'Trying not to let the cracks show': Holland rep talks mental health
HOLLAND — If you sit down for a conversation with Bylnda Sól, the first thing you’ll notice is her passion for service.
From volunteering at her children's schools to being an advocate for the LGBTQ community to helping senior citizens and veterans — and, in the end, serving on Holland City Council.
Sól comes with a friend in tow, a poodle named Shadow, her service animal.
Shadow helps Sól cope with prior life experiences, dating back to 9/11 when she enlisted in the National Guard.
“I just felt a calling to go into the military,” Sól said. “I was 34 and they called me granny. It was a challenge and it was difficult, but it was worth it. Looking back now, the values lined up with who I am as a person.”
She went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and assisted local law enforcement. She also helped guard President Bush and Air Force One on visits.
Later, she volunteered for Operation Iraqi Freedom and was deployed to Baghdad, where she helped train the Iraqi police. In November 2006, they suffered their first death.
“We never knew what was around the corner," Sól said. "Mainly it was IEDs ... you never knew if you were going to detonate one.”
After serving a year in Baghdad, she returned to the United States. In all, she'd served for six years.
“I thought I could just come back and go to work and get back into my life,” she said. “(But) I had a lot of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ... You want to think you're fine, that you're normal and nothing is wrong, but you're really just trying not to let the cracks show.”
Sól worked as a legal assistant for the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office and as a police reserve. As she tells it, she hit rock bottom in 2015, when she was diagnosed with depression.
"I was really having a hard go of it," she said. "I started counseling and also started using my VA benefits."
Shadow, a four-year-old standard poodle, came along two years ago. Sól says, through the years, she's been able to grow as a person with Shadow by her side.
Subscribe: Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage
In all, Sól has spent over 30 years in Holland. She continues to serve locally by working at Good Samaritan. She'll be up for re-election to council in 2025.
— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland council member talks mental health, serving others
