Laura Burkes' Story
| At the age of 25, Laura was completing her last year of undergraduate study in Montreal. She was pursuing a degree in theatre performance when she began to experience unusual symptoms. Strange sounds filled her mind and soon she was having visual hallucinations and hearing voices. When these symptoms became unbearable she left her studies and moved home to Nova Scotia to seek the support of family and friends. It was almost six months before Laura was diagnosed with schizophrenia. During this time she contemplated suicide several times and was in and out of hospital. |  |
Once she was properly diagnosed Laura was able to access medical treatment. Her symptoms were still difficult to manage at times and she often faced bouts of serious depression. Laura sought support from those closest around her but was sometimes rejected because of her mental illness. She joined a local clubhouse for people with mental illness and gathered personal strength from others who shared similar challenges.
Laura let go of her own self pity by assisting others around her. She found work through the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia as a peer support worker and helped facilitate the delivery of the Your Recovery Journey Program – a program developed by the SSC.
She is now able to embrace her creative talents once more, and finds comfort in writing poetry about her experiences. Laura makes several public presentations on mental illness every year. She still experiences the effects of stigma from time to time, but believes that being open and honest about her illness can help to dispel the myths.
Laura’s darkest days are now behind her. She looks forward to completing a masters degree in drama therapy in the spring of 2012. Drama therapy and its potential to help the mentally ill is one of Laura’s passions.
The Schizophrenia Society of Canada is the only registered charity solely dedicated to advocating for people with schizophrenia and psychosis. It is truly a future with hope for people like Laura – but only with your help. Click here to donate now.
Here is an excerpt from one of Laura’s poems …
I knew the change would be slow
and uncertain
and it wasn’t the lifting of the curtain
of my mental illness
which saved me
it wasn’t my heroic sense of bravery
it was a slow and cautious realization
that I could loosen the chains
of my self-slavery
but this did not come from
some special quality
I had always possessed
I dressed myself in the tears
and the devotion
of so many who saw my childish
rigid hold
on the old me
in time, they reached past
my defenses
and they sold me
so look not to those who suffer
as pillars of strength
born with the ability to swim
the length of the channel of hope
look to yourself
at how your acceptance
of their stubborn, self-pitying humanity
might help them to cope
It is true that I no longer feel bereft
but without your reflection
of the person I could not see
I probably would have left
so hold your loved ones
and take in their suffering
don’t make them be heros
contain them
with their distant gaze
and the few words they
have to say
ok
maybe we are heros
but not in the way
you might think
even the intrepid among us
might sink
without someone
to hold them
I used to own memories
but because of you
I sold them
for a future...
