Ruby

My biggest challenges before coming to Skyland Trail were motivation, hygiene, and cognitive distortions. I still struggle with them all of course, but I’ve improved so much. Living in a group with other kids who are also doing their best to get better really helped my motivation. I took showers pretty much everyday and was so on top of brushing my teeth! Holly and Travis did a spectacular job at digging through my clumsy teenage brain, and I learned about my thought patterns, behaviors and spirals, distortions, all sorts of stuff.

One of the most important things I learned about myself at Skyland was that I’m so so SO loved. I made so many friends with not just the kids, but the staff. You guys felt like family. I’ve never felt so cared for and SEEN. I was allowed to be silly and angry and jealous and spiteful and ugly and free with zero judgement. I always dreamed of going to some alternative school where the education was taught all different like those forest schools in Denmark. Couldn’t be more satisfied!!

My family has changed by us learning to allow ourselves to be open with one another and now we care about the other person’s perspectives so much more. Fights have reduced, and there’s less tension in the air. Elizabeth Ngo was so helpful at family therapy – she’s literally a wizard!

I did so much self exploration at Skyland. I wrote in journals and learned ukulele. I made so many poems and decorated the commonroom with origami. I did fashion shows, threw a baby shower (it was fake don’t worry) (it was hilarious), made crafts, and did WAY more exercise than I thought I was capable of! I found my style and what I like and don’t like. I learned how to advocate for myself and how to set boundaries. I learned to really love myself and to be patient. Most importantly, I learned to love being alive and you know who put that spark in my life? Skyland Trail. It was most definitely Skyland Trail.

My next goals for the future haven’t been decided in the slightest, but for once I’m not stressed because Skyland gave me hope and a confidence that things turn out okay. Something that’s misunderstood about mental illness is that people who have them don’t realize that despair and joy are on a spectrum. You can reach the deepest depths of depression and grief, and at the same time, you can reach just as equally in the opposite direction into pure blissful happiness, because you can feel them both! How can you feel grief if you didn’t experience the same amount of love which you lost? We’re so emotional and beautiful. We’re so human <3

As much as my heart was broken leaving Skyland in April of 2023, I know I have the rest of my life to use what I learned to make even more wonderful memories! Good times come and go… and they come.

Bless you all! You saved my life and many others!