Kelly's Story: very inspiring

Hi there Josh. My name is Kelly. I believe what you are doing is great! Last year I attempted to get a group going for my county in the USA, but we were unable to get it started due to conflict among the staff :( . But anyways! If you would like to hear my story, I would be happy to tell it to you. Though it is quite long!


My name is Kelly. I am nineteen-years-old now, and this Thanksgiving I will have a lot to thank for.

You see, when I was five years old, my parents divorced, and I lived with my mother. My father found a horrible girlfriend who had four children of her own. One night while I was sleeping over, my father came in the room and began instructing one of the older girls to touch me inappropriately. As the minutes went by, the torture increased. Before I knew what was happening, I lost my virginity to my father. When I told my mother the next week, she called CPS (Child Protection Services). They did a physical exam and said there was no proof, although the counselor they assigned me said what I had showed them on a doll, numerous times, was enough to convince her. Still, no actions were taken since there was no physical evidence.

As I grew up, I pushed this to the back of my mind, and forgot; Up until about three years ago. Three years ago is when my big depression hit. I won't go into details about it; all you need to know is that I went on a missions trip with a group I was in to New York City. It was my first time away from my mom, and I was doing great until they told me I couldn't call her or anyone else - even at night right before bed. They worked us eighteen hours a day for three days straight. Finally I was so homesick I sneaked a call to my mom and told her to come get me. After a long night of her and my director fighting, my mother said she would be flying in the next day. The next day, I faced my biggest fear of my life - Flying - and it was quite terrible, if I may say.

After that experience, I hit a real time low. My best friend(9 years) introduced me to cutting, my boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend, our other best friend(10 years) stopped talking to me. I knew these girls more than half my life, and suddenly I was a nobody, because I had started cutting. Soon it got around the school; Teachers and students alike ignored me and pretended I did not exist. I finally had enough and told someone I had been raped and I was pregnant. Why not go out with a bang, right? Well, it was a bang. Nobody believed me anyway, and I confessed I had lied. I was lucky nobody contacted the authorities. Finally, I tried to pull out of my depression, but I would go days, maybe even weeks, without saying a single word. At lunch I would yell my thoughts to my friends, trying ot make them look at me, but they wouldn't even flinch.

My mother suggested getting my GED one day when I came home sobbing my eyes out. The next day, I quit school. Since that day a year and a half ago, I have changed drastically. I will admit I have had some setbacks - minor and major. I still lapse in cutting, but I am so much better than I was last year and the year before that. I have made progress on moving on with my life and I am about to enter college next week. Last November, I wound up in a mental hospital because I tried to kill myself. You know what though? It ended up changing my life for the better, and I see the world differently now. I see the small things in life. A sharpened pencil is amazing, because it means I won't have to sharpen it when I want to write the next time. A penny on the ground means I can find ninety-nine more and have a dollar, another dollar to save for something fun. I know how to find my real friends, and I know what life is about. But best of all? I know I can get through life, and I am going to help others get through it too.

Well Josh, there you have it. Please use it if you wish. I did just want to say one thing to you though:

I saw this message, and thought it was spam. But something told me to open it anyway. When I did, I smiled. This past month has been rough on me, and I've been extremely depressed again. Beginning to feel like nobody cared, etc. But this e-mail, this foundation you are trying to build...it gave me hope once again. Thank you for another wonderful miracle.

-Kelly

Stories about depression, suicide, self injury, or addiction

I would like to start a post where people can send their stories and be an encouragement to others that read their stories and will help them know that there is hope. If you want to be a part of this or have a story please feel free to email me. I am very excited about this and hope that it will help someone out there.

you can email me at:
betweenhurricaneandharbour@gmail.com