Similar Posts
Sharing – 988 call centers struggling to hire people to answer the phones.
Creating a new number was the easy part. Similar to raising awareness because it’s necessary, it’s essential, but if there is no one there to provide the help we encourage people to reach out for, it’s not nearly enough. Here’s hoping these state and local organizations can find and train people to provide the necessary help during these calls. That’s only a start, of course. We still have so much work to do to make that help accessible to everyone who needs it.
In some ways, this struggle to staff the hotline is a microcosm of the entire mental health field right now. We need a lot of resources that just aren’t there right now. Can we figure out a way to get change that?
As We See Rising Rates of Anxiety and Depression for Young People, Is A Lack of Sleep Contributing to it?
I don’t know that we have a definitive answer to that question, but what we do know is that anxiety and depression among kids and teens is on the rise, and that a lack of sleep, at worst, is a contributing factor to mental health issues like those, and, at best, doesn’t help anyone struggling…
Sharing – How to Respond When Mental Health Advice Feels Like Judgment
Look, I get it, you tried something and it helped you, or you’ve seen it help someone else. Clearly, you are excited about the possibility of helping others, but you’re forgetting something. You’re forgetting that the person you are sharing this advice with, isn’t you.
When you come walking into a conversation with friends, or especially into online communities with statements like the ones above, the message you are actually sending is “Gee, fixing this is easy, you’re just doing it wrong”.
Imagine using those actual words towards someone you barely know. You wouldn’t, would you? At least if you’re a decent human being, you wouldn’t. But you are totally willing to take your beliefs, your own experience, and completely railroad another person’s current reality with it, you are doing something awfully similar. In a moment of emotional vulnerability, you have come in, guns blazing, with the suggestion that all of this pain they are in, and all of this struggling they are going through, should have been easy to avoid.
Sharing – Being Around Birds Boosts Our Mental Well-Being Even 8 Hours After Hearing Them
Honestly, we put a birdfeeder in our yard a few years ago, and I will occasionally go out and watch some of the birds as they come to the feeder. It is relaxing. Having a few moments of relaxation in my day is good for my mental health. Maybe you can’t get a feeder and keep it stocked, but maybe there’s a park or lake nearby where you can hear and see the birds.
Give it a shot. See what happens.
Links I’m Sharing (weekly)
Universities shouldn’t just treat mental illness – they should help prevent it too How Does Your Sense of Self Relate to Depression? FCC votes to set up 3-digit suicide hotline number like 911 – Eventually, you’ll be able to dial 988, but for now, we still want to keep this number handy. 800-273-TALK (8255) ‘People…