Hi, I’m Mike McBride. I am a survivor of childhood abuse. I am also a survivor of major depression, dissociative fugue and a suicide attempt. This is my place. This is where I share my thoughts, my knowledge, and educational resources about all of these topics, in multiple ways. I don’t do this for fame, and I’m definitely not making any money from it. I do it so that the next survivor, of any of these things, has at least one place on the world wide web to know that they are not alone.
You are, in fact, not alone. Far from it, and I hope that by looking around here, and maybe even subscribing, you will learn this simple fact, and draw strength from it. If you know anyone who might benefit from that, please share this with them.
If you are a social media user, I hope you’ll consider following this little website using the links in the sidebar or at the top of the page, and if you’re interested in technology, or photography, I hope you’ll click over and follow my work on other pages as well!
Latest Posts from the Blogs
- It's the step where you can truly understand at the deepest level that what happened was not your fault. Many a survivor will say that without ever really feeling it, and you can tell because they will say that and immediately begin talking about how weak or needy they were as a child. As if that explains why they were abused, when in fact the only explanation necessary is that someone decided to abuse them. The post Sharing – Why Mourning […]
- Look, we know that untreated mental health issues impact people's lives in many ways. Would the lack of treatment at 20 for bipolar make a huge difference in lifetime income? Of course, it would impact the ability to even finish college successfully and that would then continue to impact things significantly. Would the need to take leaves of absence or go to work every day with depression and no access to help for that cause you to be less successful? Again, […]
- Emotional Whiplash Being Caused By The Pandemic Why You Should Never Tell Someone To “Get Over” Their Mental Illness 12 Books to Help With Anxiety Self-Parenting for Abuse Survivors How Does PTSD Affect the Brain? The Physical Effects of Trauma How To Ask A Friend If They Are OK When They Are Not A Grief Encounter When a parent has mental illness, how to support kids The post Shared Links (weekly) Jan. 23, 2022 appeared first on Survivors News and Reviews.
- My first thought, obviously, was about the workplace and the culture we have created there that rewards being "always-on" but I think so much of this pressure permeates beyond work. As technology has become commonplace we all live with this pressure and this expectation. Think about it, how many times in a given week are you apologizing to friends and family because you couldn't get back to them right away? I do it all the time. Heck, I've gotten text messages […]
- I found this review by Kevin C of this book by Nicole Dake and was immediately drawn to the title. As a trauma survivor panic attacks have been a part of my life at various times and I know the same is true for many other survivors I've talked to. The post Reviews Elsewhere – Trauma Survivor’s Guide to Coping With Panic Attacks by Nicole Dake appeared first on Survivors News and Reviews.
- There are other ways in the article below but this one? This one is pure gold right now because we are all so overwhelmed, stressed, anxious and uncertain about everything. In the midst of that? Keep track of your wins The post Sharing – How to Improve Self-Esteem When You Live with Depression appeared first on Survivors News and Reviews.
- Setting Boundaries Says 'I Am Worthy’ to My Childhood Trauma My Dark Place How to Choose a Therapist: Tips and Fits Social Media Is an Incredibly Powerful Mental Health Tool–When Used the Right Way Developing a Plan for Good Mental Health in 2022 Instapoetry: The Unexpected Instagram Trend That Boosts Mental Health Mental Health Support Groups: 5 Unique Benefits The post Shared Links (weekly) Jan. 16, 2022 appeared first on Survivors News and Reviews.
- I hope we can start to understand this better and provide a wider variety of tools to help with the wide variety of ways that mental health issues can manifest in different people. I also hope we can start to understand that there is no one "right" way to treat our mental health issues, no magic solution that everyone can just go and get. Lastly, I also hope that we can understand that my symptoms are not your symptoms, and the […]
- Through all of this, we still haven't addressed the tough parts. Sure, we've offered time off. We've told people it's OK to not be OK. We've offered mental health apps for free. Maybe we've even offered more significant mental health benefits, or done sessions during the workday on stress and burnout. What we haven't done in many cases are the harder things, like creating a culture that is not rewarding all of the things we encourage employees not to do. The post Linked: One in two employees reluctant to disclose a mental health condition at work […]
- This quote from Kevin Love is something that just stood out to me because it's something that I think is so important to understand. Not just for a professional athlete, but for any of us to remember about our own line of work, or to remember when it comes to young people in school: “You can’t achieve yourself out of depression,” Love says. “You can’t achieve yourself out of that high-level of anxiety.” The post Linked: NBA star Kevin Love on mental health struggles, success, getting Covid appeared first on Mike McBride Online. If you want […]
- We've seen the memes. The ones about the law firm offering a lunch hour yoga class to overworked, stressed, associates who haven't had time to even take a lunch break in months. Or the "reward" for months of 70-80 hour work weeks is free pizza. It just makes people angry because it's a token that does nothing to actually recognize the work involved, or correct the problems that created this mess to start with. Workplace stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues are not just something a little mindfulness can fix. Workers are waking up to […]
- The reality is if you allow people to be flexible and get their work done in the way that makes the most sense for them, individually, they will all benefit from that decision. There won't be a fairness issue because of some accommodation because everyone is getting the accommodation they need to do their best work. What's wrong with that? Isn't that what management says they want? The post Linked: Making workplaces better for people struggling with mental health will make work better for everyone appeared first on Mike McBride Online. If you want to see […]
- It just goes to show what I've always said, your company is not your family, it's not even a friend, and it will always do what is good for itself first, second, and always. If something also happens to be good for you, great, but that's never been the goal, so you have to make decisions based on what is good for you, not the company. If you think that's an overly negative thing to say about CEOs and upper management, go read those percentages again, and consider how many of those same people expect your […]
- As I've said before, many employers did the easy stuff. They invested in some mental health tools, promoted using employee assistance programs, talked more about mental health, heck they even gave people more time off or at least pushed people to actually use the time off they hadn't been. And yet, here we are. Why? Because they haven't yet done the hard work of making the workplace not the place that hurts mental health to start with. There's no easy fix for that. It won't happen in a few weeks, but if you don't start looking […]
- Talking About Male Sexual Abuse Survivors on the It’s a Wrap Podcast
- My Story on the Blue Radio Podcast
- Talking About World Suicide Prevention Day on Moments of Clarity
- Overcoming Your Childhood Trauma on Finding Your Voice
- Talking Child Abuse and Blogging on Moments of Clarity
- What Adult Life is Like for a Victim of Child Abuse with Aimee Cabo
- Balancing Privacy and Responsibility with Monitoring and Security on Nuix Unscripted
If you’re looking for a podcast guest to talk about child abuse or using blogging and social media to share stories of surviving and mental health advocacy, get in touch.
