About Ivana

I am married to a man I'll call Sven. You can read more about Sven's Story here. Sven has suffered from fairly deep depression for as long as I have known him and as long as he can remember. He has threatened suicide several times, but never followed through on any of his plans. He is in denial about the severity of his depression and refuses counseling/therapy as well as medication. It's a tough road.

We have 4 children whom I will refer to as: Hans, Annelise, Greta, and Lisbeth.

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe that depression and mental illness are real, just as heart disease, high blood pressure, thyroid disease and other physical ailments are. Through this blog, I hope to increase my understanding of depression and find ways to cope and heal and find support through establishing connections with others who can shed insight from their own experiences.

A few of my interests include gardening, music, and running. I serve in several positions in my LDS ward that I find challenging and time consuming, but they are a great outlet for me and I enjoy them all. (A ward is much like a parish, for those of you who are not LDS).