I spent a lot of my teen years, in fact all of them addicted to drugs and struggling with mental health issues and schizophrenia. Expressing myself is my way of coping and getting out of the hole I dug myself. I’m doing more than I expected I would. I’m living the life that I dreamt of when I was in the midst of my addiction.

A major component of anxiety and depression is a loss of self-esteem–the feeling that one’s identity and value to others is diminished. Ongoing studies are showing the benefit of non-medical ‘social’ interventions in helping people re-establish their connections with both their inner selves and the world around them.