I HATE that there is a stigma attached to mental health problems. So many parents here will not allow their children to receive help because "mental illness doesn't happen in our family". In so many ways we have come so far in combating the stigma, but there is a long way to go. I can remember the first time I met a therapist. My mother dragged my dad to one. It was clear on the other side of the large city we lived in, in a direction away from the schools my father taught at. this was so that NO ONE would know, and the therapist wouldn't run into us or any of our friends in the community. We were NOT supposed to say that we were going to a psychologist. We had an appointment, or a doctor appointment. Period. I was oblivious to most of it, until the last 2-3 sessions where gfgbro and I went for family therapy. Now I run into several of the tdocs we have seen all over town. My kids run over and hug one of them, and say "hi!" and chatter with the others. Most of their classmates have seen a therapist of some kind by jr high. Hopefully the generation our kids are in will eliminate the stigma.
Enjoy your NAMI walk!!
