WRITING HARD STORIES CLASS BEGINS SEPTEMBER 13

ENROLL HERE (Early Bird Discount through Aug. 1)

During my MFA program in creative writing, my life changed. I felt comfortable writing about crisis times and less secretive about having bipolar illness. Just writing the bare bones of what happened felt like a relief. Today, there's so much evolving research on how your brain changes (for the better) when you write expressively. You don't even have to write that much. I can't wait to continue this conversation in a fast-paced 4-week creative writing class!

Overview

Week 1 : I provide prompts that may take you in surprising directions as you discover the story/stories you are waiting to tell. You will leave confident and energized to explore at least one potential story for the next 3 weeks.
Week 2 is all about your narrator, which is you. What happened to you? Is it a secret? You will tap into the facts of your story as you recount them. You will leave understanding narration, interior thoughts “interiority,” and dialogue.
Week 3 Backdrop: Place, setting, scene and supporting characters that were critical to your story. You will recall vibrant details that deepen mood and add emotional weight. You will leave with a rich, cinematic story revision.
Week 4 Perspective. Time to to process what your story meant then and what it means to you now. This “processing” may not make it into the actual story, but it will help you understand what your story is about—reaching beyond the events of what happened. You will leave with a story, essay, chapter, podcast guest story—the sky’s the limit.

ENROLL HERE (Early Bird Discount through Aug. 1)

CLASS MEETS 4 Sundays on Zoom:

September 13, 20, 27 & October 4)

3-4:15 PST / 6-7:15 ET

Support the show

Help Bipolar She Today! Buy Me A Coffee is a platform for podcasters to receive support, even if just a micro-donation. It's finally time to grow! Let's amplify voices of mental illness in all their raw details.

Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.

This June, I went to Kauai hoping my brain would finally get a break. Instead, I woke up and could barely walk straight. My balance was gone. The room seemed to move under me. I fell, got hurt, and had moments where my spatial awareness felt so off that it scared me.

This episode is about the interaction between estrogen and Lamictal, also known as lamotrigine. Over 2 million people currently take Lamictal in the US.

But for some providers, they are not aware how changes in estrogen — from birth control, perimenopause, hormone replacement therapy, patches, pills, gels, or dose changes — can affect lamotrigine levels. Lamotrigine toxicity can look like dizziness, clumsiness, confusion, drowsiness, headaches, poor coordination, balance problems, and unsteady walking. It can be easy to dismiss those symptoms as stress, anxiety, brain fog and menopause symptoms in general.

My Lamictal level had risen from 8.9 to 13.8. Still technically within the lab’s reference range, but much higher for my body.

This is not medical advice. It is a story about what can happen when hormones and psychiatric medication intersect — and why women on Lamictal deserve clearer warnings, better monitoring, and doctors who know what to ask. Please take the first step by talking to both your OBGYN and your Psychiatrist/Med provider.

Thank you for listening.

Support the show

Help Bipolar She Today! Buy Me A Coffee is a platform for podcasters to receive support, even if just a micro-donation. It's finally time to grow! Let's amplify voices of mental illness in all their raw details.

Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.

In this episode of Bipolar She, Janine talks with Betsi Werling about becoming a mom with bipolar I disorder. The general thinking fifteen years ago, was that pregnancy was too risky for women with mood disorders. Although Betsi and her husband decided they would not have children, a surprise pregnancy turned into quite a harrowing tale.

What followed was one challenge after another: a manic episode during pregnancy with a 14-day psychiatric hospitalization, medication changes including lithium, preeclampsia, undiagnosed gestational diabetes, an emergency C-section six weeks early, and weeks of watching her newborn daughter struggle in the NICU.

Betsi’s story is not a simple “everything turned out fine” story. It is a story of fear, trauma, faith, marriage, community support, and extraordinary courage. She talks honestly about PTSD from the birth experience, the toll pregnancy took on her and her husband, and the arrival of her daughter that made every terrifying moment worth it.

This is a powerful episode for women with bipolar disorder, mothers with mood disorders, and anyone who has wondered whether mental illness, pregnancy, stability, and motherhood can coexist.

Topics include: bipolar I, pregnancy, mania, lithium, psychiatric hospitalization, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, premature birth, NICU, PTSD, motherhood, marriage, faith, and support.

Content note: mania, psychiatric hospitalization, pregnancy complications, emergency birth, NICU, and birth trauma

Betsi's Talk For Her Faith Community

Support the show

Help Bipolar She Today! Buy Me A Coffee is a platform for podcasters to receive support, even if just a micro-donation. It's finally time to grow! Let's amplify voices of mental illness in all their raw details.

Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.