Giving back

I lived with undiagnosed agoraphobia (extreme anxiety) for years. It was miserable, and I got through on sheer force of will. It’s a horrible way to go through life, and everything changed for me when I learned that anxiety is an illness, and that there are ways to treat it.

Fortunately for children in Rhode Island, there’s Bradley Hospital.

Bradley specializes in pediatric and adolescent mental health, and helps kids learn to identify and manage a wide range of conditions. One of my biggest joys is supporting their work, knowing the difference it will make in the lives of their patients.

The Bradley Center for Anxiety and Panic for Children is my home base, and all profits from my book Scared to Death, Do it Anyway go to support it. In addition, I speak at their annual reunion, which has helped build a support network for local anxiety sufferers. These talks are usually standing-room-only, and last year we had to do two sessions back-to-back to accommodate everyone.

The strangest part was that some of the people in the second session had been in the first one! I think part of the reason might be that while medical professionals are best positioned to make diagnoses and recommend treatment, it’s another thing to hear from someone who’s been there.

Best of all, at these talks, people want to introduce me to their kids. It’s always inspiring to see the way these young people are taking control of their mental illness to create a better future for themselves. I might teach them a bit about anxiety-management techniques, but they teach me even more about hope and inner strength.