Shared Links (weekly) Dec 8, 2024
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Sharing – Why men’s brands need to talk about men’s mental health
I have had conversations about this when it relates to child abuse as well. What company wants customers to associate their name with child abuse, after all? But this is also true: It’s far easier to tell an inspiring brand story about investing in children’s education, or saving the environment than it is to talk…
Links I’m Sharing (weekly)
Mental Health Stigma Says There’s Pride in Silent Struggle How to Manage Anxiety During Periods of Transition What Mental Health Statistics Can Tell Us How Mental Health Conversations Are Reinforcing the Stigma How to Feel Your Feelings When You Were Never Really Taught Suicide Rates Are Rising, But Nobody Really Knows Why Latest Suicide Data…
Sharing – People Aren’t ‘Addicted’ to Wearing Masks, They’re Traumatized
‘ve been describing it to friends and coworkers as “the inability to just turn off the fear of other people and their germs”. Because, in some ways, that’s exactly what it was. I’ve spent a year plus barely leaving my house. Sure, I worked from home even before the pandemic, but it’s an extreme sport now, going into the back yard is an adventure into a strange and exotic place, let alone being around other people.
Yesterday, however, I did manage to get out and meet up with a friend and former coworker. I won’t say it wasn’t awkward. But, it wasn’t as awkward as my anxiety had built it up in my head, mostly because I think we both knew it was awkward, and went out of our way to figure out what we were comfortable with. We met in the office building where she works, wearing masks. She asked if I wanted to keep being masked walking to lunch, and we agreed to not, and to sit outside to be safer. And she asked before giving me a hug after lunch.
It was an important lesson to me, that we need to navigate this together with the people we care about, and meet them at the level where they are comfortable. It’s not about racing to be the most “normal” group, it’s about making sure everyone comes along, and is comfortable, because we’ve all dealt with various levels of trauma over the last 14-15 months, trauma that will show up in a variety of ways. There’s nothing wrong with people who are slower to feel comfortable, they are just doing what they can. I’d rather meet them where they are, and where I am, than not see them at all anymore, or shame them about their own hesitation. It’s not a race.
Link – U.S. college teaches veterans to heal each others’ mental wounds |
This seems like a really good idea. I hope it is massively successful. “William James College wants to bridge the cultural divide between veterans, some of whom view seeking mental health care as akin to admitting weakness, and psychologists and counselors, many of whom know little about military culture.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-psychology-idUSKBN18M116
Sharing – Compassion Fatigue: When Counselors and Other Helpers Don’t Make Time for Self-Care
This is true for anyone working in the field of mental health, or crisis intervention, and it’s also true of advocates. I’ve seen it too many times: “While compassion fatigue can happen when helpers are unable to replenish and restore emotionally and physically (Figley, 1982), vicarious trauma is the shift you experience mentally from…
Link – Half Of Parents Whose Teens Consider Suicide Have No Idea
Not only are parents missing what’s happening with their kids, this miscommunication goes both ways: “Jones and his team were surprised to find similar disagreement in the other direction, between children’s downplayed reports of their thoughts versus what their parents saw as troubling indicators. A significant number of teenagers denied they had thought about suicide…
