Bryan is a bipolar mentor, mental health advocate, and a facilitator for the local NAMI affiliate. In addition to being familiar with mental health, psychology, and substance abuse issues, Bryan is very passionate about helping individuals both in the bipolar community and the mental health community at large.
Bryan Tillett is a proud and loving father and husband who has been living well with bipolar disorder for the last three years. He has dealt with the struggles and triumphs that come with having bipolar for almost half of his life. Being familiar with the symptoms of the disease as well as the pros and cons of the grandiose mania and the very dark depression that comes with being bipolar, he is passionate about helping others recognize those symptoms and providing them with hope and support.
Bryan volunteers because...
I volunteer because at one point in my life, I felt like I was a lost cause. Many of us who work in this field, do so in the shadow of Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. In my mind, there are NO lost causes - only those who have not found the help, support, guidance, and most of all HOPE. I believe that hope is contagious. It is the shining light in the darkest corner of humanity that is so easily lost and forgotten with the overpowering shadows that can be all consuming.
Myself, along with many others, have personally experienced being cast away by family and friends while struggling with bipolar and other mental illnesses. It is there in the shadows that I believe all of us in this field, particularly with Hope Xchange, are being called to do that work. It is within those darkest times that I feel called to be a source of light and hope. And with that courage and love, I silently suffer with those afflicted. I remember the days I was walking in their shoes, feeling lost in the darkness. I do this not only for them, but also in the memory of those that we have lost forever due to mental illness.