Sometimes it is helpful to hear what others have experienced with their illness and their struggle to for recovery. The following websites have personal recovery stories of individuals which might help inspire you along your recovery path.

Choices in Recovery: www.choicesinrecovery.com/about/recovery-spotlight

Choices in Recovery is a website dedicated to providing information about the recovery process and supporting individuals and their support persons .   While they have specific information on Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder and Bipolar Disorder the information and resources on recovery are applicable for any mental health issue/diagnosis.

In addition to 4 individual recovery stories they have a 25 minute video documentary which tells the story of three individuals living with Schizophrenia.

Mental Health.Gov: www.mentalhealth.gov/talk/recovery

MentalHealth.gov provides one-stop access to U.S. government mental health and mental health problems information in order to educate and guide: the general public, health and emergency preparedness professionals, policy makers, government and business leaders, school systems, and local communities.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): www.nami.org

In 2012 NAMI developed a campaign called “You Are Not Alone”.   Recognizing how powerful personal stories can be in helping others with similar experiences, they put the call out and provided space for individuals to submit their personal story to inspire others on the road to recovery & to show that there is hope.

There are video submissions that are on You Tube that you can watch: Videos

There are blog submissions which you can read: Stories

There are also biographies of famous historical figures that have struggled with mental illness: Biographies

SAMHSA: www.promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/publications/mystory

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for leading public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. This section of their “Promote Acceptance” website has over 40 individual recovery stories that you can read.