(Selme) I was not aware of mental health
at all. I never really thought about it as
a-- a true health issue. Growing up, it was, you know, just how I was raised as well.
It was just, you know, suck it up.
And that's not what I was told.
But it was just-- that's just how life was like, you know, you just--
you don't really think about it as a disease or as an illness.
And when the kids were young, we never really thought about that either.
Just-- I was just never aware and I wish I
was more aware and was more educated so that I was able to support her.
(Shaun) When I was growing up,
our family didn't really think about or talk about mental health,
although I came to realize in later years that my dad suffered from depression
and in fact, very, very much later in his life when he was
in his 60s, he was diagnosed with depression
and with being bipolar and finally started to get medication for it.
I knew my dad had suffered and he was an alcoholic.
I didn't realize what those issues were when I was young.
It wasn't talked about in those terms,
but I had exposure to mental illness and I saw the impact of somebody suffering
from mental illness and self-medicating through alcohol.
Mental health just wasn't something
that people talked about when I-- when I was young or at least where I grew up.