CW: self-harm, mental health issues
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I’m reminded that I wouldn’t be here today if my dog Mathilda hadn’t saved my life at one of my lowest points. I wrote about her in a HuffPost article last year. This month leads me to reflect on the ongoing stigma and medical trauma associated with being open about mental health conditions that made me afraid to seek help.
Since I wrote this article, I’ve had numerous people reach out to me to tell their own stories about how their animal companions saved their lives and brought them back from the brink. Relationships with our more-than-human companions have the capacity to be deep, expansive, and life-giving, if we are open to them.
Give some extra kindness to the more-than-human world around you today, and if you haven’t read my article about Mathilda, it’s available here.
Good girl, Mathilda. (Side note: This was published on my birthday! = ) )