When you look at Darlene Holmes Malone today, you see a vibrant, confident and beautiful woman who gathers strength in life by helping others. What doesn’t show is the difficult and delicate path of her life — a journey tangled with abuse, depression, other mental health challenges, and alcoholism.
“Stigma is an ugly word. It makes me very angry inside. Because people don’t understand. When you say ‘depression,’ they look at you — they try to see it on your face. ‘I don’t see it,’ they say. Well you can’t. So, I want to put a face to it, and it’s not the face that you think it is.” —Darlene Holmes Malone
This video originally appeared on OC87RecoveryDiaries.com, a website that shares mental health recovery stories.
