Building Back My Life
Donation protected
Hello - my name is Brian. Thanks for checking out my GoFundMe campaign. I’m raising funds for my ongoing mental health and financial needs, and hoping to regain independence after a long journey of recovery. For those of you who want to know where the money is going, here’s a breakdown:
If you’re interested in getting to know me and my story, here it is:
I’m 38 years old and I’m a sound engineer based in Utah. I also have Complex PTSD stemming from childhood and other relationship traumas. Like many people in my situation, I don’t have a typical brain. And for me the full extent of the damage didn’t appear until I was in my 30s. This seismic shift threw my world into chaos, and my seemingly normal, productive life came to a screeching halt. I had very little choice but to sell my equipment after a long term toxic relationship ended, and focus on staving off suicidal thoughts for nearly 6 years. I didn’t have many family members to turn to. Now I’m actively trying to heal and rebuild from these traumas, picking myself back up on my long road to recovery. I’m grateful to you for reading this far, so I’ll keep it short.
I don’t do drugs or alcohol – my main vice is going to the gym, where I can exercise, clear my head, and engage with my community. I have a severely herniated disk in my thoracic spine which will require some kind of surgery most likely. Exercise helps it.
I’m a person of faith, I seek love and meaningful relationships wherever I can find them, and I’m a tenacious hard worker in life and career. Your donations will contribute directly to my daily needs, my mental health treatment, and my audio business. In other words: helping me build back my life.
As someone with C-PTSD and other diagnoses, I can be easily triggered into a fight-or-flight response. The number one thing I can do to fend off these stresses is to make sure my daily needs are met. This means food, shelter, basic supplies, travel, and the occasional treat when I can afford it. Small donations can help me feel grounded and safe knowing that my basic human needs are met. This means I’m free to focus on bigger concerns and planning for the future.
As I get closer to my GoFundMe goal I’ll be able to cover more specialized healthcare costs like therapy and medication. Medicaid and other government programs help me to some extent, but there’s always more I can do to heal the deep wounds and rebuild a healthy mind. My second priority will be to fund new mental health programs and supplement the help I’m already receiving (which won’t last forever). That’s why any donation amount is a blessing, but bigger donations and spreading the word about my campaign will multiply the effects.
Lastly I plan to rebuild my audio business from where I left off. I’m a hardworking professional with over 10 years of experience. My work has been awarded and praised by industry leaders, clients, and colleagues alike. And as a freelancer, I’m in a very lucky position to be able to work as-needed when my mental health status allows. But this is a very technical job in a changing media world, and I need equipment, software, and financial support to rebuild my clientele and my business capacities. That’s why reaching my campaign goal will allow me to tackle priority #3: becoming financially self-sustaining. Once my ‘basic’ and mental health needs are met, I’ll be able to invest in my business– relying on my skills and hard work to climb out of poverty and build the life I deserve.
I am improving. I can feel it in myself, and the people who know me best can see it too. This has been a long road of shedding old coping mechanisms and learning better ones, and it often feels like I’m rebuilding myself from the ground up. But I’m finally hopeful about the future again.
Thank you for reading this message. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re already in the top tier of people who’ve shown me care and compassion, and I’m grateful for you. You now have a chance to be a hero in my life, with as little as $1 toward my campaign. A donation can help fulfill my day-to-day needs, but it can also help me affirm that I’m deserving of this second chance in life. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for listening to my story. And if you decide to contribute, you’re now a central character in my healing journey and I will never be able to thank you enough.
Yours truly,
Brian
- $55- Acquiring a business license (which will qualify me for more government programs)
- $120 - Renewing my state ID (which will help me find work through websites like Fiverr, and open up many other possibilities)
- $1,000-2,000 - Daily needs: food, shelter, supplies, travel, etc., on an ongoing basis.
- $2,000-3,000 - Affording treatments and medical supplies as I deal with my injury and mental health.
- $2,000-3,000 - Buying new equipment and software for my audio business (domain name, microphones, speakers, desk, chair, cables, upgrades, software tools)
If you’re interested in getting to know me and my story, here it is:
I’m 38 years old and I’m a sound engineer based in Utah. I also have Complex PTSD stemming from childhood and other relationship traumas. Like many people in my situation, I don’t have a typical brain. And for me the full extent of the damage didn’t appear until I was in my 30s. This seismic shift threw my world into chaos, and my seemingly normal, productive life came to a screeching halt. I had very little choice but to sell my equipment after a long term toxic relationship ended, and focus on staving off suicidal thoughts for nearly 6 years. I didn’t have many family members to turn to. Now I’m actively trying to heal and rebuild from these traumas, picking myself back up on my long road to recovery. I’m grateful to you for reading this far, so I’ll keep it short.
I don’t do drugs or alcohol – my main vice is going to the gym, where I can exercise, clear my head, and engage with my community. I have a severely herniated disk in my thoracic spine which will require some kind of surgery most likely. Exercise helps it.
I’m a person of faith, I seek love and meaningful relationships wherever I can find them, and I’m a tenacious hard worker in life and career. Your donations will contribute directly to my daily needs, my mental health treatment, and my audio business. In other words: helping me build back my life.
As someone with C-PTSD and other diagnoses, I can be easily triggered into a fight-or-flight response. The number one thing I can do to fend off these stresses is to make sure my daily needs are met. This means food, shelter, basic supplies, travel, and the occasional treat when I can afford it. Small donations can help me feel grounded and safe knowing that my basic human needs are met. This means I’m free to focus on bigger concerns and planning for the future.
As I get closer to my GoFundMe goal I’ll be able to cover more specialized healthcare costs like therapy and medication. Medicaid and other government programs help me to some extent, but there’s always more I can do to heal the deep wounds and rebuild a healthy mind. My second priority will be to fund new mental health programs and supplement the help I’m already receiving (which won’t last forever). That’s why any donation amount is a blessing, but bigger donations and spreading the word about my campaign will multiply the effects.
Lastly I plan to rebuild my audio business from where I left off. I’m a hardworking professional with over 10 years of experience. My work has been awarded and praised by industry leaders, clients, and colleagues alike. And as a freelancer, I’m in a very lucky position to be able to work as-needed when my mental health status allows. But this is a very technical job in a changing media world, and I need equipment, software, and financial support to rebuild my clientele and my business capacities. That’s why reaching my campaign goal will allow me to tackle priority #3: becoming financially self-sustaining. Once my ‘basic’ and mental health needs are met, I’ll be able to invest in my business– relying on my skills and hard work to climb out of poverty and build the life I deserve.
I am improving. I can feel it in myself, and the people who know me best can see it too. This has been a long road of shedding old coping mechanisms and learning better ones, and it often feels like I’m rebuilding myself from the ground up. But I’m finally hopeful about the future again.
Thank you for reading this message. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re already in the top tier of people who’ve shown me care and compassion, and I’m grateful for you. You now have a chance to be a hero in my life, with as little as $1 toward my campaign. A donation can help fulfill my day-to-day needs, but it can also help me affirm that I’m deserving of this second chance in life. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for listening to my story. And if you decide to contribute, you’re now a central character in my healing journey and I will never be able to thank you enough.
Yours truly,
Brian
Organizer
Brian Parsons
Organizer
Salt Lake City, UT