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Erin Schulties is an amazing young woman. She possesses a remarkable talent to embrace challenges and use her art to successfully deal with the vicissitudes of life.

She has lived with mental illness for more than one decade. It has been a tumultuous journey to say the least.

“When I entered the psychiatry ward at 16, I felt like no one wanted to help me recover,” she writes in the latest issue of *CrossCurrents:the Journal of Addiction and Mental Health published by the Canadian Association of Mental Health.

“At 16, it was particularly hard to be around the patients most disconnected from reality, and it took me a long time to learn that I should trust no one.”

The 26-year-old creative artist and blogger candidly describes the shortfalls and lack of support she experienced in the school system, and the general lack of awareness even among community workers. Hers is a bold declaration:

“I need the system to work with me by ensuring that service providers are open to hearing me speak about my experiences, so I can educate them about my needs.”

You can read Erin’s account here.

[Disclosure: Erin is a former mindyourmind employee and a longtime volunteer]

*CrossCurrents: The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health informs and educates health care professionals about the latest developments in the addiction and mental health fields from a Canadian perspective. We focus on providing practical information that professionals can use to inform their work.