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*** Teenage Pain was set up in hopes to educate girls about the tough situations that they might be facing. The program is designed to benefit teenage girls struggling through emotional & mental issues. It is consisted of this website, an upcoming book, and soon presentations to groups. I know from my own experience I would have loved for a program to have been there to educate me, and I looked, but it is so hard to find information that is intended solely for the purpose of the girls suffering. Another aspect of the program is advocacy. I would like to advocate for teenage girls in all aspects but one area that certainly hits close to home is, during my recovery, I was a very active participant and checked things out on my own. Such as calling the insurance company to verify recommendations, checking hospital paperwork and asking questioning constantly. During this process I discovered that there was a lot of covering up being done for lies already told. These were lies told by adults to coarse me into situations I did not need to be in. For example, I would have been forced to switch counselors at an earlier date which was against my will and against my rights as stated in California Family Code 69:24. I know that most girls are not this active in their recovery process but I would like them to be. I would like to advocate for girls to be protective & stand up for themselves in situations where they have rights. There are too many times when teenagers rights are overlooked.
*** This webpage is designed as a stepping stone for the book I am in the early stages of writing. Both the book and this site are intended to help teenage girls recognize that they are not alone in their struggle with self-image, depression & loneliness. I am creating this website with the hope that I can help myself through helping others. I want other teenagers to realize that life is precious and we need to cherish it. Although I know that and accept it, my thoughts and my feelings are still very distant and not yet connected. I am working on once again rejoining them and I encourage other girls to do the same. It is very easy to think one thought yet feel another. However, through cognitive therapy, that thought process can change quite quickly.
*** The following pages are for you--the girls. When I use -you- I will be referring to the teenage girls reading these pages, facing the issues covered on this site. However, there is a section in the site for family and friends of sufferers to read & learn how to educate themselves & support their loved ones. I hope you can find the info on this site useful and helpful to your situation and I hope at some point you visit each page, but before you continue on please take a moment and take a look at my disclaimer. I hope whichever page in this site applies to you, provides some insight and informative research that will help guide you through your struggle and I hope something will spark and you'll WANT to get help.--Remember that while although temporarily these words might provide a sense of relief, they are only Band-Aids covering up a deeper wound. I truly encourage you to seek professional help within your area and definitely get involved in a support group.
*** Please understand that although I'm not what would be considered an "expert" or a "professional" in these fields I feel that I'm much more than that. I do not have any degrees or diplomas hanging on my walls, in fact I haven't even graduated High School yet. I am only a 16 year old girl. But instead of only having a background of paperwork and research, my last three years are filled with personal experience, insight, knowledge, wisdom, hours of research, many therapists and several doctors. During my recovery, instead of sitting back and watching it happen I made sure I had a voice in it. But to do that I also had to know what I was doing. That is why I spent hours and hours on the Internet reading up on everything I was going through and days and days locked in my room reading books. I have lived through these things and still am struggling through the intense situations that I talk about in the pages of this site. In the past three years I battled both anorexia and bulimia, self-injury, multiple suicide attempts and an on-going depression. Now, although I still have setbacks, I know that setbacks are not set in stone. My counselor told me that. And I fight for what I believe in, which is that the teenage girls struggling through these issues, just need a little bit more support.
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