Messy Beauty with Shaley

04/07/2025

We must all believe this if we want to around living with mental illness.

🤍🧠🫶🏻
Learn more about my mental health journey & my advocacy on www.thisisbipolar.com

It would mean the world to me if you would take the time to follow along on ig .is.bipolar or listen to the ‘this is bipolar’ podcast whetever you stream your podcasts.

On this , please remember:
Mental health is HEALTH
Mental illness is HEALTH
And it is equally (if not more) IMPORTANT and deserves to be treated that way.

I will share my story and shout about living with a mental health disorder until there is no more stigma and shame. Mental Illness and physical illness should be treated with the same importance, care and empathy.

We must all believe this if we want to around living with mental illness.

Let’s keep talking.
Our voices deserve to be heard.
Our stories need to be told.
Our stories aren’t over yet.

In solidarity,
Shaley xo

06/19/2024

HELP!!! Zane Forbes (Amaya’s boyfriend) is having a very hard time finding an actor to fill a role in his upcoming short film. If you know of anyone who might be able to fill this role please contact me ASAP.

…..

CASTING NOTICE!

Hey everyone, I’m looking for a young indigenous man 18-25 to play a leading role in my film school final project. which is a 10 minute short film. We are going into production very soon and I’m looking for somebody with the right energy and passion for the character. Please get back to me as soon as possible if this interests you!

Logline: Trapped in the tight grip of their small town and an alcoholic step-father, two brothers struggle to keep their family afloat. While one sacrifices everything to give his younger brother the opportunities he never had.

Short Synopsis: When Coal finds that his younger brother Ethan has filled out a college application, his goal quickly changes from keeping his so-called family afloat to helping his brother escape their town. With them being broke and Ethan not believing he is deserving of a chance, Coal goes to great and questionable measures to help his brother. This leaving both their futures uncertain.

Ethan Grey: 18 to 23 years old, Indigenous man. 5'10 6'1 With a medium build resembles construction work as seen in the story preferably shorter hair. Ethan Grey (21 y/o) is our supporting character and the youngest member of the Grey family. Having dreams that he can’t seem to make himself believe in, he just wants to stay in his dead end town where know one challenges him. Although Ethan is conflicted between reaching his potential or staying and helping his brother keep their family afloat. Ethan likes to be sarcastic and act confident but on the inside he is unsure, stuck and absolutely terrified of change even though he hates where he is now. Ethan's arc shows him going from being stuck in an uncomfortable comfortability and secretly hoping to be something more and reach his full potential but not believe in himself. With help from his brother his perspective changes and he sees how bad life really is and knows it's worth it now to go into the unknown and run towards something instead of away from something.

Shooting Dates: We will be going into production at the end of june and shooting June 25th, 26th and 27th in Chilliwack

10/04/2023

It’s Mental Illness Awareness Week. 🧠🤍

Mental Illness is not always visible. It isn’t always seen, I spent way to many years hiding my struggles. I’m longer silent and scared.

I am not invisible.
I have an invisible illness.

Mental Illnesses can be almost entirely invisible. I made this image over a month ago and I’ve been holding off posting. I wanted to make a big moving and powerful statement but I don’t feel loud, inspirational or powerful today. I don’t have words today and I don’t want to feel like I NEED to have wordsy words to share. I made this because i was processing this idea of invisible illnesses. If I’m honest I made it after I took picture number 2. I was feeling very alone and misunderstood. Making things helps me work through my moods. I truly believe that creating , sharing and showing up here for myself is enough.

Having an invisible illness is so so hard for so so many reasons.

I am not invisible.
I have an invisible illness.

That’s it.
Thats what I want to say today. That’s the post.

Stay Messy and Beautiful,
Shaley xo

07/13/2023

05/29/2023

I am BEYOND EXCITED to share this conversation with you all. Elizabeth Nguyen if is a psychiatrist, author and all around delightful human being. Although Elizabeth does not live with bipolar disorder, she has family and works with bipolar youth and adults regularly. It was such a treat to talk about Elizabeth’s debut book ‘Aloha Vietnam’. It is a book with a main character that has bipolar disorder and is not a stereotype or a villain. Fair and kind res presentation of folks with bipolar disorder is rare in most of the non fiction I’ve read. I want everyone to read it because I believe that it will help us bipolar warriors see ourselves in the character of Ahn as well as educate those who don’t understand bipolar disorder.

I loved asking the questions we had for a psychiatrist that understands mood disorders. Elizabeth’s thoughtful answers both taught and confirmed me.

Be sure to check back to listen very soon!!!!

Elizabeth Nguyen, MD was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were refugees from Vietnam who arrived in Honolulu in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War.
She received her BA from Stanford University in Human Biology, her MD from Northwestern University, and her Psychiatry Residency and Child Psychiatry Fellowship training at UC Davis. She started her career in community mental health, with specific interests in cross-cultural psychiatry, the intersection of spirituality and mental health, and the healing power of water and the natural world. She is currently in private practice in Davis, CA. Aloha Vietnam is her first book and her first novel.

05/13/2023

05/10/2023

Drop a 🫶🏻 below if you agree!

“Mental Health is not just self-care, it’s social justice.”

03/31/2023

It's World Bipolar Day! Hypomania and mania are misunderstood so recorded this 'Conversations About Mania' episode to demystify bipolar. Listen in as Mental health advocates Shaley Hoogendoorn, Tatyana Frost and Rudy Caseres share raw and vulnerable stories about their with hypomanic and manic episodes- from  symptoms, hospitalizations, stigma and more. These stories shed light on what it is really like to live with Bipolar 1 & 2 Disorder. Shaley, Tatyana and Rudy also discuss helpful practices and strategies that help them manage these episodes. These are hard stories to tell, we are so grateful for their honesty and perseverance. We hope this conversation offers encouragement to others walking a similar path. 

This is bipolar...

If you enjoyed this episode or if this podcast means something to you would you consider pressing follow button and/leaving a review.

Meet Rudy:
Rudy Caseres is an award-winning mental health advocate, public speaker, and storytelling event host/producer. He has traveled the country delivering keynote presentations, worked with organizations such as the American Association of Suicidology, This is My Brave, Mental Health America, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and has hosted various storytelling events in the Los Angeles area. He has hosted live-streams for The Mighty and other organizations since 2016. In 2017, he was named one of The Mighty’s Mental Health Heroes and NAMI California’s Outstanding Peer of the Year. You can connect with him on social media where he is .

Meet Tatyana:

Tatyana Frost is a mental health worker, mental illness advocate, and writer. She recently published her first self-help journal for those diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Inside My Mind, with the goal of helping people better understand themselves and their disorder. Tatyana is diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and Borderline Personality Disorder and is a champion for mental illness on Instagram where she shares her mental illness experiences and what she’s learned along the way. 

 

03/31/2023

This World Bipolar Day, we are sending love + hope to those who are..

🤍 Experiencing hypomania
🤍 Experiencing mania
🤍 Experiencing psychosis
🤍 Experiencing depression
🤍 Experiencing rapid cycling
🤍 Experiencing Euthymia

Hold on. Our stories aren’t over yet.