Page 11 - Silver Linings Issue4

family through that sorrow. That, she says, kept her alive for the next five years.
Laura was accepted into the University of Southern California to major in screenwriting, starting her on a path to her dream job of being a TV writer. Depression, however, followed her to college, and the darkness
she felt inside grew even stronger. For the first time, she saw a therapist, but she didn’t realize at the time how important it was to get continuous help, and she stopped going. Instead, she continued
Sobbing, she called her mother and told her what had happened. Laura had never talked to her family about her mental health problems before. Her mother insisted that she change her plane ticket and fly home to Connecticut instead of returning to California.
Still sobbing, she called the airline and the gentleman on the other end of the phone changed the destination without question. He asked if Laura was all right. Equally kind, Laura recalls, were the hotel employees who
to struggle every day.
Hitting rock bottom
In 2003, after graduating from USC, Laura landed a job as an assistant
to a movie director.
“I had lost so many friendships and could barely do my job.
I was 24 years old and had been white-knuckling it since eighth grade.
I was lost.”
expedited her checkout and got her a cab to
the airport.
“I called three people in a row, and they all saved my life,” she says. “They all said: OK, what do you need? And two of those people were strangers.”
Back in Connecticut, Laura’s mother drove her to
Yale New Haven Hospital
in New Haven at the urging
Her dream career was
taking shape. The high-
pressure role and some
difficult co-workers, however, made the job unbearable. One night, while traveling
of Laura’s therapist. There were no rooms available there, and Laura and her mother desperately looked for another hospital.
“What about Silver Hill?” Laura recalls asking. She had grown up a few miles from Silver Hill but never fully understood what it did or imagined she would need its services.
Silver Hill’s impact
She was admitted to the Acute Care Unit at Silver Hill the next day. The first morning, Laura was too nervous to get out of bed. A nurse said everyone was outside and that
Laura should join them. Laura went out and says “it was a game–changer” for her.
She met an older gentleman who had the same problems as she had.
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for work, she attempted suicide.
“I was in so much pain that I had lost so many friendships and could barely do my job.
I was 24 years old and had been white-knuckling it since eighth
grade. I was lost,” she recalls. “I woke up the next morning, and
I was mad that it didn’t
work.”
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SILVER LININGS MAGAZINE | ISSUE FOUR | 2022