SEATTLE — A Seattle artist and author is helping people manage their mental health by sharing her own experiences.
Ellen Forney's memoir Marbles and self-help book "Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life" give insight and advice about managing mental health through self-care and routines.
"I've been stable for 19 years now. And when I say I've been stable, I don't mean that everything has been smooth sailing. It's been a lot of work,” Forney said. "I'm coming from a place of lived experience. I am sharing what I have learned myself."
Now, she's also doing work on a more intimate level through one-on-one coaching.
Her goal is to help people find actionable ways to manage a myriad of problems, from bipolar disorder to anxiety.
"A lot of time the care we get is to ‘fix’ something that is broken. One of the things that I emphasize is that we're living with this, so it's how can we live with this?" Forney said. "Instead of trying to fix something that's broken, it's working with something and just accepting that's how we are."
In addition to her books and coaching, Forney has delivered a TED Talk called "finding balance in bipolar."
Whether people have existing mental illnesses or are dealing with new stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, she wants them to know they’re not alone.
"You have a lot of company in trying to handle this,” she said. "It's hard. And it's always been hard. And chances are good that it will be hard. That's another thing I have to offer, as someone with bipolar is company, is a certain kind of cheerleading. Is a certain kind of knowledge about what it feels like from the inside. And what it is that we gain, and what it is that we sacrifice, and that it's all part of taking care of ourselves."
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