Author Rex Ogle visits The Bookworm of Edwards on World Mental Health Day program

Thursday, Oct. 10 is World Mental Health Day. One way to intentionally celebrate this holiday is with bestselling author Rex Ogle, who survived poverty, domestic abuse, and living on the streets as a teenager, and now has to work hard to maintain his mental health every day in the face of severe depression, crippling anxiety and PTSD.

In partnership with local organizations Mountain Youth and Mountain Pride, the Bookworm will host author Rex Ogle so he can share his incredible story from his recently released book “Road Home,” which chronicles his time being forced from his home and living on the streets after his father discovered he was gay; the final book in his trilogy of young adult memoirs and highlights both struggles and resilience of many LGBTQ+ youth.

Ogle takes his mental health very seriously. “During the events of the book, I had never even heard of mental health; it wasn’t a common phrase in 90s America,” Ogle said. “What I experienced out there on the street was not just scary, but soul-crushing. Over the years I began to better understand that I needed to take care of myself first and foremost. I take mental health very seriously now. With relaxation and breathing, healthy habits and social activities, and most importantly — taking care of that little boy inside me who was hurt all those years ago. That’s why I still buy myself LEGOs and candy.”

Through his writing, Ogle works to take care of the millions of children and youth who are living lives much like Ogle’s, by letting them know they’re not alone, and to provide them an escape. “When I was growing up, queer and Mexican in rural Texas, facing poverty and domestic violence and home instability on a regular basis — I always felt alone,” Ogle said. “So when I start putting my thoughts to paper, I always consider what kind of books I’ve needed throughout my life, and I try to write those. Sometimes it’s memoirs with difficult topics like ‘Road Home,’ sometimes it’s more fun like my graphic novel ‘Northranger.’ Whatever I’m writing, I hope that it helps other readers to know, first, that they’re not alone in their struggles, and second, escaping into a book is always worth the time.”

Ogle hopes that sharing his story can help struggling youth by building empathy in his readers. “If my reader has never experienced anything like my book, then I hope they develop a new empathy for those that have,” Ogle said. “And I hope my book makes its way into the hands of parents who might kick their kid out for being queer, so that they can see just what exactly they are sentencing their children to. If my book opens the eyes of parents and guardians and prevents them from pushing their kid out into the world and onto the streets, then all the pain I lived and wrote will be worth it.”

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