28th, and I wanted to write a post to discuss a mental health issue close to me.

This is from my Instagram post today…

For The Quiet is quite a departure from the type of books I write, but it was something I needed to do.

After struggling with infertility for years, and the guilt, frustration, and heartache associated with it, I needed to find away to heal. For me, that meant writing. Over the years I would write letters and poems and in the end, For The Quiet was born.

It is hard to talk about these things. We often don’t, for fear of being judged, not taken seriously, or not truly being heard. I know. I’ve been there. Heck, at times I’m still there. What I found helped me to find my way through the fog of self-doubt and hurt, was that I took the conversation outside the four walls of my head and spoke to someone.

Talking to your friends and family is great (for the most part), as they love you and support you, but sometimes they just don’t have the tools to be able to help you express yourself or be able to constructively work through your doubts and fears, and help you find a way forward. That’s where working with a counsellor comes in. The woman I worked with was excellent. She was kind and patient and have me a lot to think about moving forward. I am glad to have had her in my life at such a tumultuous time.

I know there is a lot of stigma attached to seeing professional help. There is a lot of stigma in the black community related to taking your problems outside, and that keeps a lot of people from seeking the help they need. There are certainly a lot of things to do on a macro scale, institutionally and systemically, to address those issues, however, today, I am here to implore you, on a micro level, one on one, to look for and take advantage of the mental health supports in your community.

It’s #bellletstalkday A day when we support one another and mental health initiatives in #canada and use the hashtag to help raise money to support those initiatives.

#letstalk #bellletstalk #ForTheQuiet #poetryandprose #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #realtalk #infertility #struggle #support #womensupportingwomen #womenshealth #blackwomenwriters #blackwomen #community