I’m Alixzandria Paige, and I’m so excited to join HealthyPlace. I grew up in a big family, and unfortunately, many of my family members have a mental illness. While it has been challenging, my family with mental illnesses have all gotten so much better over time. As for me, I have a psychology degree and use my degree experience to help myself and others overcome mental health issues so that we may live the lives that we deserve.

My name is Nicola Spendlove and I am very excited to be joining the HealthyPlace team as a new author on the "Mental Illness in the Family" blog. I'm going to be writing about my brother's experiences with depression and anxiety and how it has impacted us all.

My name is Megan Law, and I am the new author of "Mental Illness in the Family" here at HealthyPlace. I am very grateful for the opportunity to write this blog and to share my stories and experiences on living with family members with mental illness. Mental illness is increasingly prevalent in our society, but it continues to be misunderstood or sometimes even ignored. A significant stigma against those with mental illness still exists. I hope to help spread the message that having a family member diagnosed with mental illness is not the end. There is hope for all involved.

Hi, I’m Taylor Arthur, and I am so excited to be writing for Mental Illness in the Family here on HealthyPlace. Unlike the other authors of this blog, I am the mentally ill member of my family. My high school sweetheart, Jack, and I had no idea when we were married that I had a serious mental illness, and my illness almost ended our marriage (Bipolar Spouse: Coping With Bipolar Husband, Wife). But 16 years later, we are balancing bipolar disorder, marriage, careers, and children in a life not far from what I imagined on our wedding day.

If our story of schizophrenia hitting a family were made into a movie, here is where it might end: on the hopeful note of some dreams having come true, after challenges and crises too numerous to count. My adult son, Ben, is stable, taking his medication, able to participate in family functions, and actually working part-time as - of all things - a server in a restaurant where customers come in and ask to be seated in his section.

I’m Chrisa Hickey, mom, wife, writer, and accidental children’s mental health advocate. I say “accidental” because I never intended my writing to be about childhood mental illness. But in 2009, after spending several months in therapy myself, trying to process raising a child with schizoaffective disorder, my doctor suggested I journal as a way to process the severe ups and downs our family was living through. Since I spend 40+ hours a week on the Internet as a full-time eCommerce professional, I started my journal as a blog.

Ten years ago, if you'd asked me where I thought I might be in 2011, the last thing I'd have said is "I plan to be a writer." Yet, here I am: blogging for HealthyPlace.com, and about to be a published author. When I go to Amazon.com and search for my book (which, I must admit, I do at least 5 times a week, just to make sure it's not a dream), I'm still amazed to find myself with an "author's page" and a biography on Wikipedia. Oh, I'd hoped to be a "wiki girl", but I'd thought it might be because of my work as an actress, radio personality, voice talent or singer. Life is funny that way. You make your plans, and sometimes you follow them. Sometimes, too, the universe sends you elsewhere, like a stream cutting through the forest. It goes where it needs to go.