When a Dream Is Thwarted by a Feared Outcome

At 63, my life couldn’t be going better. I have, I think a solid eight months at a new job as a licensed clinical social worker, I’m a published writer and blogger, and I’m about halfway through the first draft of a memoir. I’m also an adjunct instructor at a small college near where I live, and I’ve just been asked to be an advisor for a women’s leadership program at another local university

I still, however, have an unfulfilled goal: I desire to be a more visible mental health influencer.

I have to wonder how much my employers know about my lived experience with mental illness: my recovery from anorexia, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Do employers do a social media background search these days? One study found that “70% or more of recruiters and hiring managers search applicants’ [social media] sites and even use this information to screen applicants.”

I want to post a series of videos letting people who have been diagnosed with BPD and their loved ones know that full and sustained recovery is possible. I’d like to let people know that while dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may be the gold-standard treatment for BPD—I’m the first to admit DBT helped me build a foundation of skills that helped me get through the intense treatment to follow and that I still use today—it is not the only option.

I want to raise…