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After psychotic breaks, emotional healing is needed, and part of this recovery involves navigating relationships impacted by your psychotic breaks. Sometimes people cannot tell what is real and what is not during your psychosis, especially when it is totally real to you. This conflict of reality can bring confusion and...

After my initial psychotic episode at age 21, I was put on antipsychotics as a preventive measure. They prevented another psychotic episode while I was on them, but after my acute health crisis, I still just wasn’t completely myself. Because of the health crisis, I had to withdraw from college,...

Despite decades of evidence to suggest its effectiveness, the medical community has been slow to adopt Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a psychotherapy aimed at promoting meaningful behavior change through awareness of one’s values and acceptance of one’s circumstances and limitations. At its core, ACT teaches the individual to divert...

It is easy to be unduly hard on yourself for having psychosis. Choosing to love yourself anyway may not be easy, but it can serve as a road map out of darkness and into a bright future. I was so incredibly hard on myself after each time I was hospitalized...

The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health has taken another step towards comprehensive care in Wake County. Wake STEP has partnered with Wake County’s Department of Housing Affordability and Community Revitalization’s Permanent Housing and Supportive Services Division (PHSS). The PHSS aims to provide safe, clean, affordable housing and...

After each psychotic break I had, it was difficult to act naturally and be myself with others again. I did not think I could be considered “normal” again, and it could have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. While I did have cognitive healing to do, where I had medical reasons for...

I have been in remission from symptoms of serious mental illness (SMI) for 11 years; however, there was a period of my life that was extremely difficult when my symptoms were severe, involving multiple psychotic breaks. I was filled with heartache and despair, and recovery was uncertain. During the early...

In my history of mental illness, I have been rediagnosed five times regarding my serious mental illness. Being rediagnosed in mental health is not unusual, as there is no blood test to conclude what you have. Diagnoses are classified through symptom-based measures according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of...

Community organizations in and around Chapel Hill are working to address the link between mental health and housing insecurity. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 21.1 percent of people experiencing homelessness also have a serious mental health condition, compared to 5.5 percent of all U.S. adults. Paul Marvin,...

The Farm at Penny Lane community will be studied by UNC’s School of Social Work to see how the project might be replicated around the country. It starts with a colorful front door, which opens up into 416 square feet of home. “The colors on the doors are kind of...

For centuries, breaking bread has been used to build  relationships, camaraderie, and trust between those sharing the meal.  Staff in the Heat and Eat program are using this time-tested tradition to connect and build relationships with patients that have been historically hard to reach. For the last year, Good Bowls...

The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health has received a $2.4 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to address homelessness and provide comprehensive behavioral care and other services for individuals living with serious mental illnesses who are experiencing or who are at...