My father is an artist, an avid gardener and one of the best listeners I know. He is also deeply mentally ill. His struggle with Dissociative Identity Disorder threaded itself most prominently through the first twelve years of my life but still colors our relationship to this day.

At his most ill, I witnessed suicide attempts, hospitalizations and stretches of depression that were so long, my sister and I were sent away to live with family. Despite all this, his desire to be a “good” father was always clear.

Here With You is my attempt to untangle his legacy. And in telling a version of our story, allow pain and love to exist side by side. Through this, Here With You creates a tender narrative about finding the will to stay when the world becomes synonymous with pain and the people who act as beacons of connection along the way.