Breathe!

How old were you when you first started to realize something was wrong? 

How do your parents handle your mental health? 

Have you dealt with any trauma? 

What is/are your diagnosis? 

Have you ever been admitted into a psych ward? How many times? What was it like?

Does anyone else in your family struggle with mental health? 

What are your top five coping skills?

What are your triggers?

Do you have a support system? 

Write a letter to yourself when this all started- Dear ___ year old me, 

Write a letter to yourself ten years from now. 

What is/was school like for you, do you have many friends? 

What does an average day look like to you?

Do you have a job? What is it like working with your diagnosis? 

What medications are you on? Does it seem to help? What are the bad side effects of this medication that you have dealt with? 

Are you in a relationship (romantically)? What is it like to be in a relationship with your disorder? 

Do you have any siblings? How do they handle your mental health? 

What are your dreams? Do you feel like it will be hard to fulfill them due to your disorder? Do you have a plan to accomplish this? 

Write a letter to your parents. 

My books sitting unread on my bookshelf:

“Is it an ordinary demon or does it have yellow eyes?”

She prohibits me from discussing my diagnosis with anyone (I ignore this - I’m really open about my diagnosis at school and online) and not even my extended family knows. The one time that I brought it up, she told my family that I was lying.

Don’t teach your kids to be ashamed of their autism, or any other disability/disorder/illness that they may have. Trying to suppress it doesn’t make it go away. Trying to suppress it only hurts even more.

Once you help your kids know themselves and embrace themselves and all of their differences, you will help their world become a better place.