“Even before I stepped through the doors, I knew it [N Street Village] was different. I was treated with respect, encouraged to ask questions and explain what I needed.”
By Marina Lopes
Living with Bipolar II has been a journey of extreme highs and devastating lows for Lynorre. For years, she carried an unbearable weight on her chest—so heavy that she gave it a name: Ellie the Elephant.
Ellie was every negative thought, every piece of self-doubt, every whisper telling her she wasn’t enough.
It drove her to contemplate suicide just when she was ready to give up—until she heard her grandmother’s voice in her ear: “You go and become the woman I know you can be.”
So she did. She drove herself to a psychiatric hospital, looked the receptionist in the eye, and spoke the words that changed her life:
“I admit myself voluntarily.”
She knew at that moment everything had to change—her environment, her mindset, her circumstances.
The first shelter she went to felt cold and isolating, like she was back in the psych ward. Then she found N Street Village.
“Even before I stepped through the doors, I knew it was different,” Lynorre says. “I was treated with respect, encouraged to ask questions and explain what I needed,” she said.
At N Street, Ellie the Elephant was gone. She was surrounded by a community eager to support her mental health journey and learn the skills she needed to get back on her feet.
“At N Street, I learned that my diagnosis doesn’t have to define me. I can redefine what it means to live with Bipolar disorder.”