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Recovery Diaries

🎙️ A Fashion Designer with C-PTSD Wears Her Recovery Well

Published 11 days ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

A film is a snapshot in time. When we first met this extraordinary young woman, it was eight years ago. Back then, she was Lilah James, an extraordinarily talented fashion and conceptual designer creating a bold, beautiful collection for her final project, "Anxiety Descending."

Each look represented a different facet or symptom of her CPTSD diagnosis and she and her work are beautifully represented in our film about her, Recovery on the Runway | PTSD, Mental Health & Fashion.

So much as changed since 2018, for Lilah, for the world. She is now Lilah Velez, happily married to her devoted and safe go-to support person. She is still living with and navigating life with CPTSD, finding healthy ways to cope with triggers and panic, trying her best to notice when things aren't going well before a crisis emerges so she can make a plan to take care of herself and her needs.

Lilah is open and honest about her experiences with mental healthcare, including her participation in intensive outpatient program (IOP) programs. Lilah, in her vulnerable and disarming way shares about how needing different levels of care at different points in her life, and knowing what she needs when she needs it, is not a sign of failure, weakness, or some kind of setback; it is simply meeting a therapeutic need. Lilah knows the foolishness of comparing your struggles to somebody else's and about the true cost of carrying secrets.
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Lilah also discusses, in our candid and thoughtful interview, about how, to someone with CPTSD, finally getting what you've always longed for: a peaceful living space with a safe, supportive partner, can be a shock to the CPTSD brain, a brain that is always on high alert, looking for the next betrayal or unsafe situation. She is learning to calm that part of her brain and accept her safety, while continuing to create and take care of herself.
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​This episode is a must-hear for anyone with CPTSD or anyone who loves someone who lives with this mental health challenge.

Lilah is hopeful, brave, and honest, and we hope you share this conversation with someone in your life who needs it.

All my best,
Gabe Nathan

PO Box 130, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
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