Courtney Struchen
Peer Mentor (She/Her/Hers) 🏳️🌈
SPECIAL INTERESTS: manic depression (bipolar Disorder) | Anxiety | self-harm & suicidal ideation | sexual/mental/physical/emotional abuse recovery | family trauma | alcohol/substance abuse recovery | LGBTQ+
Courtney Struchen was born the eldest daughter in a small town in Michigan, and moved across six states through her childhood (MI, AZ, WI, NM, KY, TX), until settling in Eau Claire in 2018. She was born to a narcissistic mother and an undiagnosed bipolar father who separated when Courtney was still very young, just after losing her uncle to cancer.
At the start of life, Courtney was being raised by a controlling mother and an impulsive, yet complacent father in a sheltered, religious-based home. It suddenly transitioned to a non-structured, toxic, and negligent environment for both parents once they separated. Courtney was stuck in a “fight or flight” parental role to help guide herself and her siblings, all while trying to navigate what was going on with herself, getting into drugs, and trying to keep up in school.
Throughout her early life, Courtney faced a number of traumas and hard life experiences, all the while having uncared for and untreated bipolar. She didn’t get diagnosed until 20 when she was able to seek professional help as an adult.
After the diagnosis, Courtney started to heal herself, slowly but surely. Healing for Courtney today looks like boundaries, messy hands, busy work, and a lot of meditation in various forms. She has learned through trial and error that we can use the things we enjoy to also cope with whatever it is we are dealing with in our lives. For Courtney, that is art in the form of painting and photography or being in nature.
The tagline for her photography business is “Showing the world the beauty I see,” whether it’s in self-expression portraits, capturing a loving family, or nature the world has to offer. When she does not have the mental capacity to be with people, self-expression or idle boredom is often filled with painting on canvas. She often uses painting as a meditative coping mechanism to put the emotion on canvas to release it in a healthy manner. She truly believes you don’t have to be an artist to paint, you just have to have an emotion to get out; something she was taught and has carried with her from a grade school art teacher she had.
Courtney has lived experience with manic depression (bipolar), anxiety, self-harm and suicidal ideation, sexual/mental/physical/emotional abuse/recovery, family trauma, alcohol/substance abuse/recovery, and being a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
When not being a busy bee working, Courtney is often at home with her two cats, Sarafine and Athena, and boyfriend or traveling somewhere new. Growing up sheltered but moving a lot, there was plenty she didn’t get to see across the country that she plans on seeing before the end of her time, and her boyfriend is game for ocean sunsets and mountain sunrises too!
Through hard life experiences and always trying to find the silver lining in every situation, Courtney has developed a drive to help others who may not know how to help themselves. At one point the resources were hidden from her, not available, or she was unaware of her options. Courtney would like to give others the resources and help they need to be able to create happiness in life as well.