I recently had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Marshall, Co-Founder of This is My Brave an amazing community of advocates dedicated to ending the stigma surrounding mental illness by sharing our true personal stories through poetry, essay, and song.
Jenn was diagnosed with Type 1 Bipolar Disorder in 2006 at the age of 26. She’s had four hospitalizations within five years – two before any diagnosis was reached, and two more because she was trying to protect her newborn son (postpartum psychosis) and her unborn daughter – and all were because she was unmedicated at the time. Writing her way through life with a mental illness became her way of healing, and her award-winning blog BipolarMomLife has become an inspiration to many.
Jenn created This Is My Brave because she learned first hand how powerful and therapeutic it was to live openly and not hide her diagnosis. She wanted to give brave individuals from the community a platform through which to creatively share their stories of living with mental illness to educate and inspire others. She lives outside Washington, DC with her husband and two children. Jenn is the living proof that people with mental illness can recover and rebuild healthy, meaningful, productive lives. Her work was recently featured in the Oprah Magazine. Jenn wants people struggling with mental health issues around the world to know that they are not alone. There is hope and help. And, regardless of their struggles, they can recover.