Hi! I'm Rick McVicar
Welcome to my blog. I've been on a long journey of recovery from mental illness. The technical name for my illness is schizoaffective disorder. It is a kind of a catch-all diagnosis, as it is a mixture of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. As you might guess, the diagnosis is not the easiest concept to understand.
Recovery from the disease has been a mixed bag. I've had wonderful successes and tremendous losses. One of my biggest successes was to spend about 10 years as a reporter for community newspapers. Most of that time was with a news organization serving a rural area near Columbus, Ohio. Another success was working as an archive assistant for Disciples of Christ Historical Society when it was located in Nashville, Tenn.
For the past few years, I have been focused on the arts for my recovery, mostly poetry and instrumental music. I recently finished a class in poetry at The Ohio State University in Mansfield.
That brings me to the point of this website. I would like to promote the use of the arts for recovery from brain disorders. I invite readers to submit their poetry, essays, short stories and pics of their artwork. The website currently has one weekly columnist and there is room for another.
My academic background includes a bachelor's degree from Ohio Northern University, a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University and graduate studies at The Ohio State University School of Journalism. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.