<prompt> Human: Im a casual redditor. I lurk and I post. And this time Im going to reddit to ask for help. I dont exactly know where to post this but. . here it goes. Maybe a few people will see this. So for the past few months my mom and her second husband have been at each others throats with divorce and the constant threats and Court battles with my little 8yr old sister in their crossfire. Ive grown throughout most of my life justifying my mothers verbal abuse as motivation and as the best for me when Id be critizised for every little thing I did wrong or brought back home a B being told how much of a failure I am and compared to themselves and hiw they did in school bringing back nothig but straight As. Now that I look back on it, I was just the spitting image of the man she fucked for funsies in her 20s to end up with a kid she probably blames me for ruining her life never living up to her expectations and always being compared to everyone else who was better than me. Even when I decided not to join the military right before graduation after she dragged us to counselors office trying to knock some sense into me crying her eyes out and me finally giving in, it still wasnt enough. They say youre your own worst enemy but I can firmly say, she was. I know most of you will assume that this all cant be true because being a teenager the stereotype that we must rebel against our parents in this manner exists but thats bullshit. I went through a mental breakdown in my freahman year of college with the stress of this divorce and school and work losing my cognitive function to speak for a weak in the hospital given a boatload of pills ever since for depression, bipolarity, anxiety, eatig disorder, you name it. P.S. fuck those people who romanticize depression. Basically, I hate this woman. She cares more about a man that she started dating a week after she kicked out her second husband that live in Tijuana, visiting him every weekend to go see him while I took care of my sister, while the woman who shouldnt even be allowed to be called a mother got pissy and drunk with this man going to clubs and parties posting pictures of her on Facebook toting pistols on horses. And somehow shes the one that came into my room a couple minutes ago saying shes Had enough. I didnt even fight back or say anything. I just listened to her telling me how shes leaving for a year or so and Ima have to start paying the rent, electricity, gas, internet, and everything else I own with my part time job at fucking subway. I just dont know what to do. All my dreams of transferring to UCLA and becoming a elementary school teacher and travelling to the olymoic games in Japan with the love of my life and buying a car and having fun and being young all came crashing down in my mind leaving nothing but black and Im scared of that idea of hopelessness I only ever read about in novels and survival in todays world alone with no family around to go to.I live in L.A. and I dont know what to start doing or where to even go.Please, please help me.Thank you and I love you.  <response>: Adult, documented history of mental issues, California, and youve got dreams that are worth pursuing.Yeah, there are ways to make something of those ingredients. Im in a kinda-similar situation youve got a better state, but I dont envy bipolar, and Id like to offer some advice I wish I had a couple years ago.Counselling is good, but if your parents suck having a case manager is even better. I did a little bit of Google research. Your age puts you in the transition age youth TAY category and bipolar counts as serious and persistent mental illness SPMI which bumps you up in priority - those are both terms of local jargon used by LA County Department of Mental HealthI had about a 4-week waitlist to get seen the first time and, like, 3 years of false starts and depressed doing-nothing before that point here in Maine. It may be better or worse there, really the best thing to do now is get on any lists that exist.If you can work up the courage for a phone call, 1-800-854-7771, or if youre like me and need to work around phone anxiety ugh heres a list of walk-in centersGood luck. 