NAMI asserts that the average length of time between onset of mental health symptoms and reaching out for help is eleven years. That is an excruciatingly long time to be living with mental health challenges without professional help, and the reasons behind why many people wait so long are varied, complex, and understandable. If you are one of those people living in anguish or despair, if you are one of those people who know, deep down, that there is something wrong and that help is desperately needed: this episode of Recovery Diaries in Depth is for you.

Brian Marshall needed help. He was living in throes of a deep, vast depression, not wanting or able to leave his house. His father, a police officer working a side job of painting houses, observed his son suffering. He also observed something else: a stead trickle of children from the neighborhood going into and out of the home that he was painting. One day, Brian's father asked the homeowner why the kids were coming. She said that she was a psychotherapist, working with children who needed help. Brian's father, a good-natured helper of others, but who had difficulty opening up, being vulnerable and expressing himself (like many cops, let alone men, of that era) put those feelings aside and did what he knew was best for his son; he asked this lady for help for Brian.

What ensued was a therapeutic bond between Brian and the therapist, Claire Allen, that would endure for three decades. Brian, who lives with bipolar disorder and depression, knew he wasn't going to make it without help and support. Hospitalized multiple times throughout his life, he has known great stability throughout the last two decades, and he credits much of that stability to the dedicated therapist who saw him through so much of his life.

Brian Marshall, an award-winning journalist, has been twice-published by Recovery Diaries, first for his beautiful tribute to his therapeutic bond with Claire, and, in his second essay, for taking us into the experience of receiving (and benefitting from) ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). Brian's conversation with RDID host Gabriel Nathan is empathic, hopeful, helpful, and uplifting. Brian isn't "cured", and he is currently experiencing challenges navigating the healthcare system; challenges that many of our listeners will identify with, but he is navigating life with strength and resilience. Listen to this candid, inspiring interview, and share it with someone you love; someone who may be waiting, waiting for a sign, that the time to get help is now.

Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they're always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting www.wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988.

https://oc87recoverydiaries.org/