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Young adulthood can be challenging, especially if you lack support while dealing with a mental health issue. Markeeta Parker, 31, recalls being a TAY, or transitional age youth, looking for help. “When Markeeta became a TAY, she was afraid of change,” Parker says of her former self. “She stayed in the same home, where she dealt [...]
“If anybody tells you get to over it, remember you’ve got to get through it, “advises peer specialist Michelle Mateo. Mateo, 49, has gone through a lot, which she believes led to her battling depression and alcoholism. She was two when her mother, a military nurse, died by suicide in their San Francisco home. Mateo’s mother [...]
Ashley King, recently interned at Alameda County Eden Children’s Services, was a recipient of Alameda County Behavioral Health’s (ACBH) Graduate Intern Stipend Program. The stipend program provides financial incentive to eligible students to build a diverse behavioral healthcare workforce. This program is funded by the Mental Health Services Act. King is one of the hard-working awardees [...]
Darren Linzie’s smile is as vibrant as the comic books he creates. Linzie, 47, has been drawing since the age of two. Drawing comics is one of his passions, but it also helps with his mental health. “The cartoons put me at ease,” he explains. Like comic books heroes, Linzie has gone through his own journey [...]
Consumers, individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, work as peer counselors in Alameda County. They are an essential resource for recovery and work with clients to help them develop new meaning and purpose for their lives. The journey of mental health recovery is a deeply personal and unique process. Peer counselors share how they [...]
