Happy 40th Birthday to Me!!! (Photos Through The Ages)

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words (be sure to read the captions). Wow... What a journey it's been!

I was born around 3:30am on April 3rd, 1986. Today is my 40th birthday. 40 years around the sun. ☀️

This is an extremely condensed photo series. I don’t know what my future holds but I’m looking forward to living it. 🫂📚💕

Photos: Amy Frank (1993 - 2026)

Amy Frank — Age 7 or 8 (1993/1994)

Amy Frank — Age 8 or 9 (1994/1995)

Amy Frank — Age 9 or 10 (1995/1996)

Amy Age 9 or 10 (1995/1996)

Amy Frank — Age 15/16 (2001)

I left home at the age of 14, although I was still in and out of my parents home for a while during those years. Traumatic things had happened; I was severely suicidal. In my teenage years, I never thought I'd live long enough to see my 20’s let alone be where I am today. ☀️

Amy Frank — Age 15/16 (2001/2002)

I was heavy into drugs and alcohol. I was now also involved in the sex trade. The more I used, the worse things got. The worse things got, the more I used. It became a vicious cycle.

Amy Frank — Age 15/16 (2001/2002)

The Boys and Girls Club picked me up off the streets when I was about 15/16. I was placed into a care home where I lived for over a year. My care-home parents, Gerry and Gerda, will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was life changing. They treated me like an equal when everybody else treated me like a messed up kid. I managed to clean up off the drugs and alcohol while living with them as I wanted to make them proud. This was also the time-period in my life when my parents paid for me to go to Flight School (even though I wasn’t living with them at the time).

Amy Frank — Age 17 (2003)

These were some of the worst times of my life. I was now in psychosis from cocaine. To the outside world, I was doing well. I had left Gerry and Gerda’s and now had my own apartment. I was back in the regular school system, attending Victoria High School (Vic High) as an independent student. Under the surface, however, I was living in an incredibly unhealthy place.

Amy Frank — Age 17 (2003)

I had left Gerry and Gerda’s with the best intentions. What the adults in my life at that time didn’t know however, was that the apartment I was living in was being paid for by some much older men. It was a get-away space, where several men in their late 40’s and early 50’s would come to escape their girlfriends, wives, children, and families.

I lived a double life. The pressure of those lies was building up. I was terribly isolated and very thin. I had endless booze and drugs, but no food (save for the free breakfast and lunch that Vic High offered to low income students). I entered a cocaine-induced psychosis. It was TERRIFYING. I’d been afraid of the dark and ghosts ever since my childhood, but now it felt as if I were being endlessly haunted by ghosts and demons.

Amy Frank — Age 19 (2005)

I had a severely traumatic psychiatric hospitalization at the age 18, in 2004, that would make me vow to never admit myself to the psych ward again, no matter how bad things got (I held onto that vow for 16 years, until the late autumn of 2020). This photo was taken in 2005, while I was in recovery from that hospitalization and all that had led me there. I moved back into my parents home around this time, on the condition that I could live in their basement suite.

Amy Frank — Age 21 (2007)

Ah, the dreadlock years.

Amy Frank — Age 24 (2010)

I was now off of hard drugs, but I was still drinking (and sometimes being very silly).

Amy Frank — Age 25 (2011)

Drinking and partying.

Amy Frank — Age 25 (2011)

I was still drinking and partying. I was very unwell but I walked a lot and didn’t eat much. One’s physical appearance is obviously not the best indicator of one’s health. This picture doesn’t show the self harm, drunken cuts/bruises, nor the numerous traumas that continued to accumulate.

Amy Frank — Age 26 (2012)

I was in my first year of what would be a long term relationship. This relationship was a changing point in my life as it was his support and encouragement that led me to turning my Art & Advocacy into a business.

Amy Frank — Age 29 (2015)

In this photo, I was living with my then boyfriend (this was taken outside of our James Bay apartment). I was sober but not doing well with my mental or physical health. Looking back, I have no doubt that the relationship played a leading role in that. This was shortly before I left him/moved out. Although I’m grateful for what I learned during those years, I’m also grateful they’re over.

Amy Frank — Age 32 (2018)

I was now in a new long term relationship. In retrospect, I entered into it way too fast after the previous one had ended. I was incredibly unwell. Unlike in the previous relationship, this man and I were heavy into both marijuana and alcohol. My physical health was now at an all time low.

Amy Frank — Age 32 (2018)

I masked a lot. Although I was a public speaker and mental health advocate, people often didn’t see this side of me. I was not doing well. I eventually got off the alcohol but not the marijuana. I believed the THC was helping my physical ailments. I gained a new therapist this year that I had the great honour to work with from 2018 until 2026.

I had begun to learn about holistic medicine and gut health from my new long term romantic partner, when our relationship began. My new therapist then introduced me to the Four Pillars of Health, which would become my foundation moving forward.

Amy Frank — Age 33 (2019)

By 2019 I was back in psychosis, but this time it was marijuana-induced.

Writing by Amy Frank — Age 33 (2019)

This is a page from my first Art As Therapy Book: “Triggers Journal”. It outlines the cognitive shift that began taking place during the 2019 to 2021 psychosis.

I was having horrific—physically crippling and debilitating—side effects from the psychiatric medications. I was so sick… In 2019, I began a journey:

I wanted to know what my body and mind would be like without drugs, alcohol, or psychiatric medications in my system.

I stopped seeing the root of my problems as an incurable chemical imbalance, and instead started to look at how trauma had impacted my psyche and life since infancy. I later changed “The Core Four” back into “The Four Pillars of Health”.

Amy Frank — Age 33 (early 2020)

I left my fiancé in January 2020 as I believed I had a spiritual path I needed to follow. I was in psychosis, although I was unaware of that at the time. When Covid’s isolation hit, I began to consume large amounts of marijuana edibles daily (on top of smoking it), which ultimately led me deeper into a world that I now call: Wonderland.

Although I continue to have the utmost respect for my ex-fiancé, I don’t believe I could have gotten clean and sober if I had stayed. I’m very grateful I followed this path.

Amy Frank — Age 34 (2020)

This was taken during the height of my 2019 to 2021 psychosis. I would be hospitalized within a month of this photo being taken.

I used covid’s isolation as an opportunity to fly — consuming large amounts of marijuana edibles daily, on top of smoking it. It felt as if the psychosis I'd had as teenager had come back to life, only this time it was a beautiful experience. I began to face the ghosts and demons I had previously felt haunted by.

Amy Frank — Age 35 (2021)

This was taken two months after exiting the psychiatric ward at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. I was still smoking marijuana daily and was now being injected, against my will, with an antipsychotic medication. Not one doctor or mental health professional told me to get off the marijuana. I was becoming increasingly suicidal from the medication’s side effect: Akathisia.

I still carry a lot of pain, anger, and trauma surrounding how I’ve been treated by the mental health system in British Columbia (BC), Canada. I agree that I was in psychosis during this time period, however I don’t agree that I was danger to myself or others.

Amy Frank — Age 35 (2021)

Looking back, I understand it all happened the way it had to. So many don’t have a voice, but I do. I’m confident I wouldn’t have survived being detained under BC’s Mental Health Act if it hadn’t been for Saba. During that time, I thought of a sure-fire way to take my own life. I didn’t know how long I’d be detained for. In 2021, an impactful movement started locally:

PES: a Pathetic Excuse for Support

(PES = Psychiatric Emergency Services)

I was far from the only one who’d felt deeply harmed by the mental health medical system.

Amy Frank — Age 35 (2021)

I tucked my plan into my back-pocket and endured the forced treatment, which was being upheld by coercion, because of Saba. I knew too well how poorly many parrots in captivity ended up. I couldn’t abandon her.

Amy Frank — Age 35 (2022)

By 2022, my eyes took on a crazed look from the injected medication. I’m so grateful to have so much of my life documented in photographs, art, and writing. I’ve since seen this same look in the eyes of other patients who take a similar class of medication.

Art & Writing by Amy Frank — Age 36 (2022)

This was after a full year of being injected against my will with antipsychotic medication.

Amy Frank — Age 36 (2022)

This was one month after being freed from BC, Canada’s, Mental Health Act. I was now off of all drugs and alcohol, which was a path I found on my own. I discovered that every time I removed a vice, I was flooded by the pains and traumas I’d spent a lifetime trying to run from. I couldn’t run anymore. I knew that the best chance I’d have of getting off (and staying off of) psychiatric medications would involve me getting off of, and staying off of, all other substances that were harmful to my life and psyche. I agreed to random drug testing at any time to prove my sincerity and my psychiatrist got on board, agreeing to help me remove all psychiatric medications.

Amy Frank — Age 35 (2022)

This was three months after being freed from the Mental Health Act.

Amy Frank — Age 36 (2023)

As the medications weened out of my system, it became easier and easier to move my body. I started doing Aquafit then later got into the gym (weightlifting and what would become my fave: the elliptical). I also got back into power walking. I continued looking towards the Four Pillars of Health as my foundation.

Amy Frank — Age 36 (2023)

I fell in love with fitness and nutrition as I started to witness how good my lifestyle changes were making me feel.

Amy Frank — Age 36 (2023)

I began to find myself after being a shell of a human for so many years. I continued looking towards the Four Pillars of Health when I felt off balance and have stayed devoted to my life of sobriety (which includes abstinence from many addictions—not just alcohol).

I also began to examine my past relationships of all types, looking at what roles I played in them so as to ensure I don’t repeat what’s already been. I’ve learned in my recovery that our relationships with other people are amongst the most stressful and rewarding parts of our lives. They can break or make us. They play a significant role in mental health.

Amy Frank — Age 38 (February 2025)

This was taken while waiting for my psychiatrist who’s actually a psychotherapist (meaning he offers both medications and/or therapy). As of 2026, we’ve been working together for 25 years.

Since being freed from the Mental Health Act, I no longer have to see him, however I’m choosing to as I genuinely appreciate his insights and guidance (it took us a while to rebuild that trust).

Amy Frank — Age 39 (2025)

I'm grateful to say that Wonderland is alive and well. Since exiting the psychosis and getting off of all drugs, alcohol, and psychiatric medications, I've slowly learned to trust my intuition. I now live in both worlds simultaneously without any drugs or alcohol influencing that. I'm more in touch with the metaphysical & spiritual realms than ever before, yet I’m also functioning in the real world too, or what I call “Shared Reality”. I'm staying on top of house work, self care, nutrition, exercise, caring for my feathered love (whom I wouldn’t be here without), my art business, and much more.

Through pain, courage, and humility, I’ve earned my own trust, love, and respect.

Amy Frank — Age 39 (late 2025)

So many fear aging, especially women, yet I see it as a great gift that has been denied to many I love (Rest In Peace Nicole Tourangeau, Breanne Gornall, Calvin Stimson, Adam Malec, Garry Hartley, Conrad Groves and many more).

I don't know what the future holds but I don't intend to hate nor waste one moment of it. I have crawled through the bowels of hell, yet on that journey I found the light. I’ve developed skills that I’m confident will last me a lifetime.

(…and yup! I still love bugs!!)

Amy Frank — Age 39 (February 2026)

I can't believe I'm 40 years old today!!! In my teens, I never thought I’d live long enough to see my 20’s let alone be writing this at 40.

The world around me seems to be spinning faster and faster into ever-worsening conflict and chaos yet the war is no longer inside of me. That’s huge.

I’ve learned how to surf my big emotions as well as how to navigate realms that I was told all my life weren’t real. Fortunately, just like how microscopes gave us a view into a whole world of microscopic beings—beings that we now know impact us greatly—just because we don’t have the technology yet, doesn’t make something less real. As I venture forward, I intend to do all I can to aid others (who wish to aid themselves) as they embark down their own paths on this crazy adventure we all call life.

None of us know where we’ll be in a year. I never believed I’d be here.

So much love to everyone who’s reading this and a HUGE Happy Birthday to me!!!!🥳

Love,

~Amy (and Saba)