The connection between mental illness and homelessness

Regina White

Beginning to talk about mental illness is a must. I have battled with it since 2001, and it was denial that kept me from getting the necessary help that I needed.

The stigma of mental disorders is what drove me to believe that I was alright and that nothing was wrong with me. The guilt and shame of admitting it to my children and family was the barrier that forced me to go undiagnosed for years.

Before 2001, I felt that people who claimed to have a mental illness were just looking for a reason not to work and be productive in society. I can honestly say that I thought it was a lazy person’s way of getting over on the system to get money for alleged illnesses. For years I thought that taking medication was avoidable, I was wrong. As I speak to family members who now say that they have secretly struggled with depression and out of mind thoughts I have vowed to break that silence. It was and is real. Denying that it existed only further my life stability and keep me in the circle of homelessness and dysfunction.

In 2004 I was lead to the Village ISA in Long Beach there I would find the help I needed. I got into a treatment plan and therapy accompanied with medications to ease the struggle that existed in my head and when I got that help and started a regimen my life changed. I stopped the repetitious pattern of being homeless and providing for me and my two young teenage kids.

In 2010, I changed my major to Human Services and began my journey to recovery. It was a long five years before I was able to get mentally capable of seeing myself through it and by 2012 I had taken all the courses and began to self analyze my behaviors so much so that I was able to whine myself off the medications and take control of my life. When I started my show Gena’s Groove Theory on March 24, 2012, I made a conscious decision to be the voice of Mental Illness and set out to break down those myths of what the world sees us as.

Opening the door of education and awareness, and the quiet became vocal. People began to talk about it. Many had family members who they did not understand but now they do. We are a special kind of human, unique and misunderstood. But with support we have rose to and grown together with the facts. Not to be feared but to be free to express ourselves. My life today has been most inspiring and I will continue to be there for others who think they don’t matter. Humanity is key and we have a voice that can be acknowledged. God bless all those who suffer silently…

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Regina White is the Long Beach Area Ambassador for LA South Chamber of Commerce
Email: omniinc.net@gmail.com