Portraits: jg-dp-nw-mental-health-stories-01a

Adriane Spence-Townsend looks out the widow of her vehicle between falling drops in Virginia Beach Friday morning February 12, 2021. After three decades, a doctor told her that she had bipolar disorder. {quote}When I got my diagnosis, I wouldn't talk about it... you think you're the only one to feel this way, the only one to act this way,{quote} she said. That's part of the message she wants to share: that mental health can be desperately isolating, and finding help can feel all but impossible.

Adriane Spence-Townsend looks out the widow of her vehicle between falling drops in Virginia Beach Friday morning February 12, 2021. After three decades, a doctor told her that she had bipolar disorder. "When I got my diagnosis, I wouldn't talk about it... you think you're the only one to feel this way, the only one to act this way," she said. That's part of the message she wants to share: that mental health can be desperately isolating, and finding help can feel all but impossible.