There is a lot of stigma when it comes to living openly with mental illness. When I was a child, HIV/AIDS was the bogeyman. The stigma, driven by fear, was strong, which kept people from talking about it and contributed to the spread of the disease. People were afraid you could get the virus from a toilet seat, and the thought of touching, let alone kissing, someone with the disease was unthinkable. It was worse than a death sentence; it meant that you died a leper. Mental illness is where HIV/AIDS was 30 years ago. Living openly with mental illness equals feeling stigma.

Do you know how to handle repeated suicide threats? Princola Shields did not have to die. The 19-year-old mentally ill woman was serving a sentence at Indiana Women's Prison when guards moved her into temporary confinement in a shower stall no bigger than a hall closet, according to the Indianapolis Star. For three hours she screamed for help, begging to know what she'd done wrong, then threatening to kill herself and yelling that she was dying. Guards allegedly told her to shut up and ignored her. She was later found hanging from the shower stall. Cleary, her suicide threats were not handled properly.

We are overdue for a conversation on the need for mental health courts. My friend, Hector Barajas, a U.S. Army veteran, developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his service in the 82nd Airborne during the Gulf War. He was honorably discharged, but his illness was not acknowledged. In the midst of a flashback, he fired a gun. Although no one was hurt, he was arrested, convicted of a felony, then deported for life--he thought his service made him a citizen, but was misinformed and paid a drastic price. Hector and the estimated 30,000 veterans like him who have been deported largely for crimes committed due to PTSD are the poster children for the need for mental health courts.

There are common transgender myths people believe. With recent events thrusting transgendered individuals into the spotlight, my Facebook page has lit up with comments on the subject. A common thread of the transphobic posts is based on common transgender myths people believe. Here are three of the most common transgender myths people believe.

Should the U.S. ban conversion therapy? Recently, I received an email asking me to sign a petition demanding the Federal Trade Commission ban conversion therapy, also known as "reparative therapy," "ex-gay therapy," and "sexual orientation therapy." This therapy, which has been discredited by nearly every medical, psychiatric, and psychological organization, claims to be able to turn a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (LGBTQ) person into a heterosexual (Cure the Gay: Gay Conversion Therapy – Real or Hoax?). When you read what this therapy involves--the Southern Poverty Law Center claims it uses "violent role play, reenactment of past abuses, and exercises involving nudity and intimate touching" 1 --it's hard to see why it's allowed. But should the U.S. ban conversion therapy?

There are many things some men don't know about rape (Do Women Enjoy Being Raped? Myths About Rape). Presidential candidate Donald Trump recently accepted an endorsement from convicted rapist Mike Tyson, calling him a "tough guy" and saying he was "railroaded." This has not gone over well in Indiana, where Tyson was convicted and served three years in a youth prison before getting early release. It made me think of Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, and what men don't know about rape.

It's clear that anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) laws negatively impact mental health. Recently several states have passed laws harmful to the LGBTQ community. These laws reinforce the stigma attached to being LGBTQ and hurt people. Rooted in fear, these laws contribute to the higher rates of mental illness and suicide in the LGBTQ community. In this video, I explore these laws.

There are three things mental health professionals don't know about their clients because of stigma. Sometimes we're lucky and get a mental health professional who understands us, but many times we get a mental health professional who believes myths about mental illness or about mental health consumers. I've met many mental health professionals, and I would like for them all to understand three things: one, we're not children, two, we have an illness and not a character fault, and three, each case is unique.

How do you go about mourning a therapy pet in a healthy way? On Wednesday, my precious therapy rat Annabelle was diagnosed with pneumonia and abscessed lungs. I made the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep. Now I am mourning the loss of a therapy pet (Coping With Loss: Bereavement and Grief). The loss of a pet can be just as painful as the loss of a human. In this video, I talk about what to do to mourn the loss of a therapy pet in a healthy way.

Last week was National Crime Victims Rights Week, and while at a rally, someone gave me a pamphlet on domestic violence issues in the lesbian, gay, bisexaul, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) community. While domestic violence can affect anyone and can take many forms, the unique forms of domestic violence in the LGBTQ community are rarely discussed. I will focus on three types of domestic violence issues: strict gender roles, access to safe places, and threat of "outing" without consent.