Shared Links (weekly) Feb 22, 2026
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Be aware of child abuse: Reports are down because of pandemic isolation How the U.S. Made it a Crime to Have Mental Illness Why do we consider vulnerability a weakness? Beyond the language of denial: Men talk mental health in Ghana Best Support is to Validate Concerns of Stressed-Out Friends Living With Chronic Illness, Pain,…
So this is some positive news for the UK, even though there are still over 5,000 total per year, a shocking number for a country of that size. The overall news though, is a bit more of a mixed bag: “Collectively there’s been huge effort towards men and we’re starting to see the effects of…
Sam and Chris Gould: Twins’ suicides lead to victim policing change
Polly’s story: The long-lasting and corrosive impact of child sexual abuse
Struggling Activist And Feeling Helpless
– Before you can do more to help others, you need to also take care of your own mental health.
The science behind panic attacks — and what can you do to manage them
“Instagram therapy” and how women use social media for mental health support, solidarity
Prison and mental illness: the unmet needs associated with reincarceration
I feel like this is something that has gotten continuously worse over the years too. Kids who never get to just play, but are fully booked with one after-school activity after another. Teens are under constant pressure to spend their time doing things that look good on college applications. College-aged young adults are about filling out the resume or getting into the best graduate school programs, only to graduate into jobs that expect them to always be on call, to learn and grow themselves on their own time, all while social media culture tells them they should also have a side-hustle or three.
Having fun is time that could be spent on any of these accomplishments.
I’d flip that around. What’s the point of all of those accomplishments if you never have any fun?
I think she’s right about that last point. I’ve written many times about the stories I hear, over and over again, where people don’t want to hear about child abuse and sexual abuse. It’s too sad and dirty. It isn’t very pleasant. People don’t want to know about how much sex trafficking goes on right around us every day and the hard work we could do to solve the problem. They’d rather believe conspiracy theories and look to their “heroes,” who are nothing but con artists, to fix it for them by going on rescue missions or attacking the “elites” who are supposedly controlling all sex trafficking around the world. That seems simpler than solving the problems that make kids vulnerable to trafficking: poverty, abuse, racism, a lack of support for kids transitioning out of foster care, or LGBTQ kids whom their own families do not accept.
Those are real problems that create vulnerable kids who go on to become real victims. Fixing them will require hard work and resources from all of us.
‘I was scared of death’: Former NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey’s daughter goes public with mental illness battle tags: CA Can the physically disabled be protected from sexual abuse? tags: CA Fighting child abuse an all-year effort tags: CA Abused Children May Get Unique Form of PTSD tags: CA Five Mental Health Disorders We Don’t Talk…