Blue is the color of hope
Update February 07th, 2019: Blue has posted a short video on Facebook to personally thank all her fans and loved ones who participated in the crowdfunding campaign, organized for her by her partner Joe, and/or left her loving support messages.
She was especially thankful for the #WeLoveYouDestinyBlue wave of support, which was a surprise also organized by Joe.
As of today, the campaign has raised over 31,000£ in just 8 days, thanks to 1,386 contributors. There's still some way to go to reach the 42,000£ goal set for her to be able to afford several weeks staying at a private psychiatric clinic: she will have a much better chance at recovery there than at the awful NHS public psych ward she would normally go to. Donating even just a little bit will go a long way, so here's the GoFundMe link.
You can watch the video through the link provided above or by heading to DestinyBlue's Facebook page.
End of update
Blue, as her fans lovingly call her, has made a name for herself in the mental health community: she's been drawing on DeviantArt for years now, often incorporating mental health issues into her art.
When I discovered her, I was left breathless by the intensity of her drawings, by the hard-edged truth weaved into her soft pencil strokes, and that's when it really hit me: I was not alone. If a girl as talented, beautiful and kind as she was could experience self-hatred, drive a dirty razor into her skin, and generally embody everything I was calling myself a burden for... then maybe I wasn't a disgusting lump of fake humanity, either. Maybe I was a normal person, just suffering a lot. Maybe it was okay that I had needed the psych ward, and again, and again. Maybe I deserved to get better.
That's what Blue managed to do with just a few drawings posted on a website. Then I read some of the answers she'd made to fans, comments she'd left on other people's art, and I thought to myself "wow. She sounds so kind. I'd love for us to be friends". I never reached out to her directly, except by leaving one or two comments on her Facebook page. I didn't want to have my perfect image of her shattered by reality. But I still followed her on social media and that's how I learned that right now, she is not okay.
She needs to get a bed in a private psychiatric facility, because the public one in her home area sucks. But she can't afford it without our help so I'm relaying this to you: please donate whatever you can, because every cent will make a difference. And please share: you know the power of social media so use it for good. Use it for Blue. Here's the GoFundMe link.
In what world is this incredible person on the receiving end of relentless, unfathomable emotional pain? Well -- a somehow functioning world in which any of us can get ill. And so, a world in which every single one of us deserves to feel better. But how do we achieve that? you might ask. Good question.
It starts with being made aware that such illness exists: that's called basic awareness and it's about damn time it gets taught in school.
Then being able to identify such illness in yourself or in other people: that's a step up in the awareness game, and an easy one at that if we were just taught what to look for. It can be the difference between life and death.
Then having access to treatment: it shouldn't be this tricky, nor this expensive. Treatment exists, most people actually respond well to it even though they may have to try many different ones, and it's not just in the form of medication. But take the example of France, hailed as The Kingdom of Social Security: well, we don't have nearly enough beds in public psychiatric wards, they're crazily understaffed and underresourced, and therapy is not even covered by the mandatory basic social security like drugs are. Even though it's been established time and time again that therapy works just as well, sometimes better than drugs for a lot of patients and definitely doesn't have nasty side effects. Anyway, this is where the system is failing Blue, and thousands others like her.
Finally, we as a society need to stop considering mental illness as shameful and to encourage immediate help-seeking and treatment-adhering. It's hard enough as it is, guys, don't go and declare the person must be crazy, dangerous or abnormal. We have a role to play in ensuring the sick person is on the way to recovery, by helping fetch medication, securing therapy appointments, talking about the way they feel with them... Lots of options, to which I will dedicate a whole article soon. Just be there, be supportive and loving. That changes everything, believe me.
I'll come back with a full article about Blue and her incredible art. That's been in the pipe from the start. I just wanted to publish this as soon as I could so she would receive the support she needs.
And, dearest Blue... we are with you. You deserve to get better, and you will get better. We're all thinking of you. Hang in there.