It seems like whatever people thought they were going to get from any enquiry it’s going to be Diet Justice and waiting for people to die and just labeling them paedos without spending money to have a proper trial when they’re alive.
This is the world we live in. Not one where teens would be fine if only they didn’t have social media, but one where teens take to social media to get information about mental health and other issues that they can’t talk to anyone else about. Getting rid of social media for minors will leave a void similar to the one I had growing up, where no one I knew talked about abuse or mental health issues, so I assumed I was the only one dealing with it.
That’s not a better world. I think a world where minors can access information provided by advocates who educate themselves about the facts and share their own lived experiences is invaluable. That’s what following these accounts can provide.
‘ve been describing it to friends and coworkers as “the inability to just turn off the fear of other people and their germs”. Because, in some ways, that’s exactly what it was. I’ve spent a year plus barely leaving my house. Sure, I worked from home even before the pandemic, but it’s an extreme sport now, going into the back yard is an adventure into a strange and exotic place, let alone being around other people.
Yesterday, however, I did manage to get out and meet up with a friend and former coworker. I won’t say it wasn’t awkward. But, it wasn’t as awkward as my anxiety had built it up in my head, mostly because I think we both knew it was awkward, and went out of our way to figure out what we were comfortable with. We met in the office building where she works, wearing masks. She asked if I wanted to keep being masked walking to lunch, and we agreed to not, and to sit outside to be safer. And she asked before giving me a hug after lunch.
It was an important lesson to me, that we need to navigate this together with the people we care about, and meet them at the level where they are comfortable. It’s not about racing to be the most “normal” group, it’s about making sure everyone comes along, and is comfortable, because we’ve all dealt with various levels of trauma over the last 14-15 months, trauma that will show up in a variety of ways. There’s nothing wrong with people who are slower to feel comfortable, they are just doing what they can. I’d rather meet them where they are, and where I am, than not see them at all anymore, or shame them about their own hesitation. It’s not a race.
When we talk about the effects of child abuse and other childhood traumas that last well into adulthood, this is what we are talking about. The normal development cycle was simply disrupted and we now must play catch-up.
It’s not impossible to learn and develop even as an adult, but first we need to stop blaming ourselves for both the trauma, and the effects of the trauma. We need to be open to learning new tools without judging ourselves for not already knowing how to fix ourselves.
If it were that easy, everyone would do it. Clearly that isn’t happening.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/video/2014/sep/12/samantha-morton-sexually-abused-child-care-homes-video-interview Following revelations of child sex abuse in Rotherham, actor and director Samantha Morton felt the need to go public about her own shocking experience growing up in care homes in Nottingham. Here she talks for the first time about being sexually abused by residential care workers, and what happened when she went to the…
A new study shows that the hippocampus – the part of the brain that supports memory – is less active in people with depression, who therefore have trouble not only remembering, but also imagining. Once again, we see that the all too common advice to simply think more positively, just isn’t possible for people dealing…
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Link – Lord Janner ‘abused 12 at children’s homes’ – https://t.co/EltfFxH4qO via @Survivornetwork
RT @patriciasinglet: Link – Lord Janner ‘abused 12 at children’s homes’ – https://t.co/EltfFxH4qO via @Survivornetwork
RT @patriciasinglet: Link – Lord Janner ‘abused 12 at children’s homes’ – https://t.co/EltfFxH4qO via @Survivornetwork