Changing the Stigma of Mental Health Addiction

[Music]

my name is erica ball

i am a first generation paraguayan

american

both my parents were born and raised in

incarnation

my dad later became a doctor and my mom

worked alongside him

in his private practice i spoke spanish

before i spoke english and learned at

around age

four i went to catholic school from

kindergarten to third grade

here’s a picture there’s my mom and dad

my brother and sister

and that’s me in the middle on my

kindergarten graduation

from a very young age i can remember

being a hypersensitive child

things affected me differently than they

did other people and i learned how to

cover up those emotions

at a very early age at that age

i remember wanting to be a nun just like

my teachers in catholic school

i had no idea i would grow up

to be a person in recovery from drugs

and alcohol

otherwise known as substance use

disorder

or that fast forward to 2009 i would

find myself

sitting in the back of a police car

handcuffed and

on my way to a psychiatric hospital in

dallas texas

i had no idea that i would be treated

like a criminal

for calling a suicide hotline because i

didn’t know how to continue living

and i also didn’t want to die

i had no idea that i would be discharged

that same day

with no aftercare plan and the only

follow-up i would receive

would be a medical bill in the mail

i had some amazingly traumatic brutally

transformative

life-changing unnecessary yet totally

necessary

experiences that led me to find life and

purpose

through my recovery i’m always happy to

say

my sobriety date which is october the

3rd 2015.

i have never had a drink or a drug since

that day

also since that day i graduated with a

bachelor’s in human services and

became a drug and alcohol counselor

but my biggest achievement was meeting

and marrying my husband frank

who is also in recovery and shares the

same passion as i do

for helping others together we created

a grassroots non-profit organization

called we are those people

dedicated to changing the narrative of

addiction recovery

mental health and suicide prevention

we advocate for change

spread hope and raise awareness through

photos and film

emphasizing the positives our

accomplishments our creative talents

and the humanity that lies within us all

before i get into how we advocate for

change i would like to go over some

things that we’ve learned

about addiction

addiction is defined as a treatable

chronic medical disease involving

complex interactions among brain

circuits

genetics environment

and a person’s life experiences a person

with addiction uses substances

or engages in behaviors which become

compulsive

and oftentimes continue using despite

the harmful

consequences over 20 million americans

suffer from substance use disorder and

only 10 percent of that population

will receive proper treatment

on average drug overdoses kill

192 americans a day

unfortunately there are many barriers to

treatment

if a person is uninsured or has

inadequate

insurance they may be put on a long

waiting list

or they may be told to call a

state-funded hospital

to see if there is a bed available

on a daily basis sometimes

oftentimes insurance companies don’t pay

for long-term

treatment many people will never seek

help

and they will suffer in silence

i have learned that addiction does not

discriminate it doesn’t matter what

color your skin is

what ethnicity you are your gender or

your socioeconomic status

it could be your mother father brother

sister child in my case i was the only

person

in my immediate family that struggled

with addiction

as a result of these statistics

we have found that there are more and

more

conversations happening within families

communities and legislators there is a

documentary coming

out in the fall winter of 2020 called

people like

you directed by award-winning film

director andy capper

which centers around the

drug epidemic in the united states and

focuses on

a mother and her son as he struggles

and goes in and out of treatment it also

touches on the opioid epidemic

and you see people who are

actually suffering from substance use

disorder their families

and the people who work within the

treatment industry

it also calls attention to a petition

called

anthony’s act which was created in the

name of anthony fiore

a person a young man in philadelphia who

died

under such circumstances ex-congressman

patrick kennedy offers some possible

solutions to the epidemic

and he says that

we need a complete overhaul of the

medical system

and the way that we view mental health

and addiction i believe

that information education and knowledge

are the key elements to

initiating that change i believe that if

you

get to know people who have actually

experienced addiction and overcome

that we can begin to make a change

lonnie peterson a professional

storyteller and a psychologist

wrote an article called the science

behind

the art of storytelling she says that

scientists are discovering that there

are chemicals that are released in our

brains like cortisol

dopamine and oxytocin and these are

chemicals that are released

when we’re being told a story

storytelling is essential

if you are trying to teach engage

inspire or learn about

a subject

our nonprofit we are those people is a

platform and a safe space

for people in recovery to tell their

stories

we not only heal ourselves but we

inspire others we talk about

all pathways to recovery

and our families tell their stories

as well storytelling

helps us to learn the art of listening

it helps us to connect with each other

and to validate each other’s experience

knowing that everybody has a story to

tell

coincidentally our first story was

featured

in february in march

the uh shelter-at-home

shutdown due to covid took place

and our non-profit really took off

for example we received a message from

a friend of ours in louisiana who was a

paramedic

and who said that her job was becoming

very stressful

especially because of covid and that

reading our stories was really inspiring

her

and helping her to get through her job

we also received a message all the way

in australia

from a fellow person in recovery who

said that he had just celebrated three

years of recovery

we ended up asking him to share his

story and we featured his story on our

platform

as well we had another story i’m sorry

another message

from a person who was struggling with

addiction he said i’m an active

addiction and

i’m not able to go to my normal meetings

and i feel like i can connect when i’m

able to read some of these stories that

are on your website

and then we had us uh we had a message

from one of our featured stories jenny

who said thank you so much for this

opportunity

um it was a challenge to write my story

but

it was a good challenge and thank you so

much for this opportunity

when i got sober in 2015 i made a

promise

that if i was to survive this recovery

i would dedicate my life to making a

change

and here i am standing

giving a ted talk on a subject i had no

idea would impact my life

so deeply you see my story is not that

unique

there are millions of american of

americans living with substance use

disorder and in recovery and that’s

exactly why we should be sharing our

stories

i would like to leave you with a few

thoughts

if you are a person in recovery

or you have been affected by addiction

in some way whether it’s through a

family member or a loved one

i want to encourage you to share your

stories

i want to encourage you to be more

open-minded and extend some compassion

if you are in need of help

i encourage you to reach out there are

so many resources out there and there

are

so many people who who genuinely care

and and want to help

we cannot and should not continue to be

silent when our brothers and sisters are

dying

i urge you to be more open-minded

and extend some compassion

let’s normalize mental health we should

all have access to good treatment

mental health checkups should be

as regular as medical checkups

we should never have to reach a stage

four mental health crisis

where suicide seems like a good like the

best option

we’ve been silent long enough it’s time

to speak up

share your stories we see you

we hear you we welcome you because we

are those people

you