Similar Posts
Sharing – The Pandemic Finally Killed the Self-Care Myth
If we take anything away from this pandemic in terms of our self-care regiment, I hope that it is a recognition that many of our “suggestions” for how to practice self-care are completely unreachable to many folks without things like available childcare, stable incomes, some semblance of work-life balance, and the support of others. We can’t just toss another thing on the list of their responsibilities without making it possible for them to do.
Sharing – The Emerging Science of Suicide Prevention
I’m not a researcher but these two facts make me wonder if there’s not something we can do.
If we have a list of “nudges” that can help people feel like they belong or help educate people about things like safety plans, etc. and we don’t know who is at risk and which nudge might help them, maybe we should just continue to generally be kind to the people around us. That means trying to understand what makes them feel supported, connected, etc., and doing those things consistently. It also means noticing if a “nudge” has the opposite effect, and trying something different instead.
Help people feel like they belong, educate people about prevention resources, help them stay connected to family and friends, involve them, accept them, etc.
Help your friends and loved ones by communicating the kinds of things that help you. When you feel disconnected or like you are a burden, what can they do to keep you connected? What things do they do that make it worse?
When we don’t talk about these things we only make it worse, and we only continue to lose more people. We have to learn how to have these conversations. We have to be open to listening to the people closest to us and connecting to them without stigma and judgment. The researchers will keep working to learn more about prevention, but in the meantime simply caring about each other and being honest with each other is the best tool we have. We should use it.
Shared Links (weekly) April 5, 2026
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Sharing – How to support a friend facing depression
We ask people during times like Suicide Prevention Month to talk, to reach out, to check on their friends, and start conversations, etc. But do we model those behaviors in our day-to-day lives? Do you create an environment, at work, school, home, or in our own communities where talking about mental health issues is just something that we all do, and not a shocking thing to talk about? Because I can guarantee you, someone who is dealing with depression isn’t going to see a social media post about reaching out and do just that without having someone they know will actually help to reach out to.
The only way people will know that is if they see that behavior and hear these stories in their own community. Can you be part of creating that?
Sharing – I’m tired of people telling me to go and get therapy?-it’s not that simple
As she goes on to say in the post below, when someone needs help, and needs support, simply telling them to get therapy and going about your own life not thinking about that conversation again is not enough. We have to recognize that therapy may not be available for them, or it may be quite a long time before they can get therapeutic help. What do they do until then? What can we do, as a society, to make mental health care more accessible to everyone? Because right now, it’s not accessible to a very large number of people who need it.
Reviews Elsewhere – Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America
Came upon this review from the Mental Health at Home blog, and something about it really hit home with me. I think in the survivor, and mental health, communities we have a real problem, and that problem has to do with how many people have this very strange way of defining “thinking positively”. So when…
