As a former actress with a small platform on social media, I often tell my mental health journey. “Why?” You may ask.

 

1. To advocate for a cause I am passionate about. I find it hard not to advocate for better mental health care and general mental health awareness when I know first hand that this society isn’t as educated about the topic as they should be, partially due to the fact that mental health talk has been stigmatized for years. Additionally, psychology is a relatively new science and we have yet to understand the true workings of the mind.

2. To let people know that they are not alone. Struggling with mental illness can feel isolating; like you are the only one who is going through it. However, this is far from the truth. If I can make even one person feel connected and less alone in this world, sharing my story will have been worth it.

3. To let people know that recovery is possible and worth it. I know first hand that a road to recovery is long, as it is not linear. I also know from experience that it is helpful to hear successful recovery stories to help hold out hope for yourself. Many others have done that for me, and so I feel like it is time for me to do the same.

 

During my high school career, my friends called me “Tisha the Therapist”. I had always been interested in Psychology, but the budding of an acting career had overshadowed it for many years. By the time I had applied and got into college for the first time in 2019, I ended up booking a series regular role on the Disney Plus show, Big Shot. My dream of becoming a therapist was forgotten for many years after that, until I suffered from a debilitating episode of depression on set. The rise of my acting career and the pressure had gotten to me. I knew I needed to stop acting. I knew I needed help. From there was the start of my long road to recovery. I was in Intensive Outpatient Programs, hospitals, saw a number of therapists, and endured a slew of medication trials in an attempt to manage my symptoms. Nothing seemed to help. Now, without a clear path for the future and a persistent case of depression, I felt like there was no hope for me – until my psychiatrist shared her healing journey. She disclosed that she went to school and graduated later in life due to depression and things ultimately got better over time, which made me have hope for the first time in years. I have never felt as seen as I had that day. I took that hope with me and learned Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which significantly changed my life for the better. DBT taught me that life is not absolute, and things are messy. DBT taught me that I can take back control of my life. DBT taught me that it’s up to me to find my life worth living. It was DBT and my psychiatrist that helped me realize that I wanted to dedicate my life to using my story to help others through their healing journey, as I now know how powerful it is to share a story of successful recovery to those who are struggling. This led me to becoming a behavioral therapist, working with children with autism, for a number of years before I felt like I was ready to go back to school. This experience has taught me the value of patience and how to implement techniques to deescalate a situation, which I feel will be helpful for me in the future. During this time, I also used the traction I had for Big Shot to tell my story to my audience online. Doing so was important to me, as I felt like I needed to advocate for something with whatever fame I found. I was met with fans who thanked me, stating that they needed to hear a recovery journey from someone who looked like them. I also worked with an organization called Saving Our Daughters to talk about mental health issues to middle schoolers. I then attended Loyola Marymount University, which gave me the well rounded education I needed to understand that nothing was a mistake: that I needed to have these life events to reach my true goal as a therapist. I needed to be an actress to have that lived experience and the trials and tribulations that come with it in order to have a strong testimony that healing is possible. I took some challenging courses, like Ethics, which brought me to face hard ethical dilemmas in different lenses, and took courses that nurtured me as a person, like Creative Writing, where I really learned that I can be a creative person and an aspiring therapist at the same time. Furthermore, I believe going to school later in life was a beneficial move, as I had a clear goal for what I wanted to do in my life, and had more critical thinking skills to apply what I learned out of the classroom and into my own life. The best class I have taken was Positive Psychology. There, I realized that there is a whole discipline within Psychology that purely studies what a life worth living means, a subject I have agonized over for years during my recovery. I implemented the research we read into my own life and it has changed my habits into better ones, and I cannot wait to share these topics with my future clients. Looking back at my already-storied life, I believe everything that has happened placed a domino effect into my strong desire to be a therapist. I especially thank the not-so incredible treatment I have had during my recovery. I will come into this industry knowing that, like all other industries, it is flawed. My time spent in hospitalization programs, as well as some individual therapists, has led me to see that therapy is imperfect and not a one-size-fits-all approach. It has helped me see that therapy is an art and not all art is for everyone. I aim to take all my observations of therapists I have encountered and find my own style that feels authentic to me. It may have taken a career burnout, and a 5 year road to recovery, but I am one step closer to having my friends call me “Tisha the Therapist” again.