Mental health stigma is pervasive in the Hispanic/Latinx community. These long-standing negative beliefs surrounding mental health are attributed to various cultural complexities, such as the tendency to keep personal challenges private and the harsh stereotypes affiliated with those who suffer from mental health issues.

Individuals who have faced abuse can tell you all about survival mode. For myself, there were years where I existed strictly to survive. I was not moving away from the abuse or making any intentions of changing my circumstances. Unfortunately, for many victims, this is a realistic and frightening scenario. 

My name is Emma Parten, and I’m excited to be the new author for the "Binge Eating Recovery" blog. I intend to focus on the common experiences of those who struggle with binge eating disorder (BED). Binge eating disorder can be isolating and difficult to talk about. It’s essential to know you aren’t the only one struggling. I also want to focus on ways you can take action to move forward in your healing process. Recovery doesn’t have to mean your relationship with food is completely healed. Binge eating recovery is wherever you are right now.

I was gone for over a week seeing my family for the holidays, and that means I had to leave my cat, who is my emotional support animal. I had never left him alone for that long before, and even though I have a cat-sitter who I trust unconditionally, it’s always hard to leave him. Being away from my emotional support cat makes me anxious, and though there’s no way I can know for sure what he’s thinking, I’m sure it makes him anxious too.

I’m Austin Harvey, a screenwriter, author, blogger, musician, and new addition to the "Living with Adult ADHD" blog at HealthyPlace. I was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in February of 2021, at age 24, but no matter what year it is, hindsight is 20/20. In other words, my diagnosis explained a lot. I used to procrastinate on all my assignments and never planned much for the future; I was terrible with money (okay, I'm still terrible with money); I spoke without thinking first, then wondered why I'd said what I'd said; I struggled with simple, stupid things like what color shirt to wear or how I wanted to spend my free time, which often meant wasting my free time thinking of all the things I could be doing. It was an exhausting life, and it was through learning about my neurodivergency that I was able to explain some of these behaviors and, more importantly, work on correcting them.

Confession: I have felt internally out of control during the past month, and as I have come to learn about myself, this perceived lack of control can activate my eating disorder habits. To be fully transparent here, I'm not sure what to do about this recurring behavioral pattern in my life, but for right now, I just need space to acknowledge it. I will undoubtedly examine it through a curious, in-depth lens with my therapist in this week's counseling session. However, at the moment, I have to be truthful about the reality that this lack of control I feel is threatening to activate my eating disorder habits.

My name is Will Redmond, and I’m a new author for HealthyPlace’s “Building Self-Esteem.” I’m so excited to open a dialogue about the ongoing mental health crisis and foster growth with you all. Low self-esteem is a challenging issue to tackle, but together we’ll work through steps to build a strong self-image and a positive outlook on life.

My name is Liana M. Scott, and I've recently joined HealthyPlace as an "Anxiety-Schmanxiety Blog" writer. This isn't my first gig at HealthyPlace. I was part of their "Coping with Depression" blog team back in 2013/14. Since then, my mental health challenges have changed insomuch as anxiety is now very much the focal point of my mental illness.

The start of a new year usually brings new goals and resolutions, but anxiety can sometimes be a barrier to actually accomplishing those goals. Because of my anxiety, there have been many times that I have established New Year's resolutions that I had every intention of following, only to find myself unsuccessful at following through for one reason or another.

My name is Juliet Jack, and I am thrilled to be joining the HealthyPlace community as a "Surviving Mental Health Stigma blog" writer. I am a 21-year-old recent college graduate born in Washington D.C. I am grateful to have this platform to share, discover and learn more about navigating mental health stigma together. This blog is a safe place for anyone suffering from mental health issues. You are not alone in facing the stigma surrounding mental health, and even in 2021, there is so much more work to be done to combat this detrimental stigma. Let us be a part of the solution and work to both educate others and discover efficient coping mechanisms as we continue to validate our individual feelings, experiences. and diagnoses.