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NO. 448 | A JWC MEDIA PUBLICATION
HOPE IS BLOOMING MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH AND LAKE FOREST'S KATIE FORD WAS GENEROUS ENOUGH TO SHARE HER PERSONAL STORY—ONE THAT REMOVES THE STIGMA LONG ATTACHED TO MENTAL ILLNESS AND BRINGS A MESSAGE OF HOPE. BY ANN MARIE SCHEIDLER THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
To know Katie Ford is to love her. This married mother of four is recognized for her easy smile, her quick laugh, her talent with flowers, her rock’n dance moves, and her endless positivity. So, it may have come as a surprise to some when one night after her children went to bed, Ford turned to Facebook and bravely told the story of her battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder with intrusive thoughts. “I just knew it was the right time,” Ford says, who had been working through her issues with the help of a doctor and the support of her family for about three years. “We’d just had another [suicide] death in our community and I thought that if my story could help just one person, I needed to tell it. “I was terrified, at first, about going public, but I did it because I knew social media would reach a lot of people,” Ford says. “My goal was to help others realize they had no reason to feel ashamed about what they’re enduring or about what they’re thinking. Keeping open dialogue going about mental health issues is the only way
to break the barriers and the stigmas that go along with it.” Ford says a real turning point in her life was when she realized she wasn’t the only one facing a mental health issue. “Early on, I opened up to a friend that I was struggling, and she suggested I attend a public meeting addressing mental health,” Ford says. “There, I met a man who had exactly what I had. He had made it, survived it, and he was willing to talk about it with me. That was such a relief. Now, that’s what I’m hoping to do for others.” Ford says the biggest wonderment of all has been the sheer number of people who have reached out to her confidentially since she first revealed her fight. “It might be several a week or one a month, but the messages come regularly,” she says. “The pandemic has definitely increased the number, especially from parents with college-age children—kids you would never think would struggle and they are.” Ford does her best to connect every person who reaches out to her with a source for help. “In sharing my story, I now have so many people and organizations in my tool kit that I can offer,” she says. “It’s just a mission for me— Continued on PG 10
Katie Ford of Lake Forest speaks out in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBIN SUBAR
YARD SALE Saturday, May 22 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. lfola.org