Overcoming Schizophrenia

Hi Overcoming Schizophrenia Blog Family, today my story was featured on the local news in Atlanta.  Sharing my story reminds me of those dark moments that created chaos for me and my family. However, through hope, loved ones and treatment and therapy, I'm able to experience better days.  First Recovery Speech; Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (2010)   When I was diagnosed back in 2007, there were not a lot of people openly sharing their testimonies of recovery. Even the pharmaceutical companies didn't promote treatment for peers living with schizophrenia! I couldn't identify with any public figures who had schizophrenia. I remember a television special with Diana Ross; Out of the Darkness. Her character's story of recovery and schizophrenia reminds me of my own. That movie reiterated what recovery can look like. Here we are in 2025, there are a lot of individuals living with schizophrenia who articulate their recovery publicly. And, a lot of treatment options are pr...

For a long time, I dreamed about being an author. A peer in recovery walked me through the steps of self-publishing my blog book and now I'm assisting individuals with their book-writing.       In 2014, I self-published my first blog book, What's On My Mind? A Collection of Blog Entries from Overcoming Schizophrenia, Volume I, foreword by Christina Bruni. I was fortunate to get recognition from the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, Inc. when they gave every attendee a copy of my book at their conference in 2014 at St. Simon's Island in Georgia, "The Year of the Peer." They purchased 500 copies of the book.     Currently, I published my seventh book, In Her Own Ink: Strategies for Creating from Author to Author (2025). This book is a creative wordsmith handbook for non-fiction authors. It's unique in that I interview five fellow authors for tips on book-writing. I interviewed the following authors: Venessa Abram Christina Bruni Felicia Johnson Terri M...

In Love with My Spirit- Again! Journal: Prayers, Affirmations, and Questions to Empower You My new book, In Love with My Spirit- Again! Journal: Prayers, Affirmations, and Questions to Empower You, is available in paperback on Amazon. This is a 30-day journal that includes short prayers, affirmations, and self-reflection questions that is divided into two parts. The purpose of this journal is to empower you through spirituality in order to facilitate self-awareness. It is important to note that I am spiritual and respect different ways of acknowledging and identifying with a higher power. As you know, I overcame significant mental health challenges. My spirituality, therapy, and support system paved the way to developing my ability to master resiliency. However, this journal is for everybody who believes in a higher power. Therefore, I encourage you to purchase a copy of my book for yourself and others to further connect with your God/Goddess by building on these short pr...

Upcoming webinar this week! Register ASAP and ask questions. Make sure you capitalize the M's in the web address and sign up... This will be an amazing discussion on mental health.

Upcoming Event where Ashley Smith will present her story and book. Atlanta, Georgia area. $35 Tickets, lunch and refreshments included. Go to the website below, click on "Donate" and include your name and Ashley Smith's name in the comments section for the special rate. To register visit: changingthecycle.org

I have a lot to say, however, I am hesitant to blog about it, because I am working on a couple of books. I will publish a collective piece with peers, and also publish my follow up book to What's On My Mind? later this year (2017). While I am excited to share my recovery journey I am frequently challenged by the ability to appropriately delegate my writings between the blog and book. My "Overcoming Schizophrenia" blog is still my healthy outlet and love... I appreciate all readers and strive to give my love to them forever through my self-expressive writings in order to relate, educate, and to further empower our growing recovery community and tight-knit recovery network; online and in-person. In fact, there have been many times when I got on my laptop to develop a blog entry on life lessons of my recovery, but chose not to complete it in order to convert it into a chapter in my book. Once, I valued my Bible more than anything...then it was my journal; like a safe...

Here is a link to the one hour long  radio interview from June 1st I had with Jackie Charles on Women are Worthy. Also, check out Women are Worthy facebook page . Please listen to this interview- a range of situations are mentioned here- myths, dating, diagnosis, and suicide, etc. To learn more about schizophrenia visit NAMI , Choices in Recovery , Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (Canada).