Similar Posts
Sharing – “Reflexes and Habits” Is Much Better Than “Fight or Flight”
This is some really interesting stuff from Jim Hopper. We know that “fight or flight” doesn’t truly represent the common reactions to being assaulted, So rather than trying to add new terms, why not just rethink the entire thing?
Book Review of Sorts – Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
For many survivors, their definition of healed automatically becomes a goal that can never be reached. We should quit trying to “be the person I was before the abuse” because it’s impossible. By setting that as our pass/fail goal, we sentence ourselves to a lifetime of falling short, instead of a lifetime of celebrating the gap between where we started and where we are today. We also never find a better goal that is more realistic.
Please, take a good look at how you are defining healed. More importantly, don’t lose sight of the amount of healing and growth that you’ve already done. Be proud of it. This is your life, it’s not a pass/fail exam. It’s so much bigger than that.
Sharing – For teens’ mental health, strong friendships matter more than social media use, study finds
Social media may be a problem for some teens, but online interaction that leads to friendships would be remarkably good for them. Simple bans aren’t going to have much of an impact, but giving kids opportunities to bond and make friends will. How do we do more of that?Â
Sharing – Red Flags of child sex abusers from an ex-child abuse detective
We’ve spent so much time looking at lists like this one, looking for the bad people, and that is absolutely part of abuse prevention. Still, we’ve missed the boat on what might be the most significant tool in our prevention toolkit, taking the target off kids by connecting with them as parents and with other trusted adults—helping them be less vulnerable.
Kids who don’t have secrets make terrible targets for abusers. Kids with support and secure relationships aren’t easily manipulated and aren’t too eager to please adults.
We need our kids to be more of that, starting with having close relationships with the safe adults in their lives.
Sharing – the wound of unbelonging
Mental health advocates like me can talk all day about the importance of community and the life-saving value of human connection, but who are we if we take that away from anyone?Â
