Recovery Discovered Inside Out!

By Carol Rickard, LCSW
Recovery

I like to say my recovery started “inside out”!

Instead of being hospitalized due to the depression, I started working in a psychiatric hospital as a Recreation Therapist in 1991.

Like so many others, I had been dealing with the symptoms of depression for quite some time, but didn’t know WHAT it was. I’d been taking frequent trips to the doctor, the thinking was I had mono. But each time the tests were negative. Then they thought it was my thyroid & there were all the tests that went along with that. Those ended up negative too. On one hand I was relieved but I still felt miserable…..

Finally, one day sitting in the hospital’s morning rounds a light bulb went off…. What if it could be DEPRESSION? I talked with my doctor, who referred me to a psychiatrist, who then got me started on medications and started my recovery.

It came in the nick of time, as I had really started to go downhill fast… days I couldn’t work, I’d stopped going to the gym (which my friends were shocked to see), & all I wanted to do was stay in bed.

My blessing was to have my Higher Power put me working in that hospital!

Not only did I get the depression diagnosed, I got to learn what it took to get well start the journey to recovery!  I witnessed people getting well everyday. And then, I saw them get sick again & need to return to the hospital.

I realized there was work that was going to be required of me in order to get back to the life I had previously been living. So instead of feeling mad or angry at being sick, I found myself, then & now, grateful for having learned what it takes to GET WELL! 

Here is my acronym for recovery: Regain, Every, Characteristic, Of, Value, Empowering, Real, You!

Recovery Discovered Inside Out!

~ Take Control of Stress! ~

“How Would You Like Control Stress & Anxiety In Just Seconds?”
Learn How For FREE By Clicking Here Now!

Posted in Wellness, Mental Health

About Carol Rickard, LCSW

Carol L. Rickard, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 30 years of experience specializing in stress management and wellness program development for healthcare and corporate settings. Known as "America's Workplace Wellbeing Authority" Carol specializes in creating practical, evidence-based training solutions for high-stress professionals. As founder and CEO of WellYOUniversity, LLC, Carol has trained thousands of healthcare workers, corporate teams, and organizational leaders. Her evidence-based approach, called SMARTheory™, transforms complex wellness concepts into immediately actionable tools that work during 12-hour shifts, high-pressure meetings, and real-world crises. A prolific author, Carol has written 25 books on stress and wellness, contributed weekly to Esperanza Magazine, and created "The WELL YOU Show", a nationally syndicated wellness show on Central New Jersey Network. She has been featured expert in national media outlets and speaks regularly at conferences, healthcare systems, and corporate events. Carol's expertise spans keynote presentations, comprehensive training programs, organizational wellness consulting, and crisis response training. Her clients consistently praise her ability to deliver practical strategies that participants can implement immediately, creating lasting change in both professional and personal settings.

Leave a Comment