My Story
Living With Mental Illness
My name is Kay Harrison; wife, mother, grandmother, sister, skier, hiker, biker, and suicide attempt survivor. I not only survived but I now live, thrive, and find joy almost every day.
If you have ever experienced anxiety, depression, panic attacks, I know them too and I understand! Fortunately, they didn’t all happen at the same time but depression and anxiety started haunting me at the tender age of seven.
Before moving back to Utah in 2016 I was working in hospital management in Southern California. I loved my career, was making a substantial income but over time I became obsessed with the belief that my worth was only as good as the amount of money I made.
In my last year of working, the demands placed on me became increasingly unattainable and my emotional stability started to fracture. Four months before my attempt I felt myself slowly falling off the cliff and the emotional pain was so excruciating I wasn’t sure I wanted to be saved, I was looking to get out!
Healing
I spent four days in one of the hospitals where I worked and was then transferred to a psychiatric hospital in another city for five more days. As unusual as it may sound, those last five days were life-changing. I learned incredible things about myself and started living again. For the first time in months, I started noticing colors and simple objects within the walls of the behavioral wing where I was protected from the rest of the world. This was the first time in months that I was grateful to be alive again.
Redefining Life
In April 2019, a good friend, Lynne Rutan, and a founder of a mental health nonprofit where I volunteer, asked if I would be willing to interview with the local newspaper. I did but it was the most frightening undertaking I’ve accomplished. It was my ‘coming out' and by doing so I also found the courage to speak out to audiences and anyone wanting to hear my story or talk about their own.
After my story broke I went on to become a Certified Peer Support Specialist in order to work as a support role for others with similar mental illnesses.
Photo Album
