Danielle Hark

Danielle Hark is a writer and artist who lives with PTSD and bipolar disorder. She is the founder of the non-profit Broken Light Collective that empowers people with mental health challenges using photography. Danielle has an affinity for tattoos, foxes, and Greek Mythology. She lives and creates in New Jersey with her husband, two sassy young daughters, a Samoyed pup, a Scottish Fold cat, and a studio full of creepy dolls. www.daniellehark.com IG: @daniellehark

Response to creative prompt: "When I look in the mirror, I see..."

My poetry and art come from my lived experience with mental illness and sexual violence. I am a mental health advocate and have personally struggled with depression, anxiety and panic attacks, agoraphobia, bipolar disorder, ADD and PTSD, as well as migraines, insomnia, and pseudotumor cerebri. Creating is a very important part of my therapeutic process. The prompt allowed me to look inside, which can be challenging but revelatory.