Photo taken by first-time contributor Kathryne, a 26-year-old woman from the Upper East Side of New York City. In addition to growing up in a family surrounded by mental health challenges, she herself was diagnosed with depression and anxiety as a freshman in college, in part the result of trauma that happened a few years prior. After years of ignoring the diagnoses, she decided to start to address the issue in 2012 when she was working to become a creative arts therapist. Through the use of photography, music, and theatre, as well as therapy, she has found a way to come back into her own.

About this photo: “I took this photo shortly before I moved out of my 1st New York apartment in 2014. It was my home for 3 years, and my daily view. When I reviewed this photo it became a great representation of where I stood in my life then, and now. The light was so beautiful, it was colorful, clear, yet a vast majority of the photo is still dark, still unclear. In this photo I see a love of life, hope, faith, surrounded by the darkness, the depression, the struggles, trauma, anxiety. Looking back at this photo now, I am taken right back to the moment I took it, seeing what has changed, and what has yet to transform.”

Find more from Kathryn at her blog.

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