There are many ways to cope with anxiety and depression. There are many ways to manage them. Courtney Parker shares a story and her artwork.
Roxy- a golden retreiever, sitting in the middle of a living room, looking happy. Her fur is completely golden.
This is my dog Roxy. She is a golden retriever. She was nine years old when she passed away. She was my very best friend before I met Brian, my partner. She wasn’t a trained therapy dog, but she was a big support to me and helped me with my emotions. I have severe anxiety and depression so day to day living can be very stressful sometimes. I love and miss Roxy everyday.
A drawing of two birds. Onve is a red cardinal siting on a branch with green leaves. The other bird is a blue jay sitting on a leafless branch.
Courtney also deals with her anxiety by drawing. She draws everything from imaginary creatures to animals to portraits of loved ones to Biblical imagery. The above picture is of two birds sitting on two brances.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST: Courtney Parker has spina bifina. She has a young son. Courtney deeply loves her family and God.
IDJ Questions:
How do you deal with anxiety and depression? Does your organization offer safe spaces and offer time where employees and clients can use the techniques that they need to maintain or increase well-being? Why or why not?
I work at the Courtyard By Marriott in downtown Muncie, and I’m a Volunteer Firefighter
I want to share my tattoos with everyone and tell you what they mean to me.
The first tattoo is a firefighter tattoo. The tattoo is a fire shield with an American flag. It’s outlined with a thin red line.
The next tattoo is another firefighter tattoo. This tattoo is what I call my 9/11 tattoo because every year I go to a firefighter conference in Indy, and i take part in a 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Lucas Oil Stadium. I climb 110 stories/2,200 step, which is the same number of steps and stories that the firefighters had climbed on that day. The tattoo displays a firefighter praying on one knee with an axe and a helmet. The American flag is behind him. The number 343, which is on the helmet, is how many firefighters died in the trade center on 9/11.
My next tattoo is my cerebral palsy tattoo, which is a green ribbon with wings and the word hope underneath the ribbon. I have cerebral palsy. I’m unable to use my right hand, and i wear an AFO on my right leg. I decided to get the word hope because hopefully someday there will be a cure for cerebral palsy.
My next 3 tattoos are on my left arm:
The first one is of a roman numeral, which represents my sister’s birthday- 09-07-92. This was my very first tattoo. My sister and I are close so we decided to get our birthdays tattooed on each other. She got my birthday (10-28-95) tattooed on her arm as well.
The second one is a heart with headphones around it with a heartbeat rhythm in the middle, I got this one because I listen to music wherever i go. It keeps me calm when I feel like I’m getting frustrated about things.
The third one is my semicolon tattoo. I got this one because i deal with depression and suicidal thoughts. I decided to get this one to remind myself that everything is going be okay. The text i got with it is “when we suffer we find the will to live.”
The next tattoo is a diamond shape tattoo with is one half is in the day time and the other half is in the night time. I got this one because sometimes I’m up all night, and sometimes I’m up all day. .
The next tattoo is my Johnny Cash tattoo. I got this one because I’m a Johnny cash fan. The tattoo is his face, and in the middle is him with his guitar walking down the road.
The next tatto is also musical. This one has the play, paused, stop and replay Buttons like on an Ipod or Mp3 player. Play the moments. Paused the memories. Stop the pain. Replay the happiness.
The last tattoo is another music tattoo. The tattoo says “Words fail, Music speaks.”. I got this one because sometimes we listen to songs that just know how we feel.
That’s all of my tattoos. Thank you for letting me share with you the meaning of my tattoos.
This is a picture of Alex. He’s wearing a tan and yellow firefighter suit with black gloves. He has short dark hair and a confident expression on his face. Alex is standing next to a fire truck.
The artwork is a line drawing in marker with colored pencils for emphasis. The piece shows the merging of health, struggles with addiction, pain and diagnosis with visuals of a bloodstream flowing through pills, flowers, plants, quotes, medical bills, and diagnoses, some from doctors and some from friends, family, or acquaintances. Text: Live and Let Live; “fight flight and freeze behaviors are unconsciously reflexive”; Robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy; emotional abuse; Disorder, Unspecified 300.02; Insurance Denial; “What story are you telling yourself”; This, too, shall pass; to remove the uterus (womb); patient balance- $29,886.61, insurance balance; “When pain becomes chronic, the nervous system naturally becomes overactive”; pain 1-5 (worst); Depressive Disorder; “There is so much we don’t know, and to write truthfully about your life, your own or your mother’s… is to engage repeatedly with those patches of darkness, those nights of history, those places of unknown…(R. Solnit); post traumatic stress disorder.
Meet the artist
Solomon, she/her, artist
About the artist:
Stephanie Solomon (she/her) is the new Youth Program Coordinator with the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She spent over 3 years as Prevention Coordinator with the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County, with a focus on promoting healthy relationships and environments for youth and families. She is a graduate of Indiana University with 19 years of experience in the social service sector and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health at Indiana University. Stephanie is an adult ally with the Kaleidoscope Youth Community. She is passionate about primary prevention and building spaces that promote belonging for youth and families. She enjoys karaoking to Barbara Streisand songs.
About the art:
The artwork is a line drawing in marker with colored pencils for emphasis. The piece shows the merging of health, struggles with addiction, pain and diagnosis with visuals of a bloodstream flowing through pills, flowers, plants, quotes, medical bills, and diagnoses, some from doctors and some from friends, family, or acquaintances. Text: Live and Let Live; “fight flight and freeze behaviors are unconsciously reflexive”; Robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy; emotional abuse; Disorder, Unspecified 300.02; Insurance Denial; “What story are you telling yourself”; This, too, shall pass; to remove the uterus (womb); patient balance- $29,886.61, insurance balance; “When pain becomes chronic, the nervous system naturally becomes overactive”; pain 1-5 (worst); Depressive Disorder; “There is so much we don’t know, and to write truthfully about your life, your own or your mother’s… is to engage repeatedly with those patches of darkness, those nights of history, those places of unknown…(R.Solnit); post traumatic stress disorder.
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