{"id":10039,"date":"2016-10-26T01:48:13","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T01:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=10039&#038;post_type=story"},"modified":"2020-06-26T18:36:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T18:36:07","slug":"coping-with-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/coping-with-mental-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing to Heal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Fall 2016 | By Paige Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"georgia-regular\" style=\"font-size: 20px;\">If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would you say?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"lead\"><strong>Ryan Skaryd \u201915<\/strong> used this writing prompt to change his students\u2019 view of mental illness. Through a UCF Literary Arts Partnership with Wraparound Orange, an Orange County agency that supports families with youths with mental health issues, the 23-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/degree\/creative-writing-mfa\/\">creative writing graduate student<\/a> spent 12 weeks this summer teaching students ages 18 to 25 the craft of storytelling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"lead\">[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p>[blockquote source=&#8221;Terry Ann Thaxton \u201993 \u201995MA&#8221; cite=&#8221;&#8221; color=&#8221;&#8221; css_class=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMental illness is a chronic illness that doesn\u2019t end &#8230; There is no cure for mental illness, but there is treatment. And we can\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late to start treating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n<p>[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p>That age is a crucial time to help students deal with major life transitions, which can trigger mental illness, says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/trouble-in-paradise\/\"><strong>Terry Ann Thaxton \u201993 \u201995MA<\/strong><\/a>, a creative writing professor who has been organizing similar literary partnerships since 2003.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMental illness is a chronic illness that doesn\u2019t end,\u201d Thaxton says. \u201cThere is no cure for mental illness, but there is treatment. And we can\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late to start treating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The topic is personal for Thaxton. She was raised with a brother who is intellectually disabled and has a 36-year-old son who lives with Asperger\u2019s syndrome, major depressive disorder and severe anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>Thaxton knew Skaryd was well-equipped to teach these summer classes because of his professionalism and his willingness to discuss his own struggles, including being a caregiver for a family member.<\/p>\n<p>Skaryd\u2019s secret for reaching students is simple: honesty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of my reading examples are people\u00a0who are brutally honest about their mental health journey, whether that\u2019s with obsessive compulsive disorder or [something] as simple\u00a0as anxiety [about school],\u201d Skaryd says.<\/p>\n<p>One of his students initially wanted to write about a family member, but by the end of the summer session, she turned in a diary-style piece exploring her own mental health instead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe tracked down her thoughts about depression and self-image in a really relative tone,\u201d Skaryd says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[These students] can write freely and fearlessly without being judged about anything that they go through,\u201d he continues. \u201cBecause at the end of the day, other people are going through the same thing, if not very similar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"lead\">[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p>[blockquote source=&#8221;Kristi DiLallo \u201913&#8243; cite=&#8221;&#8221; color=&#8221;&#8221; css_class=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce I say what I\u2019ve written about and what I\u2019ve experienced, it really changes the dynamic, and the students will share more in their writing &#8230; They\u2019ll read more out loud [and] they\u2019ll be more honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n<p>[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p>Thaxton\u2019s influence extends to former facilitator <strong>Kristi DiLallo \u201913<\/strong> as well, who is using creative writing to help young women in Rikers Island prison. Through a program with the Center for Justice at Columbia University, where she recently earned an MFA, DiLallo is teaching inmates to have open conversations about perseverance.<\/p>\n<p>DiLallo is no stranger to the prison system.\u00a0 At the age of 6, she stepped into a jail to visit her incarcerated parents. (Her mother remains in prison.) This used to be a source of shame for her, but now she\u2019s using her story to help others tell theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Her students tend to underestimate DiLallo at \ufb01rst \u2014 suggesting that she\u2019s privileged and unable to relate. But she\u2019s found that transparency is key in getting through to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce I say what I\u2019ve written about and what I\u2019ve experienced, it really changes the dynamic, and the students will share more in their writing,\u201d DiLallo says. \u201cThey\u2019ll read more out loud [and] they\u2019ll be more honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a teenager, DiLallo used her own life as inspiration for fiction, but never shared her writing until her first teaching position through UCF\u2019s Literary Arts Partnership program.<\/p>\n<p>During her junior year, she partnered with Orange County Academy in Bithlo, Florida. More than half the class had at least one incarcerated parent, but the students didn\u2019t know DiLallo\u2019s story. After a helpful nudge from Thaxton, DiLallo gained the courage to read her story to the students, who responded with tears and hugs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was such an amazing moment for me when I realized that teaching is so important, and telling my story is important, and so is getting these kids to tell theirs,\u201d says DiLallo. \u201cAnd if this is how I have to do it then I\u2019ll totally go in on the first day and tell people that this is my story, and that it\u2019s time for you to write yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><span class=\"text-uppercase\">Illustration by Kirk Wallace<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10138,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[341],"class_list":["post-10039","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","issues-881","issues-fall-2016"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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