A Helping Hand

I have struggled with mental illness since I was a young child. Presenting as a child with hypochondria. As a published author and columnist, I have written extensively on my own battle with Anxiety and Depression. I was fortunate that when my condition reached a critical phase in my 20’s that Prozac had just been FDA approved. I wrote immediately a heartfelt yet humorous account of my illness for New York’s Avenue Magazine, entitled Prozac Poster Girl. It earned me more fan letters than any article I have ever published. I went on to pen a book on Breast Cancer which was very rewarding, as my mother had just been diagnosed. It was life-affirming to write that book and yet my number one issue remained Anxiety and Depression.

I then became pregnant at a time when physicians were recommending cessation of Serotonin reuptake inhibitors for pregnant worm. Today mothers remain on their medication and just have happy Prozac babies but those long nine months without medication lead me to a giant crash after an arduous birth. I refused to take any medication though I was sleeping about two hours a night. My very pragmatic mother did indeed conspire with my O.B. and I remember quite vividly being at the OB’s and refusing all of their entreaties that I return to Prozac, but they assured me such was not the case until my Dr slid a pill across her desk and said “take this now. You have been awake for 72 hours straight.” I took the pill and they then told me that my nursing days were over. I was bereft. They had tricked me and now I was an abject failure as a mother. My baby only had two weeks of breast feeding and I berated myself for my failings. I could not get past the idea that I was somehow cheating her or compromising her future health. But thank God my physician and mother did conspire because I was to the point of hallucinating, non-stop crying, and sleeplessness. I vowed then to help other suffers realize that they were not alone.

After 20 years of experience building, branding and consulting on websites and I therefore I set out to create a website that could reach people in a whole new way. I wanted to shift the paradigm from Meetups and Reddit and get them real tools and information in a new format.

Having done years of national TV at HGTV, The Today Show, CBS, Lifetime, The Food Network etc. and hundreds of appearances on Local Fox affiliates. I began to understand the power of video. I also felt that people suffering from various mental illnesses did long for more information and community. Also, the fellow sufferers wanted to hear and see stories from other folks. So, using what little money I had I began to interview Mental Health Professionals for a new website, www.victoryovermentalillness. It is extremely tedious to locate and interview these professionals, but I was undeterred. Focusing on Psychiatric Groups so that I could maximize paying a videographer means that I can’t interview sole practitioners even if they are marvelous caregivers. I am now interviewing folks that are anxious to tell their story. But still I am constrained by money.

Quite obviously we can monetize the site through advertising once we reach 1000 users having both a home page and then the subpages or the ten subsites for each condition. For instance, Victory Over Mental Illness has 10 subcategories such as Victory over Bi-Polar disorder. With The Victory Companies we can address any of the many sub-sets of generalized Mental Illness and add as we perceive a need. The Professionals we have already loaded to the site are all quite good and the stories from sufferers are heartbreaking and yet informative.

The specter of Mental Illness lies also with an inability to hear and see what other people are going through. Even parents (they are one of our targets as they are so desperate) can gain insight into a particular disorder and see for themselves that there is hope. And we know how to promote after our experiences with the Breast Cancer book and a project done with The Council of Fashion Designers of America. As a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America I decided to work with the CFDA, Ebay and the Red Cross on a project entitled. Fashion Targets Tornados after my home state of Alabama was ravaged by a devastating tornado.

We created a bag that was given to other designers like Tommy Hilfiger and Diane Von Furstenberg to raise money for the relief of victims of the tornados and simultaneously focus attention on the needs of people left homeless and in need. I also wrote Portraits of Hope:52 Stories of Breast Cancer Survival with first ladies betty Ford and Nancy Reagan, celebrities like Linda Elerbee and personalities like Julia Child and Julie Harris. For that book we had launch parties at The Forbes gallery and Sotheby’s-designing and selling an alligator bag with an 18k and diamond handbag that fetched a then groundbreaking price, we were helped by our affiliation with Weightwatchers and their then spokeswoman, The Duchess of York. A final showing at the Capitol Rotunda and then a national tour of book signings and TV appearances on Fox’s Good day programs. Portraits of Hope was a giant success as was our Tornado relief effort so much so that we are doing another handbag Auction in September to support the Council of Fashion Designers Foundation.

We understand how to focus media attention and create exciting charitable endeavors around a cause like Mental Illness. We are also familiar with many potential advertisers (sponsors) from the Pharmaceutical Companies, Holistic and Alternative therapies and other products that would be appropriate to the site(s). Advertisers are anxious to reach this group of potential customers and promote their products. With Victory Over Mental Illness, we can set strict guidelines for participation. I launched the advertising program in my capacity as Lead Consultant for www.1stdibs.com and have consulted for such sites as Ruby Lane and Alibaba (the world’s largest B to B e-commerce website).

We want to remove the stigma of Mental Illness and let suffers know about emerging techniques and therapies. We want mental Illness to be treated as what it is-an illness, no one seeks to be anxious or depressed and the attendant shame especially for older people is just sad to witness. We are here to change any remaining judgement from non-sufferers who hold fast to an antiquated idea that Mental Illness is a person’s fault. It is not anyone’s’ fault, it is a disease like any other illness. Yet it remains cloaked in secrecy and taboos that would never be associated with a disease like Breast Cancer or diabetes. I never want another person to have a panic attack like I did when I was in my early twenties and I wound up on the floor of my kind Doctor’s waiting room, hyperventilating, and shaking as I was convinced that I was dying. As I lay there I begged; “Make me normal,” “Please don’t let me die,” “Oh, take me now as life is a living hell.”

I sobbed uncontrollably as the nurse held me in her arms soothing me and saying, “It’s ok you are having a panic attack.” I grabbed and held on to her as they got me up off the carpet and took me back to the exam room and still crying, I sat there on that little table holding onto her hand for dear life. She bever left my side and said, “my mother used to have. Panic attacks…. now she doesn’t…there is hope. There is treatment.”

Thank you for your kind consideration and if this hits close to home then you understand my frustration with the lack of attention that Mental Illness receives and like me see that dispelling stigma and opening a new line of communication can enhance people’s very lives.