Instructions for Caring

Instructions for Caring is a collection consisting of juxtaposed lyric essays, braided essays, and poetry. Through research and fragmented personal narrative, each work meditates on human connection and mental illness. The fragmented nature of Instructions for Caring situates human biology and environmental conditions in close conversation with lived experience in the first-person point-of-view. Research into the history of state-run mental health facilities and the evolution of treatment methods contextualizes memory in an attempt to get closer to understanding empathy and care. The research asks how what we call mental illness lives within bodies or is expressed by bodies, the way lived experiences, biology, and the environment may contribute to atypical behavior.