Ashley M.
Photo submitted by Ashley M.
If you’re reading this, you are not a burden.
No one can exist as an island. Let’s just say that one more time. No one can exist as an island. So often, we try to contain and combat mental health symptoms ourselves. Maybe because we were taught to keep our struggles to ourselves growing up. Maybe because we feel shame that we may need to rely on others. Maybe because we don’t want to ask others to help carry our pain. Doing the internal work to heal is an amazing step, but without the safety net of community to catch us, that internal work can quickly become scary and isolating.
As people, we were never meant to exist in isolation. It is community that is our greatest source of survival. I know we have all heard the phrase “It takes a village” when talking about raising children. This phrase doesn’t stop being true when you reach adulthood. No one person can meet all of their needs. So we outsource. We lean on community to give us hope when we may be lacking or provide humor when we’ve lost the ability to find it.
Most therapists will tell you that one of the first steps in therapy is resource connection. Basically, it is helping your client find their community, their safety net. As college students, you all are uniquely positioned to find and access community, whether it be a trusted professor, an intramural sports team, a religious organization, or the people you live with. This website itself and the organization IfYou’reReadingThis is working to create a sense of community for those who feel alone in their mental health journeys.
If no one has told you yet, let me be the first to: You are not a burden. So please, hop off your island and start paddling towards community. There are people waiting to support you.
Ashley Miller is an alumnus of USC, having graduated with a Masters of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2022. She is currently an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist working at a group practice seeing individual clients of all ages.
Ashley M., University of Southern California
Connect With Us
To follow IfYoureReadingThis at USC on Instagram, get in touch with our chapter, and learn about more resources available to USC students, visit our chapter’s homepage.
AUTHOR CONTACT
This author has opted to allow readers who resonate with their story to contact them. If you would like to speak to the author of this letter about their experience, please use the form below.
