YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

A child from my neighborhood was kidnapped last Friday. I'm totally fucked up from it. Got through the week with a LOT of my anxiety pills and tears. Currently half drunk and eating chocolate cake. As a mom, these things just freak me out, but the fact that it was RIGHT FUCKING HERE is killing me! Asking for all your prayers, please.

I can understand how this very nearby tragedy could be a trigger to you, as a mom. Please take care, I am wishing you the very best and hoping for you to find some peace as things settle down. All the best! Cheers!

How are you doing about it now that a couple of weeks have passed? Are you close to any of your neighbors--i.e. is there anything happening with a neighborhood watch? Can't imagine how scary this must be for you.

Penny,
I confess that I stepped away from this forum for a long while. Just to catch you up (and the world) - The girl who was kidnapped was found dead. She was murdered. Later, the murderer turned himself in. It ended up that he lived 2 blocks from me! The neighborhood did pull together during this time. We have raised funds to redo one of the parks in our area in her name. The murderer was a 17 year old boy! He is being tried as an adult. There are many other gruesome details - they are just what you are imagining, so no need to post them. My friends and I pulled together for support.

Regardless of the fact that this could happen anywhere, it totally messed me up. We have just moved to another area. Yes, we needed to move anyway, in order to shorten our commutes. There are lots of excuses, but deep down, I moved because I couldn't stop thinking about it. Even my son says to his friends, "A girl died and so my mom made us move." Nice, right? Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long to reply to this post. Thank you for your good thoughts and prayers.

- Ballewbird.