Ginger stache birthday tv#

When Ginger invited me to attend the 1999 black-tie Emmy Awards banquet to be held in the opulent ballroom of an historic Cleveland hotel, I felt like Cinderella. That’s why I took part in Ginger Stache’s documentary, “Before You Say Good-bye.” The documentary aired nationwide and in Europe resulting in my talented boss being nominated for two regional Emmys for the half-hour film. Eventually, I graduated from college, and later began working in the broadcasting field.

I gave my life to Jesus on that same psychiatric ward and started living a different lifestyle by reading the Bible, attending church and recovery meetings, finding freedom from drugs and alcohol, exercising, eating right, and waiting on God’s intervention by praying instead of reacting from pain or panic.ĭepression and shame about the stigma of mental illness gave way to the gradual understanding that my testimony offered hope to others still hurting. My healing and faith journey began after learning people and circumstances can break our hearts, but that God’s heart is also broken when His children suffer. Before the pastor’s reassurance of our heavenly Father’s concern, I had never felt loved by God wondering why He didn’t protect me when I needed His help most. I didn’t realize God cared and understood the pain I felt as a frightened child living in an alcoholic home afraid to sleep at night. This supernatural knowledge changed my perception of our Creator. A pastor visited me there and explained, “What happened to you as a child, hurt God more than it hurt you.” Instead of fulfilling this dire prophecy, over three decades ago, I found emotional and spiritual healing on a psychiatric ward the last time I had to be hospitalized. Back then, little had been accomplished in mental health reform, and the hospital was a barbaric place not offering any real hope for recovery.Īs the years passed, following a couple more serious suicide attempts, an ongoing battle with addiction, along with intermittent and lengthy hospitalizations, a psychiatrist in charge of my case said I would probably die by suicide or in a mental institution. Months later, I would spend much of my senior year in Toledo State Mental Hospital. I recovered physically, but not emotionally.

Only a high school junior, my hopeless and unstable environment resulted in the near fatal, intentional drug overdose, which landed me in an Intensive Care Unit hovering between life and death. My story begins during the 1970s, when as a depressed teenager living in a dysfunctional home I attempted suicide. I agreed to be interviewed for her project. It was during the late 1990s, when Ginger Stache, my former supervisor, who is an award-winning journalist, decided to create awareness about suicide by producing a documentary.

Ginger stache birthday tv#

Despite this, with the catalyst of educating others, I started to tell my story publicly while working as a reporter and producer at Lima’s WTLW TV 44. Yet sharing about a mental health struggle can feel shameful and frightening.