A.C. Brooke

A Short Reflection

June is PTSD Awareness Month. In honor of that, I wanted to share a few stills from my upcoming documentary, Paper Birds.

I was 20 when I was officially diagnosed with PTSD after a traumatic memory from childhood resurfaced the summer prior. It took me a year and a half to begin sleeping through the night again, and much longer for the nightmares and flashbacks to subside. As painful and tumultuous as that chapter was, it’s hard to believe that now at 24, I’m in remission thanks to IFS & EMDR therapy.

While healing has taught me a myriad of things, perhaps the biggest is the need for accessible mental healthcare. I couldn’t get the care I really needed until I landed a full-time job. Even then, I had to pay out of pocket for all of my treatment. We need to do better–lives are on the line.

My hope is that this film–when it is released–can serve as a resource for survivors and providers alike, and serve as proof that you don’t need answers to heal. To learn more about this project, you can visit projectpaperbirds.com.

Thank you to everyone who’s taken an interest in this journey over the years–it means more than you know!