“I experience the stigma of mental health all the time. Stigmatization as if you are fighting, you may not be a good mom or be completely present, and even if you go through a rough note that you will get stuck so forever and you can’t get through it. And that’s just not true. “

It’s Catelynn (Lowell) Baltierra, one of the original stars in MTVs “Teen Mom,” Who together with their OG mates Leah Messer and Maci (Bookout) McKinney gather for dinner to talk about great feelings when the series enters its 16^Th Season, and their oldest children come into the age that their mothers were when they were born.

Criticized by Some for Sensationalizing Teen Pregnancy, The Series NeverTheless Has Stuck Around to Paint a Realistic Picture of the Good, The Bad and the Ugly – Boy – Boy – Boy – Boy – Boy – Boy – Boy – Breeding Ships, Drug Abuse, Death, and Custody Challenges Life for its leading ladies. Along the way, it has also shared another, less discussed history – mum’s mental health.

For one and a half decades in the air, viewers have seen Leah’s drop in prescription drug abuse and any stint at a rehabilitation center. Catelyn controls himself at a mental health facility and handled the consequences of placing her daughter for adoption. Maci’s attempt to balance his son as he supported his father through addiction and an overdose.

While they found it on different points in their lives – Baltierra and McKinney long before high school and the beginning of the show – all three credit therapy as a current saving grace in their lives, and something has already introduced to their teenager.

McKinney started therapy in eighth grade, after telling her father that she no longer wanted to participate in her favorite pastime – Softball. “Softball was my first love but I said, I don’t feel good and I don’t want to play softball but I don’t know why. He was like, “It’s OK, we’ll find out.” “He shared with his mother, who got it right and started to pick her up from school every week to take her to her meetings and lunch.

“I did it for four or five months and from that time I have been immediately, yes therapy, yes therapy, yes therapy,” she says.

“It was still difficult to be public at that time,” she reminds. “My parents and me and my brother were such a narrow, narrow unit. So it was: ‘You can’t be ok here, but you can’t be ok in front of other people. It was a mixture of both. I think any of it was my parents who tried to protect us because they were also ok in front of everyone else and they would save things until they were at home and it was safe. And I think they were still a little ignorant of, how do you express yourself, how do you talk to other people about this. I think they did the best they could with what they had. “

“I’ve been in therapy since I was ten years old and I’m a huge believer in therapy,” says Baltierra. “My mom and dad put me in therapy when there was a bug custody fight in progress and so my dad would take me to therapy when I was such a young age. So I grew up knowing it was ok to ask for help. Sometimes your support system is not enough to help and you have to search other stores. So I’ve never had a strange view of therapy, and that’s how I raise my children.

“I feel that even when you feel healthy you should probably still go to therapy. It has taught me so much. The show has documented me even putting myself in mental health facilities because it was so serious that I needed extra help. I am a huge advocate for these types of things, ”she says.

The only one of the three who married her father to her firstborn and subsequent children, says Baltierra that therapy has helped both she and Make Tyler to remain founded through the chapter of life and the limelight-like individuals and as a couple. The two are this month launching a podcast, “Cate and TY breaks it down”, as she says will offer a deeper dive into their lives with mental health as a key pillar.

“We have done couples therapy and individual therapy over the years, we have each worked with ourselves a lot and worked with our relationship together. It is a decision we make together to continue making the show. What we say to ourselves every year is that we help people not feel alone, when we talk about mental health or miscarriage or addiction or adoption. If there is someone out there who does not feel alone or helps them find where to ask for help, it is the motivation why we continue to do so. And when we get messages about it, it helps us not to feel alone. “

For Messer, the introduction to mental health support was a completely different story. “When I was growing up, it was like “you have this, you are self -dependent.” Reaching out for help for me was not the same. It wasn’t ok not to be ok. You covered it and masked it. I went through some of the most difficult devastation in my life on national television and that was when I realized that I need some support. I jumped into therapy later. It was after my divorce. I went to a treatment facility in Arizona and it was when I realized so much of the trauma that was really the underlying cause of much of my decision. It transformed my entire life. “

Now she says, “It’s about finding different handling mechanisms. Whether it is therapy, whether it is to come out, something moving – hikes, hiking, yoga, such things. It is a way to center and mark myself. “

And she has also found her voice in advocate. Her first professional speaking commitment will be documented on the show this season.

“I have worked with treatment facilities and life coaches and it has been transforming for many people and for me, just being able to hear people’s stories. Everyone’s story is different and unique and you can relate in different ways, she says.

“For me, it is to know what I take and be able to educate others about what they take and who to talk to, how to advocate for yourself. I have had a really difficult time to trust a doctor or even go to a doctor because I am afraid to take something. Yes, you can trust doctors but as a patient I feel that you have a responsibility to also educate yourself on what you are prescribed and why. So I share it. “