In 2018, I joined Write On!, a writing program by Janet Reynolds & Mental Health Connecticut, for young adults with mental health conditions. There, I learned how to use writing as a coping tool, and as a way to alleviate self-stigma by sharing and exposing experiences and emotions that I’ve hidden away for so long. Once I started sharing, I didn’t want to stop. It felt so good to get these heavy words off of my chest; it was a beautiful, emotional release.

And I found that as I continued to speak out about my mental health, more people, both friends and acquaintances, reached out to support me, to relate to what I was saying, and to share their own stories. So I realized that I had an obligation to continue the conversation. I had made a commitment. To be open and honest with myself and others. To dismantle the shame I felt surrounding my bipolar disorder and PTSD. And to allow the pain of my past to finally rest. And that is how one poem lead to eight more poems, which became a spoken word album called Com•mit•tal.