The Hummingbird and The Raven: Managing Bipolar 1 Pre and Post DiagnosisThe Hummingbird and The Raven: Managing Bipolar 1 Pre and Post Diagnosis
Speaking Candidly with Candace
Candice Schoenner talks with writer and advocate Louise Barnett about life with bipolar I, addiction, and sobriety, from teenage depression to adulthood healing. Their conversation blends raw honesty, practical tools, and shared stories of guilt, motherhood and acceptance, highlighting how diagnosis, therapy and sobriety can reshape a chaotic life.
34:40•19 Aug 2026
The Hummingbird, the Raven and Sobriety: Louise Barnett on Bipolar I and Self-Acceptance
Episode Overview
- Self-awareness and a clear diagnosis can shift the inner dialogue from self-blame to asking, “What do I need?”
- Wearing emotional masks and hiding different “versions” of oneself is exhausting and eventually collapses.
- Managing bipolar I involves far more than medication; lifestyle, emotional regulation and nervous system work all matter.
- Sobriety is essential for many people with mental illness to truly stabilise symptoms and pursue personal growth.
- Sharing stories through writing and podcasts can reduce shame, build community, and shorten others’ time in pain.
“Self-awareness is the first step to any type of personal growth… instead of asking myself, ‘What the heck is wrong with me?’ I was able to start asking myself, ‘What do I need?’”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between host Candice Schoenner and guest Louise Barnett pulls that question apart through the lens of bipolar I disorder, addiction, and hard-won self-acceptance. Louise, host of Unmasking Sobriety and Mental Health, shares how her early life felt like living in “a Jekyll and Hyde world”, captured in her vivid metaphor of the hummingbird and the raven.
You’ll hear her speak openly about teenage depression, self-harm, trauma, and how alcohol and drugs became a “very specific desire to erase and to mask” rather than a source of fun. The episode is especially geared towards anyone juggling mental health issues, sobriety, parenthood, or high-functioning careers while feeling like they’re falling apart inside. Louise talks about resisting her diagnosis, skipping medication, and being less than honest in therapy, and how that denial fed catastrophic manic and depressive episodes.
There’s plenty here for people who like practical tools too. Louise explains how a formal diagnosis shifted her inner question from “What the heck is wrong with me?” to “What do I need?” She discusses DBT skills, nervous system work, and the discipline of seeing a therapist weekly, calling self-management “a full-time job”. A trip to Paris with her young daughter helps her reframe happiness as “tiny little experiences strung together”.
Sobriety plays a central role: Louise shares how living with her now-husband acted like a mirror, eventually leading to sobriety in 2021 and a more grounded approach to bipolar management. Both she and Candice use humour and honesty to show how storytelling itself can be a healing tool—whether through Louise’s upcoming memoir *Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir* or Candice’s own writing.
If you’re craving honest talk about bipolar, addiction, guilt, and motherhood—with zero sugar-coating and plenty of hope—this conversation might be the reminder you need that you don’t have to do any of it alone.
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