Real Talk: Hannah’s Mental Health Journey

By: Hannah Coyle

The building where I went for my first therapy consultation still smells the same. For 8 of my 24 years, I have seen the same therapist. The waiting room, though it looks relatively like what it did in 2016, received a makeover about three years ago after COVID. A new piece of artwork hangs on the wall, and I sit in a new armchair. But the noisemaker still sounds the same.  

I was 16 years old when I was first diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder. It’s cliche to say, but I would not be the person I am today without therapeutic intervention in my adolescence. This Mental Health Awareness Month I share my story of healing, growing, and learning.  

I credit my family greatly for their gentle encouragement to seek mental health care.  

“If you’d ever like to go, just let me know and we will make it happen. No pressure, but I think you may gain a lot from it,” my dad would say.  

He would mention it every few weeks and I would roll my eyes and say, “no thanks.” He never forced it or told me I “needed” it. It took a pretty low day for me to give it serious thought, but I came to it on my own, and that made all the difference.  

My journey has not been linear. No healing is. I went once a week for a couple years in high school. I took a break during college. I went back virtually for a while during COVID. And stopped, then started going every other week again.  

I always stopped my visits feeling equipped with skills and tools to support my mental health and always felt that if I needed guidance or a listening ear again, therapy would be there.  

At 24, I was “un” diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and started interventions for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  

Knowing myself then and now, this diagnosis would have been a lot scarier without the language and tools I already had to describe my GAD. This much less understood diagnosis is heavy, and it takes daily energy and support from myself, and grace from those around me.   

When I received an offer to join the Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health, I thought of all the ways mental health resources had supported the young people around me, and how those around me had supported youth mental health resources.  

Yet, in my last year in the “youth” category, at 24, I am a recipient of youth mental health resources, and I have been for years.  

It is the work at MACMH that makes sure those resources that I had access to at 16, and still have access to today, are expanded and improved. It is the sharing of knowledge, the support, and the inclusion that make sure more young people have positive experiences with capable, equipped providers. It is the space to continue to talk about mental health challenges without stigma. Hearing stories of young people who remind me of myself emphasize the importance of the work we do.