Let me tell you a story about my best friend. Alexa is light and joy and warmth and snuggles. She loves her two cats, playing roller derby, and anything Halloween. Alexa is an ASL interpreter, who is passionate about disability rights, inclusion, and raising awareness about the vibrant culture of the Deaf community. She moved to the DC area from Buffalo, NY in 2019, mere months before the pandemic, and quickly found her place in my heart, and in our amazing group of friends. She is supportive, kind, caring, empathetic, playful, intelligent, resilient, and effervescent. She is a wonderful friend and partner.

And Alexa is also struggling with mental illness. Alexa has a history of depression and anxiety, and, in the fall of 2022, entered what has been the longest and deepest depressive episode of her life. Alexa’s brain has been working hard to convince her that all the truly wonderful things about her are false, and that life for everyone else would be better if she wasn’t in it. Luckily, Alexa has fought her depression gremlin (Richard, because he’s a dick), and the health insurance companies, with a strength and tenacity unparalleled by most. She is in treatment, receiving help to heal, grow, and ultimately be able to manage her depression independently. Recently, a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder has shed even more light on her symptoms, and will allow for more targeted treatment. She is working hard to get back to her vibrant, joyful, smiling self.

While that is positive news, I wouldn’t be writing this if we didn’t need your help. The treatment program Alexa is in right now is a partial hospitalization program (PHP). She attends the program 5 days a week for most of the day, and then heads to another facility for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which uses magnetic impulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of major depression. Once Alexa finishes both of these programs, her treatment team has recommended that she step down to an intensive outpatient program (IOP) to continue to receive professional support while practicing the skills she’s been learning in PHP in real time. During all of this, Alexa is not able to work, and, because of bureaucratic regulations and red tape, is not able to take paid disability leave either.

We are rapidly approaching the point where Alexa will not be able to afford to continue treatment, stay in her home, and cover basic living expenses. While we’ve explored a few different living options for Alexa and the cats, none of them is ideal, and the added stress and insecurity of moving would be detrimental to the progress Alexa is making in treatment.

This is where you come in. In order to give Alexa the time she needs to finish her program and get back on her feet financially, we are hoping to raise 3 months of living expenses (and you all know living in DC is expensive). The funds we raise from this campaign will go towards:

-Monthly rent and bills

-Food and other basic necessities for Alexa and the cats

-Any out of pocket medical costs associated with her treatment

We will close this fundraiser once Alexa is able to go back to work and begin receiving regular paychecks again. Any funds raised in excess of Alexa’s basic needs will be donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), to support others facing the same struggles as Alexa.

If we come to a point where Alexa staying in her home is financially unsustainable, any funds we have raised will continue to cover food and basic necessities, medical costs, and any moving costs in order to lessen the impact of relocation on Alexa’s mental health as much as possible. At that point, we will update this page and either end the fundraiser, or shift the focus to whatever will continue to allow Alexa to focus on recovery, rather than stressing about money.

Please consider donating what you can. Every little bit helps, so that Alexa can focus on her health and not have to worry about keeping a roof over her head. We’re confident that our kind, caring, and effervescent friend can find her way back to us, she just needs some extra support until she gets there.

From Alexa, myself, and all of us who love her dearly, thank you. <3