3 Lessons that Gloria Vanderbilt Taught Us About Coping with a Child’s Suicide
Into the Lighthouse: the UK’s first safe space for child sexual abuse victims
Florida To Require Mental Health Classes For Public School Students
14 Mental Health Related Blogs You Need to Read • Unveiling the Mind
The Loneliness and Shame of Feeling Invisible: How to Find Your Voice
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
As I mentioned, this reminded me of work. Having only one week in at a new job, there are a ton of things I don’t know. There are a ton of things that I’m going to have to ask for help with. It takes a toll on my anxiety. It kickstarts my brain into negative self-talk. After all, look at all of the things I can’t do without help. When I’m dealing with this, do you know what feels really great? Finding the things I do really well and sharing some of the knowledge I have. It’s an immediate boost to my sense of self and the sense that I contribute to the team. Sean refers to it as “intrinsic value”. It also acts as a reminder that once upon a time, I was learning how to do those things, so I am capable of learning and developing new skills.
Each of us has a choice to make. We can acknowledge that millions of people are oppressed and discriminated against. We can recognize that each additional act of oppression adds to the stress and mental health issues, or we can ignore that and do nothing. We can support celebrities, politicians, and religious figures who have no issue oppressing other people, who favor discriminating against people who are not like us, or we can contribute to lessening the discrimination people face and the harm caused.
Read the article below. Read it slowly and thoughtfully. Then choose wisely.
I don’t think we can promise that your first visit will be as good as the one described in this story, but I like that it tries to give a more accurate picture of what it’s like. Before I was referred to a psychiatrist, I imagined something like a scene from One Flew Over the…
Forgotten gives an account of the complete life story of Les Cummings, who had to come back to the UK from his adopted home of California to make a legal challenge to his town council for his abusive treatment when growing up in council followed by foster care. This book is powerful, well written and…
I do understand this. I don’t make a habit of talking about my mental health when I get to spend time with friends, even though many of them read this blog and know about my history. Mostly, that’s because we’ve bonded for years over other things like work, shared interests, music, etc. Talking about mental health just hasn’t been what we’ve done in the past when we’re together and it’s comfortable to simply slide right back into those same roles when we are together.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Talking about mental health doesn’t have to occur each and every time we communicate with friends. We all get to have fun nights out without having that deep of a conversation. But, talking about it some of the time lets everyone in the group know that, when they need it, they can talk about it.
The hard work is developing the proper resources for people who need help after the immediate crisis. That costs money. Money that a significant number of people in the US will balk at paying because it goes to “other people.” These are the same people who balk at paying taxes for schools when they don’t have kids or at higher insurance premiums, let alone the taxes necessary for things like Medicaid, that pay for people who “made poor health decisions.” So, rather than stand up to that kind of thinking, many politicians at the state and local levels will go along with that. They won’t even attempt to provide funds for mental health services.
Some will even go so far as to say those services are just propping up “weak” people who need to get over those issues.
At the end of the day, while we can point to the number of people who talk about mental health and are supported for talking about it, we cannot say we’ve eliminated the stigma associated with it until we all put our money where our mouth is and provide the help that people need.
Until then, I’m afraid that many people will learn lessons the hard way, that it’s easy to write off funding resources for “other people” until you or someone you love winds up being one of them.
