My name is Brian Warriner. I am a student at Rowan College of South Jersey, working towards my master's degree in clinical mental health counseling. Currently, I am working on my associate's degree in psychology. The reason why I started this blog is because I live with mental illness. I've known that most of my life. But it was a few years ago I finally got help and was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. While I was working with my therapist to get to the root of my issues. I found a deeper version of who I am. But I found my purpose.
My background is in Education and Holistics. I worked as a paraprofessional for a few years before I went back to school for massage therapy. For about six years, I worked as a massage therapist. I was also a massage therapy instructor. I am also a Reiki Master Teacher. Everything that I do is also about teaching. I am an educator. Once an educator, always an educator. I am also an internationally published queer author, poet, and writer. There has always been this feeling that I was collecting the pieces of my purpose. And eventually, I would figure it out. I was thirty-seven years old when I decided to go back to school. I was able to apply for everything, including school and financial aid. Once I had everything set, I told everyone I was returning to school. I had this idea and plan in my head. But life had other plans. Two days after I started school, we had a huge family medical emergency. My dad was rushed to the hospital, and we almost lost him. He had sepsis and acute renal failure. After countless hours of dialysis, procedures, and being in a rehab center, he got better. It was difficult and I almost dropped out because I couldn't focus or read what I had to because of the chaos surrounding me. But my family stepped up and let me focus on my schooling. I slide by with just passing grades. But I am doing a lot better.
Why I entered the mental healthcare field not only because of my experience with mental illness. Because whenever a school shooting or a mass shooting occurred, you would hear that they had a history of mental illness. My question was, "Why wasn't something done to prevent this? Why are we focusing more on mental healthcare for people?"
Then, the silence; let's face it, our government has no real plans to address the mental health crisis we are facing. It makes you wonder if anyone is doing anything to make sure we have properly funded mental health and behavioral health programs in place. Then I would hear the stories of LGBTQIA+ Youth being bullied and completing suicide. I started to observe many things about how we discuss mental health issues. But all I saw was people not getting the services they needed, hearing there is a lack of professionals to handle the number of clients, and then the big words, there is inadequate funding for programs. Or insurance doesn't cover mental health or behavioral health. I knew I had to do something other than just open my big loudmouth. So, I entered the field as a future clinical therapist and as an advocate. It's that advocacy that gave birth to this blog. I want to educate, inform, and provide a path for those living with, suffering with, and dealing with mental illness in any of its forms.
In the process, I will cover every possible angle of the field, including my future specialties in grief, addictions, and trauma. The topics covered in this blog have been thought out, researched, and verified. You, the reader, deserve to have the truth and all the truth in understanding where to get help for yourself or a loved one, or if you are dealing with a child being bullied, grief, or addictions, I will have it covered, researched, and verified. In the world of misinformation, we need to make sure we have everything right: the truth, honesty, and pure facts, not clouded by prejudice. That is my promise to you, my readers, that we can Break the Stigma of Mental Illness together.
