The Battery Life of a Newlywed: Supporting a Partner with Bipolar Disorder with Danika

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Hey. Before we get into today's conversation, please note that this conversation

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contains mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation.

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If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please reach

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out for help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available

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247. Just dial 988. Remember, you're not

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alone. Especially, like,

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with something like bipolar disorder, like, to talk to somebody and say, hey,

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my husband's in the psychiatric unit because he wanted to kill himself. That's a very

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heavy topic, and it's hard to bring that up to somebody

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because I want to make sure that they're okay and that, you know, what are

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their emotions like? Are they gonna be in that grieving and, like, anxiety moment

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too? It's this weird web of where you're you almost forget

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about yourself and the fact that you need care and you need to

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be supported and you need to look at, like, and ask yourself the same questions

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you would ask people around you. Like, how are you doing? What does

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loving your neighbor actually look like?

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This is Journey with Care, where curious Canadians get inspired

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to love others well through real life stories and honest conversations.

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This is Johan here. We are in our series, Battery Life of a

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Caregiver. We're exploring the lives of those who dedicate themselves to caregiving

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roles. We'll uncover what it takes, their self care strategies,

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and how our communities can provide much needed support around them.

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Today, I'm honored to have a returning guest and my daughter,

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Danica, to share a little bit about being a wife and support to someone

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living with bipolar disorder. But before we get into

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that conversation, remember that we have Journey with Prayer, 5 minute

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devotional to start off your week. That's on a separate feed. If you check the

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show notes, I got some links there for you to follow.

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And to continue to produce great content, we rely on the

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generosity of our listeners, donors, and sponsors of Care Impact.

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To help the podcast and the work of Care Impact in the community, we value

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your support. We'd love to connect with new sponsors and

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donors to the podcast. Just head over to the show notes again or careimpact.ca/podcast.

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So Danica, who previously shared her adoption story at the

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beginning of this season, season 3 episodes 1 to 3. You can

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go listen to that if you wanna hear a story. Danica is also the loving

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wife of Jaden who opened up about his bipolar disorder diagnosis on

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episode 21 of season 3 this season. That episode was called

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differently wired navigating bipolar disorder in community.

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Really good episode. I encourage you to check it out. Feel free to pause this

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episode and listen to that one. It might be a good way to, preview this

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episode, but here we are. Welcome to the podcast, Danica.

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Thank you for having me again. Looking forward to the conversation. I

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always love having conversations with you, whether it's on the podcast

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or in my living room. Alright, Danica. We're gonna get right into

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it. Let's go to the beginning, not the beginning of your life,

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but can you reminisce about the early days of your relationship with Jaden?

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What drew you to him? Yeah. So when I first came

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to Winnipeg, I was a part of a smaller church

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community. And so Jaiden was one of

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2 of the young adults there, and

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I just noticed that he just was a really joyful individual

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and super committed to Jesus. And I just really

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admired that. I think it kind of just went from there. It also

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helped that he lived, like, 10 houses down from where I was

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living. And so during, like, the COVID pandemic, we would

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start going for walks one summer, got to know each other a bit

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better, did an online bible study with some people from our

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church. And then it was when I started studying with him

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in the University of Manitoba engineering basement. During my

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1st year of university, it was we went for walks every single

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day for, like, 4 months. And during that

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time, it was still the his heart for Jesus and just

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the love that he had for him and just how faithful he's

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been in his walk with the Lord just really drew me to him, and he's

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he's super funny, kind of like a carefree individual. Yeah.

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He's one of the most joyful people you'll ever meet. Yeah. And we

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went through a little bit of that dating story in our episode 1 to 3

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there where you shared about the walks of the pandemic and the awkwardness

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of walking across the street and waving to the person you're dating,

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which is kind of odd. But did you suspect anything about Jaden's mental health,

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during that time of dating? Yeah. So because I

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knew him before we started dating, he had taken, like, a break

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from school, for, like, an entire semester

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and had kinda mentioned something how it was, like, for

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his mental health. And so our first date,

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we talked about his mental health, like, in great detail. And

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I got to kinda know more about, like, his depression and,

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like, that cycle where one moment he's, like, okay,

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and then suddenly everything sucks, and he is starting to have, like,

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suicidal thoughts regularly. But he didn't have a diagnosis at this point,

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right, while you were dating? No. He didn't have a diagnosis at all. It's like

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this mysterious thing that just started happening to him.

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So when you had those conversations about his mental health, do you feel like that

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was a red flag for you, or was that something that drew you to

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him and something that you felt like, you know what? This is part of who

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you are, and I'm I'm willing to deal with this. I think for

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me, just with my own mental health journey, and, you know,

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my biological dad has PTSD. That's pretty bad. And

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so I just didn't see it being, like, the core of who he

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is. It was definitely something that I did

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consider in, like, you know, walking with him and, like, learning how to support him

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during those times, but he was so much more than just his mental health.

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And, you know, when you start falling in love, it's like, there's gonna be good

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things about the person you marry, and there's gonna be things that are gonna be

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difficult to walk through. But, yeah, I didn't see it as a red flag. I

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just saw it as, oh, maybe the Lord's, like, bringing us together

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because of my background with mental health and just the way that I view it.

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Another important thing is, like, when we first started dating, like, I was surprised

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that he'd liked me back. I'd always had this, like, idea that I was too

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broken or just too much to be in a relationship.

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And just he loved me back so well. And, like, he loved the

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quirkiest weirdest parts of me, and it's just it was just a really

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refreshing experience. That's amazing. So you

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guys get married. Now let's talk about that time frame leading up to when

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Jaden actually got his diagnosis. How did that come about? How did

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he get that diagnosis, and how did you guys react to the

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news? How did you respond? Yeah. So I had a

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general idea of his, like, suicidal thoughts and, like,

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depressive, like, episodes. But when we got

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married, it was like two and a half weeks after the wedding. He came

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home and he was like, hey, I walked to the bridge

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and I almost jumped. And I was like, okay. Okay. This is fine.

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I remained calm, but once we were married, I

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really saw what they were actually like. Because like

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I was there in the middle of the night when he'd wake up and need

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to talk or having hours and hours of conversations.

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And so it was just an added, like, challenge in that 1st

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year, trying to learn to navigate to live with someone when

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they can be 1 like, they can be depressed one moment, super

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happy, or just all of a sudden, like, mellow

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kind of in between. And so for the first, like, year and a half of

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our marriage, it was like almost every single month. It was

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like a cycle that he would start to get, like, into a

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low as we called it, and then he wouldn't be sleeping well.

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And then he would get the suicidal ideation. And it just really

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varied on how severe that would be each time. And

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so a lot of it was encouraging him and pushing him towards,

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you know, going for therapy. Then we went on antidepressants

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because we just thought it was chronic depression. That's what, like, the doctor was

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saying, and we're just waiting until we found, like, the

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right supports to navigate it. But it was

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hard. I mean, when you're married and it's your 1st year,

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something that Jane and I have talked about, we didn't really get that honeymoon phase.

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We started with life and death situations and

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just really going into that, for better or for worse, in sickness and

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health, like, immediately. And so, eventually, he

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got on some antidepressants. And once they kicked in, nothing happened

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for, like, 7 months. And then all of a sudden after that 7

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months, he went back into a low. And so

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our doctor was like, oh, we'll just switch you onto a different kind

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of antidepressant. Sometimes they build up in your body and they don't work.

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And when he went on these ones, that's when he had his first,

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like, noticeable manic episode. And,

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personally, that was scarier than when he was lower because

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he wasn't sleeping at all. So what did that look like, a manic

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episode? I mean, he describes it a little bit in his episode, but

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from your perspective, like, how did you feel during this manic

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episodes, and what did it look like from your perspective? From my

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perspective, it looked like he was going insane. Also, he was just,

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like, mega genius all of a sudden. Like, the stuff he was talking about was

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insane, but he was just full of energy

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all the time. And that really soft,

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careful, considerate side of him just disappeared. And so

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it was really hard because I really wanted him to be happy and

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thriving and enjoying life. But now he was in a situation where I was asking

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him not to do that. And that was like the hardest thing to do. I

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did end up saying something very bluntly to him at

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one point, because he's like, don't you want me to be happy? I

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told him something along the lines. Like, the only one that's enjoying your

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happiness right now is you. And that was really

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hard to say. But once I said that, that's when, like,

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Jaden and I had alarm bells going off. And we talked to

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our family doctor, and that's when we first heard the words

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bipolar disorder. So where did it go from there? How did he get

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that official diagnosis? So he had to go off the

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antidepressants that he was trying because for those with bipolar

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disorder, they cause manic episodes. And then

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we got him on to one medication for

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bipolar, but our general practitioner, she can't prescribe

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anything higher. And so she had to refer him to a psychiatrist,

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and we just waited because you can't rush a referral to

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psychiatry. They're overworked, and there's such a demand, and there's not

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enough to meet that demand. And so that up and

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down was normal life at that point. So when you get the

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diagnosis, how did you guys react? What was your response? How do you feel? What

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were the emotions going on at that time? So that

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was January of this year, and a

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lot was going on for me emotionally already. The whole reason we got the

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diagnosis is I lost someone really important to me,

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and I just didn't have the emotional capacity to go through another

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low. And I noticed this, like, suicidal ideation was, like,

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super bad. I was exhausted, and I was like,

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if I keep him at home, I'm being selfish

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because I just don't wanna be away from him, but he needs

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help. And so we went to the

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crisis response center, was up most of that night, and

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they decided to send him to the

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psychiatry ward so that they could go through a formal

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diagnosis process because they were pretty convinced he had bipolar disorder at this point.

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And that way they could try different meds and try them at

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higher doses so they work faster. And you could also get that formal

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diagnosis in a week instead of waiting so many months for, like, a

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community psychiatrist. And so I remember, like, when they

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came to get him to bring him to the psych ward, they asked if

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I wanted to walk with him. And I just

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knew I couldn't walk with him and then be escorted out

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of the building. Like, it was a very I was, like, very I

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just felt so empty inside at that point. You know, my best friend, the

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person that, like, I feel the safest with wasn't

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by my side during a time that I was grieving someone that was

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super important to me. How did you get through that time?

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So I remember the first night, Jaden's brother picked me

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up from the crisis response center, and then I went to your guys' house.

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You and mom were not there yet. You were gonna be there,

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like, a little bit later. And so I remember Eli

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was home, and so it was just really special because he and I just watched

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a movie in the basement together, and it was just really nice to not be

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asked about it. And then I have a really good friend

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from my church who I was getting fairly close with her

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family and her kids. And when I updated her about what

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was going on, it was just so refreshing. Her first question

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was like, why didn't you guys tell me about Jaden's mental health sooner or, you

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know, asking all these questions? But she was like, you can come stay at our

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house anytime that you need. We will feed you. We're here for

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you. And, like, the whole week because I did

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go stay at their house overnight one night, and then

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I would get text during the days when I wasn't there, like, have you had

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lunch? Are you eating? Are you drinking? Did you sleep last night?

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And it was just so refreshing because unknown to me at

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that time, I have ADHD, and so eating regularly can

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be difficult on a good day. And I just felt like I was known

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by somebody and, like, like, their focus

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was completely on me and what I needed. And it

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was just so good because it made it easier to talk about what was going

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on with Jaden and how I was feeling, and they're just a

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really good rock during that time. Yeah. Because often in these

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crisis situations, you'll often get the question, how

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is Jaden doing? And it it doesn't often come

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where they'll ask how you're doing because it's very

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stressful for the caregivers in these crisis situations.

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It is. And I understand that because it's also very stressful for people that care

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about the individual because it's like, they wanna make sure they're

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okay. Like, Jaiden is such a core person in our

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community, and so many people love him. And it's

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also so scary to ask a caregiver how they're doing

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because it's like, what's your relationship like for them? Or we're

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not necessarily taught in society how to care for

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somebody when they're going through something like that to get

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support or, like, you know, is it okay to ask this question? But it's just

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we're not taught to ask about the caregiver first and then the person

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that's being cared for. Do you feel there's sometimes maybe feelings

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of guilt to to even bring up about how you're feeling when

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when you get questions like that? Like, is there is there a guilt thing there?

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Sometimes. Like, I wanted to be asked first.

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I wanted people to see me and to focus on me, but, of course, I'm

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riddled with guilt and shame because my

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husband's in this psychiatric unit at the hospital, and I'm able to be at

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home. Yes. It almost feels like, how can I be so

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selfish to think about my own care when my husband's in the hospital?

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Right? Yeah. Yeah. This is, like, one of the most emotional weeks I've

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had in my life. And I had to sit down and, like, make the hard

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decision, like, am I gonna continue with my degree? Because you were wondering if you

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had to quit school just to care for him a little bit more and and

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to be available. Right? Yeah. And I was so close to finishing my degree

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too, and I just really I really didn't wanna stop.

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And so a lot of it was asking people questions

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and needing to initiate sometimes

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when I needed help or I needed to talk something through, which is okay, but

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at the same time, that's added exhaustion because I'm also thinking, I

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don't wanna burden people with these hard emotions, these really hard

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conversations, and almost like wanting to care for others around you

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in your community as well, especially, like, with something like bipolar

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disorder. Like, to talk to somebody and say, hey. My husband's in the

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psychiatric unit because he wanted to kill himself. That's a very heavy topic,

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and it's hard to bring that up to somebody because I

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want to make sure that they're okay and that you know, what are their emotions

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like? Are they gonna be in that grieving and, like, anxiety moment too?

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It's this weird web of where you're you almost forget about

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yourself and the fact that you need care and you need to be

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supported, and you need to look at, like, and ask yourself the same questions you

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would ask people around you. Like, how are you doing? Are you grieving?

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Are you anxious? Are you scared? And spoiler alert, Danica. Of course,

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you got your degree. You worked so hard, especially through the

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challenges, and you persevered. It's amazing.

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But since the diagnosis, like, you guys had to learn how to deal with

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bipolar. So what kind of work have have you and Jaden,

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specifically you, like, what have you had to do to manage and learn about bipolar

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and how to implement those things into your guys' everyday lives?

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So in the beginning, when he did come home, he

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ended up reading a book on, like, bipolar

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disorder. And I haven't had the opportunity yet to read through it,

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but the first thing I did is I'd let him just talk in detail about

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what he was learning about himself. And it's

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there was just such a difference once he got on the medication and had a

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community psychiatrist. Like, he was himself

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and was, like, able to, like, manage his emotions and be more stable. Like, it

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was a night and day difference. And so I've just learned

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to ask him questions and to be a

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reminder that having a day that you feel sad isn't

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gonna spiral out of control anymore. And just getting to

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almost be similar to before, where just being that

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emotional support and that comfort and listening and talking with him,

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now it's we know what it is. We have a name for it,

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and just the relief that came with that on its own, like, was the

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biggest thing to learn. So now that he's on

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meds, it feels a little bit more stable. Right? So what

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does a manic episode look like now, and how do you navigate that? How would

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you respond when you're seeing a little bit of a manic episode

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arising? The really cool thing and, like, just such a

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testimony of the Lord, the first, like, they call it, like, a

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cocktail for medications when you're taking different medications

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together to get the best effect. The first group of

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medications they put him on, once he was out of the psychiatric

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unit, he hasn't had any mania.

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It's amazing. Like, I haven't seen him

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go into any, like, really depressive lows or into, like,

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really high highs. It's like his emotions don't go from

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one extreme to the other. They're just that natural, like, some days are

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a little bit more like blood. Other days are like, oh, this is really good.

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But he's just he's stable, and I see that confidence and

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that trust in his emotions now. And it's just it's so

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good. Now I remember you getting the diagnosis, and you're a little

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disappointed to find out that this isn't something that's just gonna go away and

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disappear. Like, this is something you gotta learn to live with. So how

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important has it been having a strong support network around both you

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and Jaden? And who are some of those key peoples that specifically

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you, that you depend on when you when you feel like you're having

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challenges as as a caregiver? I definitely lean,

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like, a lot on you and mom because

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Well, I hope we would be there for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Get up.

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I think it's really, like for those who have listened to, like, the 3rd

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episode of my adoption story, I remember, like, I

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was just kinda starting in January to lean on you guys more

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when something came up and being a little bit more vulnerable when I needed

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help. And then, like, this just really

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helped with that because it's like I was able to, like, text you guys

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anytime and be like, hey. Like, this isn't going great. And, like, my

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gecko got sick while Jaden was in the psychiatric ward.

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And so you drove me to a vet, which was so helpful

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because, like, my gecko is my emotional support, and he

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decided that was the best week to get sick. And so it's just like I

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feel like I'm way more confident now to come and, like, ask you guys questions

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or say like, hey. It's really, really hard right now, and we

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need this. And it's just I think it's really just brought that

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family relationship with you guys and also the siblings to just new

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levels. And then that family from church, like, this summer, when I

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was finishing my degree, it was, like, so busy. And

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I was over at their place for supper regularly, And that

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really helped because I'm not the biggest fan of cooking at

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all. And so I was able to, like, go, you

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know, eat a meal and just really get to be a part of

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normal life, and they just treated Jaiden normal too, and

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that really helps. Like, I really lean on them for,

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like, that support and, like, knowing that it's like, there's another, like, member of our

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community that we can go over anytime open door.

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And then also, like, Jaden having the opportunity to speak on the

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podcast, it's opened so many doors and so many conversations

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where people's like they've I feel like they feel more, like, confident to be able

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to ask them questions. That seems so important. Right? Yeah.

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Like, even being able to tell our stories and being honest with our mental

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health, it really does open those doors to more conversations

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and being able to care for one another as communities,

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being better supports to the caregivers as well as those needing

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care. It's it's amazing what just having a conversation

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could do for that. Yeah. And I think, like, the biggest thing now that, like,

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he's, like, he's in that, like, stability, his medications are working

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really well, everything. It's like, the best thing caregivers can do right now

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is just treat us like normal because this is our normal.

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And, yeah, it's gonna impact him for the rest of his life,

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and there could be times that his medication needs to be changed up. But, like,

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he has a community psychiatrist now, and he's able to talk to them. And,

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you know, many, many people with bipolar disorder go on to live very

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normal lives. And so being treated normal and

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just that love and that knowing

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that when something if it does happen, that, you know, we still have

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that network and that support to fall on, and that I'm

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not forgotten in that. That's a very important thing

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now is that, yes, we are 1. And, yes,

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Jaden is the one that is very much impacted

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by his mental health because it's it's his body, it's his brain.

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But at the same time, I'm very much impacted by it as

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well because he's, like, my best friend, my, like, super safe

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person. Like like, I couldn't imagine life without him anymore.

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And so the biggest thing I think for caregivers is that

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I'd wanna say is, like, don't forget about us. Now you you've obviously had a

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challenging year. Let's talk about self care a little bit. We know

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that there there have been good people in those challenging times that

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have stepped in. But what about your own self care? How do you recognize

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when things are starting to feel overwhelming? What kind of routines do you

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implement into your daily life to to make you feel grounded, especially after

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having such a challenging year? So I

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think because of how challenging a year it's

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been, I was trying to implement like, journaling is a huge thing for

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me. Like, just sitting down, journaling, and talking to the Lord is,

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like, just something I do on the I try to do on the regular,

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but implementing self care while doing school was really

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difficult. And I started to notice that I was, like, leaning on Instagram

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a lot more, and there was moments that I wanted to do something

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better, but I just couldn't move. And so I think the biggest thing for self

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care I ended up doing was I

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went on a hunch that I might have, like, ADHD

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and ended up going for an assessment and found

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out I do have it, which also was, like, life changing for me.

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But now it's like I'm learning about my brain. That's the biggest thing I do

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for self care is I I do a lot of really good,

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like, affirmations and will like, in moments that I feel frozen and,

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like, I'm gonna be stuck and can't be in a routine because it's really difficult

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to get into one for me. I have a lot more grace and kindness and

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compassion towards myself, and so I'm finding that my current,

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like, self care is a good, like, cup of coffee, hanging out with my

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cat, and, like, either, like, doing some one of my many hobbies

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or, like, reading a good book is what I'm leaning towards. Or

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if my brain is just, like, seriously, like, there's just so much going on up

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there. I'll just go watch, like, a documentary or, like, a start

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working through a documentary series and just kinda give my brain that

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break. It feels like a key self care thing to do

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is to learn a little bit more about yourself and

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how you tick. And that's why we did series on differently wired and flavors

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of the care. We did, like, an 8 episode series, and it's all about learning

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what makes us tick. And it's important to learn those those things about ourselves so

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that we know how to care for ourselves better, especially when you're caring for others

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because you're not gonna be a good caregiver to Jaden if you're not caring

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for yourself. So what are some of those early signs that you look for that

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indicate you might be nearing burnout or or you might need to

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do something for yourself for self care? So one of

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my biggest early signs is, scrolling on Instagram

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for 2 hours or more and not even realizing that time's passed.

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And then another big indicator for me is when I'm falling back into old

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thought patterns and letting it happen.

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Like, almost like digging myself a hole of self pity is what I call

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it. That's when I start noticing that, like, k, I'm starting to get burnt

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out. I'm not okay. And another big indicator

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is I stop having compassion

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towards Jaden for certain things, or I'm like, I

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just don't have the energy or the emotional capacity for this right now. Those

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are my 2 biggest red flags. I'm like, k. I need to step back and

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take a deep breath and lean on my support network. And I've really

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learned to trust that I'm not the only one that gets to be a caregiver

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to Jaden. I'm not the only one that gets to be in his life and

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support him. And that at times, when I need to take a step back

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and focus on myself, one, it's not selfish. I

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know there's people that he can talk to when he needs to if I'm not

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available to do that. And sometimes it looks like a spa day with

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a good book in hand as well. Yes. Yeah.

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There's lots and lots of reading. I think right now, like, I just

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finished my degree and have realized that school was a big stressor

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in my life and was really making it hard to do anything. And

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so I'm kind of in a season now where I'm discovering

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more of who I am and how I've been made and the things that I

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do. And the coolest thing to see is Jaiden is at

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this point of stability where I don't know. It's just it's such a sweet

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spot. It is such a sweet pocket for us right now in our marriage and

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just in that friendship and that being developed. And the

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more I reflect on the last year and just where I am now and just

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the support network I have, I just I know I'm just feeling super thankful, and

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I think that's been the best thing on my mental health. It's just getting to

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reflect to my community and just so thankful for the community we

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are in and that there are so many people that went past that

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awkwardness and did ask me about myself. And it almost feels like you're

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just catching up with self care now after after being done school

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and the and the year that you've had. So Definitely like playing some catch

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up. I've definitely noticed a big difference in myself, which I really like. And I

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feel like I have a lot more capacity for people and being a part of

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my support network. And so And you guys made a few different life changes

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as well. Like you said, you got a cat and you guys actually moved from

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a dark apartment with cement walls to a nice

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older structure with more sunlight, different part of

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town. So a few changes like that. Wanna talk about a few of those

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changes that you've made since the diagnosis that you feel, like, might have

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helped your mental health as well as Jaden's? Yeah. So we were in a

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very dark apartment before, and so we ended up moving

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closer to our church community. So now we're, like,

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really, like, plugging in. That is amazing. That's been so good for me. It's like,

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it's a 7 minute drive instead of a half hour drive. So I feel like

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I'm really starting to invest more in, like, friendships that I was wanting

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to. And, also, where we used to live, getting to a

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place to walk was really hard because we lived, like, right off

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of, like, a highway. And that was, like, a huge barrier for me to go

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for a walk or even go outside. And so now I just walk

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outside our apartment, and I'm in a neighborhood with trees, and it's

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quiet. And I love squirrels and stuff. So, like,

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there's a lot of them here, and I get to just enjoy looking at them.

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And one of my favorite coffee shops is, like, a 7 minute walk away. So

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if I wanna just go journal there or do something fun, I can. So I

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just I feel like yeah. Just that moving was so good for me

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personally and feel so homey here with my plants

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and just the colors that are around me. So And like you said, you

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guys really didn't get much of a honeymoon phase. So does it feel like

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you're kind of starting to step into that where you get to know each other,

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beyond having a bipolar diagnosis and being in

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school? Yeah. I really feel like we're stepping into that where we're just really

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getting to know each other. And we just went on, like, a big, like, dream

Speaker: 00:29:51

vacation. Like, I got to go to Greece this summer, which is just so fun.

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And we had so much fun on that trip. And so it just feels like

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such a sweet pocket of getting to know one another, but really just also celebrate

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how close we are now since the diagnosis. And now it's

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like, that's not the center of our lives anymore. It's something

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that we're aware of. It's something that it's managed and we'll continue to

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need to manage, but we're both walking hand in hand on

Speaker: 00:30:17

this journey to understand ourselves more and how we tick and having that compassion

Speaker: 00:30:20

for one another. And sometimes that looks like weird

Speaker: 00:30:24

routines, And other times, it looks like

Speaker: 00:30:28

really deep conversations to get to know one another, and it's been really good.

Speaker: 00:30:32

And you also talked about how being closer to church was helpful.

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What role does faith in your church community play in helping you maintain that mental

Speaker: 00:30:40

and emotional well-being and and your guys' marriage together, your relationship?

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It's so central. Like, I have a couple friends

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who just got married this summer, and so it's just really fun getting

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to pour into those relationships. But I feel like faith has

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always been so important to me. And just yesterday at church,

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I was really reflecting on, like, that cry of desperation and, like, my,

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like, 16, 17 year old heart of, like, just wanting to be healed and wanting

Speaker: 00:31:06

to not feel so broken and stuff. Being close to our church community has

Speaker: 00:31:10

really just accelerated that healing, and I

Speaker: 00:31:14

feel so accepted and welcomed there. And, like, people know who I am, and they

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celebrate me for who I am. And they celebrate Jaden for who he is. No

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one had a super negative response when he started talking about having bipolar

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disorder, and so it's our normal. And we get to be

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celebrated by those in our community and celebrate others. And I

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think, for me, serving in the church more is accessible, and it's really

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helping keep me accountable to reading my bible and praying and

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just walking closely with the Lord. And I think for both of us,

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that's been really good. Alright. We're coming to the end here. I

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know we can keep talking, and you're coming over tonight to do laundry, so I'm

Speaker: 00:31:51

sure we'll talk some more. What message do you wanna leave with our listeners? Is

Speaker: 00:31:55

there something that you want to say that we didn't get to chat about? The

Speaker: 00:31:59

biggest thing I wanna say is suicidal

Speaker: 00:32:02

ideation is real. And

Speaker: 00:32:06

that even if it can be managed at home and

Speaker: 00:32:10

with your community, when you're feeling weak or you

Speaker: 00:32:13

don't know what would happen if you took somebody to a

Speaker: 00:32:17

crisis response center or they need more

Speaker: 00:32:21

help, like, at a psychiatric level, trust god that

Speaker: 00:32:24

he's gonna be your strength, but don't wait as long as I

Speaker: 00:32:28

did because it takes way too long to get a psychiatrist

Speaker: 00:32:32

in the community, and regular suicidal ideation

Speaker: 00:32:36

is not healthy. And sometimes the best thing you can do

Speaker: 00:32:39

for someone you're caring about is the hardest thing to say to them.

Speaker: 00:32:43

And I just really want to encourage people and remind

Speaker: 00:32:47

them that you aren't the only one caring. Like, God is in the midst of

Speaker: 00:32:51

it. He holds everything together. He's our strength. He's

Speaker: 00:32:54

our provider, and that it's gonna be okay. So don't

Speaker: 00:32:58

be afraid about sending somebody

Speaker: 00:33:02

to the hospital on something that is their mental health because you

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never know what door it could open for them. That's great,

Speaker: 00:33:09

Danica. Just so much courage to share you guys story and I'm so grateful.

Speaker: 00:33:13

And you you're such a testament of strength and love for Jaden and what a

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caregiving role looks like, especially being a young person

Speaker: 00:33:20

and and being a student. It's just so inspiring. So

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I want our listeners to remember that self care is not a luxury. It's a

Speaker: 00:33:27

necessity. So thank you, Danica, for sharing your story with

Speaker: 00:33:31

us. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker: 00:33:35

Thank you for joining another conversation on Journey with Care, where we inspire Journey With

Speaker: 00:33:38

Care, where we inspire curious Canadians on their path

Speaker: 00:33:42

of faith and living life with purpose in community. Journey

Speaker: 00:33:46

With Care is an initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity

Speaker: 00:33:49

dedicated to connecting and equipping the whole church to journey well

Speaker: 00:33:53

in community. You can visit their website at careimpact.ca or

Speaker: 00:33:57

visit journey with care. Ca to get more information on weekly

Speaker: 00:34:00

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Speaker: 00:34:04

and meetups. You can also leave us a message, share your thoughts,

Speaker: 00:34:08

and connect with like minded individuals who are on their own journeys of

Speaker: 00:34:12

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Speaker: 00:34:15

these stories reach the community. Together, we can explore ways to

Speaker: 00:34:19

journey in a good way. And always remember to stay curious.