To Whom May Concern: Recovery Story

My Name is Iyanna Rivera. I have brain damage since birth and a traumatic brain injury since age four and living with a mental health dual diagnosis. This has deemed me house bound most of my life and I am currently seeking treatment and tend to visit crisis intervention units to receive confidential care. To receive the best care possible for behavioral and emotional dysfunctions I am prone to be in and out of psychiatric units for at least two seasons of the year; for pharmaceutical technology and other invasive therapies. I attend outpatient care six days a week while taking psychotropic medications and unfortunately i am too competent to be placed in a group home and don’t qualify for many resources in the mental health and recovery communities. These resources such as DMH, Vinfin, Pyramid Builders, Aurbor Healthcare systems and other community crisis intervention programs like Casa Vasquez (domestic violence) deem me overly competent and not in need of their services such as group homes and permanent hospice treatment.

Furthermore, I live with social paranoia anxieties (fear of large crowds and/or unfamiliar people), social separation anxieties (attachment/detachment issues), undiagnosed agoraphobia (fear of going outside alone) due to continuous attacks and domestic violence from different communities in Boston while in my youth. I have severe nerve damage from physical abuse and suicide attempts (not to mention I was unaware of the severity of my neurological brain injury). Though I am no longer suicidal, i suffer from the after effects and medication side effects such as dyskinesia (uncontrollable body seizure like sensations) and many more. This makes it difficult to walk and stand or sit for long periods of times.  Because of the fear of riding the MBTA and visiting other people's homes I am deemed homebound and spend most of my life writing and creating music and using other gifts and talents to cope with trauma from the comfort of my bedroom. As my treatment and therapy became more intense I learned my ways of self-isolation was a trigger for manic depression.

I have shared my survival story with Sarah Provost the City of Somerville's Representative, National Alliance of Mental Illness, and multiple Peer Support lead programs by way of publishing books locally and through the web and performing spoken word at several places in New England thanks to a former literacy program known as Books Of Hope out of Somerville.

I have been on my own since the age of sixteen. I have faced and survived homelessness, sex trafficking rinks, dysfunctional family abuse, domestic violence and gang violence. Because of this I am aware that recovery can’t been done alone and isolating only makes things harder for me. I show progress by reaching out to pillar programs of the boston communities such as Rosie’s Place, Baycove PERC, The Transformation Center, NAMI and Harvard Psychology affiliates and alumni to become more stable and now I will be working alongside Boston University taking the Recovery Education Program at the Psychiatric Center as a STUDENT (not a client or patient) with the help of my Peer Support Mr. Smith. They were founded in 1979 by Walter Reid. I am a miracle and a productive person nonetheless still trying my best to live a joyful, peaceful life at the age of twenty-five and to continue to be Boston bred and Boston Strong.

Thank You
Honorably Written,

Ziona

(c) 2017