If you’re in the UK, you might be interested in checking out some of the programing planned on television and radio dealing with mental health.
And, for those of us not in the UK, if you want to come back and let us know how the shows are and what you learn, you can always submit a review.
Photo by Tim Loudon 
I have often said the best defense against childhood sexual abuse is raising kids who have open, supportive adults in their lives because they aren’t as vulnerable and easily manipulated. It turns out that those same relationships are also improving their mental well-being. Let’s do more of that.
“On the last day, the state-appointed therapist said to me, “You’re a survivor. You didn’t fail; an adult failed you.” “ Being a child abuse survivor isn’t something we should be ashamed of, being strong enough to survive what happened is a sign of strength, not weakness. We Are Survivors –
We can, and should, do everything we can to get out good information and share the truth about mental health issues. We can, and should, share our own stories of the mental health issues we’ve survived, especially those of us who have had many of these issues due to the trauma we suffered.
But that will never be enough for some people. Knowing the truth about these issues, and knowing what people need in terms of non-stigmatizing support won’t be enough to change their actual behavior. The very topic(s) will make them uncomfortable and they will act out of that discomfort instead of relying on what they know. They will put their own comfort above any consideration of how stigmatizing their actions and words are because they simply cannot handle even the slightest discomfort in their lives.
That is their weakness, not ours.
We know that kids who can access mental health support during traumatic childhoods fare significantly better in every aspect than kids who are unable to do so. If we want to do something about not only the youth mental health crisis, but also future adult mental and physical health issues, one of the best things we could do is invest in support systems for children.
But, we don’t. We have never made the kind of commitment that is necessary, and now we are cutting the meager programs that do exist.
You’re not being kind, you are blaming people for a ton of things that are completely beyond their control, because your own identify is tied to a world-view that has no explanation for suffering beyond “welp, guess you failed at being positive”.
That’s not a world-view, that’s a privileged, self-centered, view.
