During the month of May, communities across the country are bringing awareness to mental health. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports 1 in 5 Americans will be affected by a mental health condition in their lifetime and every American is affected or impacted through their friends and family and can do something to help others.
Wayside Youth & Family Support Network announced it will join the Department of Mental Health to present “How We Got Through,” a conversation between sisters about mental illness and recovery. Meg Hutchinson and her sister, Tess Adams, will engage in a conversation about their remarkable sibling’s journey of survival and recovery through the years since Meg’s Bipolar 1 Disorder diagnosis.
Meg Hutchinson is an award-winning songwriter, poet, and recording artist on Red House Records and has toured widely in North America and Europe. Meg is living well with bipolar illness and joins Wayside Youth & Family Support Network for the second year to celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week in a new and exciting way.
“Those of us who are experiencing mental illness, or are dealing with someone who is, know that it often brings with it a sense of shame and an inescapable loneliness,” Meg says. “These feelings can be exacerbated by the discrimination from a society that further marginalizes people who are most deserving of compassion. I hope by telling my story I can help change that.”
Meg and Tess hope that the event will inspire more conversations on the uneasy subjects of bipolar disorder, depression, suicide and, more broadly, mental illness. They hope events such as this one can be used as a tool to encourage discussions, especially among younger people.
“How We Got Through” will be held on Thursday, May 18 at the Watertown Free Public Library from 6:30-8 p.m. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Reservations are required. RSVP to Kelley Daron at Kelley_daron@waysideyouth.org or 781-966- 5644.
About Meg Hutchinson:
A native of the Berkshires in Western, MA, Meg Hutchinson is a nationally touring songwriter, poet and recording artist on Red House Records, living with bipolar. Meg is on the Active Minds Speakers Bureau, as well as, a keynote speaker at universities, conferences and teaching hospitals around the country. Visit www.meghutchinson.com to learn more.
About Wayside:
Founded in 1977, Wayside Youth & Family Support Network is a non-profit, nationally accredited human services agency dedicated to building Strength, Hope and Resiliency through its family-based outreach services, residential treatment programs, and community-based counseling services to more than 6,000 children, youth and families throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.waysideyouth.org.