Shared Links (weekly) April 13, 2025
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They can’t go down to the local community college and sign up for a class where they can practice explaining all of the complexities of their mental health in simple terms. They’re experimenting with what works, what is comfortable, what is confusing, etc. Give them some space to do that and know that when they are still at this uncomfortable level they trust you to be someone they want to talk to.
Don’t ruin it for them by being dismissive or not listening. They need you to listen and they need practice in telling their stories. Be the same place for that.
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…
As Brandy shares, processing grief can sometimes mean being angry, or feeling things about the death of a loved one that don’t always jive with how we’d want suicide reported, but these are not spokespeople, advocates, or reporters, they are people dealing with their own pain.
Maybe, if we want people to speak their truth, we need to give them the room to express it the way they feel it, not silence them in the interest of not hearing terms we don’t love.
This is a sad read, but I do believe this is correct – There are myriad reasons that elderly adults are more susceptible to the nation’s 10th leading cause of death. One of the most prevalent is loneliness. Older adults often live in isolation and may be struggling with the death of a lifelong husband…
The quote from this article is about the situation in New Zealand, but it’s the same everywhere. After 14 suicide attempts and a long battle with mental illness, 23-year-old film director Jazz Thornton co-founded advocacy group Voices of Hope to help others going through similar struggles. “The current system isn’t working because unless you are…