Rene - You were born to be real Part 2 (Recovery Stories Series)

Rene talks vulnerably about how she recovered from her internalized stigma and self-loathing around having a mental illness. She describes how she learned to accept what was her illness and identify what was essentially the “system’s fault”. This portrait elucidates the power of peer support in recovery.
Possible topics for discussion: racism, gendered diagnosis, trauma informed care, peer support, stigma.
This video portrait is one of a 10-part educational series entitled, Recovery Stories: Navigating health disparities, racism, and stigma to get mental health access.
These contemporary portraits of people living with mental illness provide brief glimpses into the experience of navigating the US health system as Medicaid recipients. They share their stories of seeking care, engagement with clinicians, therapeutic treatment, peer support, and recovery. The 3-minute personal vignettes point to the impact of social-cultural and institutional determinants on health, and the resilience it takes to access care and get better.
The participants developed their short stories with ethnographer, Katinka Hooyer, and in collaboration with filmmaker Justin Goodrum. The portraits are being used in healthcare systems, allied health, and medical education training. This project was funded by the Advancing Healthier Wisconsin Endowment in collaboration with the Wisconsin Collaborative on Quality Healthcare and the Medical College of Wisconsin.