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Link – It’s National Suicide Prevention Week, and here are small things you can do to help loved ones struggling with depression
There’s some decent advice in here, but I really wanted to focus on this one bit of information – “There was a time when I couldn’t even leave my house. I’d become a hermit, hiding from any and everything that might see me. It took encouragement from others while I started over — practicing getting…
Sharing – Mental Health Professionals Really Can Assume Some Police Duties
It’s been trialed in several areas, sending out a mental health team instead of the police to respond to certain kinds of calls. Typically calls that involve a mental health crisis, addiction, etc. What we didn’t have yet were real studies to show whether this was having the desired effect. It’s early, but this is promising:
Link – Why You Need a Wide Mental Health Support Network
There’s a lot in the article, and there are more reasons than this one, but really, isn’t this enough to show that you need a wide network: “Don’t Overburden a Single Person” It’s not fair to make any one person responsible for our mental health support. We are the only one’s who can take responsibility…
Sharing – On the Mental Health Conversation
I love the fact that her boss was just honest about his mental health issues, and the fact that he took antidepressants, and how much difference that made it her own ability to talk about mental health. Simply put, this has to be what we do. All of us who advocate for more mental health conversation, awareness, and resources, need to create a space where anyone, everyone, can share their own stories, and advocate for their own care, without fear of being judged for needing it.
Sharing – Can I Just Tell You: With So Much To Mourn, We Must Allow Time To Grieve
One of the things I learned in 2019, and saw repeated over and over again in 2020-21, was that there are a lot of people who are so uncomfortable with the idea of death, that they become almost unbearable to be around when you are grieving yourself. They are so uncomfortable with grief, that they really, really need you to get over your grief so that they don’t have to feel uncomfortable anymore.
It’s a weakness. One that cuts people off from their own emotions, whether it be hurt, pain, anger or grief. It hurts people, all in the name of someone else’s comfort.
We see it when people complain about child abuse public service announcements, put in the “required” time at a funeral, avoid people they know dealing with mental health issues, and so on. And it’s not going to change, until it’s them or someone they care enough about to make an effort to get past their own discomfort.
Or, maybe it won’t change. Maybe they’ll continue to isolate themselves from anyone who is hurting. That’s a choice, one any of us is free to make.
Or we can choose to allow people to hurt, and grieve, and simply be with them. Simply care more about that other person than our own discomfort.
