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(Note from Julie: Tara and Dave’s book, No Really, We Want You to Laugh: Mental Illness and Stand Up Comedy Transforming Lives<\/em> was just nominated for an independent book award.)<\/p>\n Unique, alone, and never-ending.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n When I started my journey seven years ago walking alongside family members who lived with mental illness, I was pretty sure those words would always define my experience.<\/p>\n My husband and I had become foster parents for two nieces, and I became legal guardian of a third, and we helped my parents as they took in a fourth. It wasn\u2019t long before the severity of the girls\u2019 PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, depression and anxiety became clear.<\/p>\n We who had known nothing, really, about mental illness would eventually become skilled advocates, experts in DBT, CBT, and OHCHWGA.\u00a0(That last one? \u201cOh, holy crap here we go again,\u201d familiar to many an overwhelmed family member.)<\/p>\n But at first, as we were swept up in a chaotic storm of self-harm, suicide attempts, ER visits, and psych unit admissions, we felt like No One Anywhere in the History of Ever could possibly know our fear, our exhaustion, or our desperation to help our loved ones. Or just get one worry-free night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n Now I know differently .<\/p>\n After seven years of sharing my story, first hesitantly in conversation and then through stand-up comedy, I\u2019ve found that like all experiences of the human condition, ours aren\u2019t unique.<\/p>\n We aren\u2019t alone. Now I know there are thousands of family members who have walked this road, known our fear, inhabited our exhaustion. I\u2019ve talked to them in churches, in conferences, at schools and after comedy shows. They come up to me and say,<\/p>\n \u201cHow did you know? Who told you? That was MY story, MY experience, MY terror.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Now I know, after walking alongside my fierce girls as they have fought for recovery, for stability, for a voice in their treatment and a voice in their lives, I know differently.<\/p>\n Never-ending? Nah. Mental illness is a lifelong experience for many, but it CAN get better. Recovery IS possible. So are meaningful relationships, new experiences, and fulfilling lives. I\u2019ve learned that from my nieces, from the stand up comics I\u2019ve trained, and from all who\u2019ve rushed to share their story with me when they find out they AREN\u2019T unique, or alone, and it won\u2019t always be this way.<\/p>\n It gets better, and sometimes, you\u2019ll laugh. I promise.<\/p>\n Tara<\/p>\n Tara Rolstad, along with the amazing Dave Mowry is co-author of the book, No, Really, We WANT You to Laugh: Mental Illness and Stand Up Comedy Transforming Lives<\/span> <\/strong><\/span>that tells the stories of six comedians whose lives and experiences with mental illness were changed through learning stand-up comedy.<\/p>\n Click here to read more about Tara and Dave’s book on amazon.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
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