Jade
Jade
I boldly talk about my mental health
Jade is holding court. Jade, an attorney and daughter of a famous TV judge, doesn’t have a legal matter on her docket—she has a deeply personal one.
We talk about destigmatizing mental health, but we don’t talk about humanizing it.
People with mental health issues can function and can be successful. There is no reason to be ashamed.
We need to be able to talk about it to the point where others will be accepting of it. That’s why I talk about my depression.
It started when Jade was a sophomore in college, studying journalism. She was sleeping all the time—15 or 16 hours a day. She would go to a class and then crawl back into the darkness of her bedroom.
I would sleep whenever I could, and then I’d spend all my rent money on clothes. I couldn’t focus.
When I finally went to a psychologist, I was told I had a series of issues for which there was no cure, but there was treatment. I went out to my car and cried.
Jade was told she had clinical depression, ADHD, and a math and learning disability. Her family eventually convinced her to leave college and come back to their Detroit home so she wasn’t alone.
Once back with her parents, Jade made a surprising decision.
I wasn’t going to let a diagnosis defeat or define me.
In fact, I decided to enter one of the most challenging careers to show others with disabilities that they can accomplish anything.
So, I enrolled at a local university to finish my junior year and started studying for the law school admissions exam, without even telling my family.
I learned that what an ordinary person could learn in two days would take me five days. I worked hard to pass my courses.
Jade knew that being an attorney would be meaningful work that gave people a second chance, much like the second chance she herself felt she was receiving—one that gave people hope.
Jade fully believes that no matter what someone is going through, they can be successful.
So, she took the law school admissions exam three times until she passed it.
I struggled through law school. With depression, I had a hard time waking up in the morning, so I took night classes.
When it came time to take the bar exam, I failed it over and over. I fell into a deep depression each time.
Just after learning I failed the fifth time, doctors found a lump in my throat.
For the next three months, Jade continued working full-time as a paralegal and studying for the bar again, while doctors took several biopsies of the lump.
“This was the most difficult period of my entire life. I wanted to give up. Despite my worries about my personal health, I vowed to take the bar one last time.”
In May of 2015, she did just that and passed the exam. The next day, surgeons removed two-thirds of her thyroid.
Once Jade recovered, she was promoted from her paralegal position to assistant state attorney in a local county.
Now, Jade has put her law career aside to work on a memoir and to travel the world advocating about mental health—talking at schools and churches, giving national TEDx talks and appearing TV shows to discuss her diagnosis and the importance of resilience.
I want to reach women and men who look like me. Black families don’t talk about mental health frequently.
We have all had family members who we say are “crazy,” but there are serious conversations that need to be had to help these people.
Her new schedule gives her more time to do what she enjoys than her previous role as a prosecutor. Jade says that time, rest, and self-care are important parts of being her best self.
I still have very bad days—holidays or sometimes a bad storm will bring on a depression spell.
But I can do everything I want to do, on my own terms.
I give myself more time, grace, and compassion. And those with mental health issues should, too.
