Links

  • Sharing – What the Advisory on Teen Social Media Use and Mental Health Missed

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    I agree with Janet. There is content available on the internet, and social media, that is dangerous for kids. There is also content available that is beneficial to kids as well. Protecting them from harm without killing off all of the positive things technology brings into their lives every day is not a simple task.

    Anyone telling you it is simple, or claiming that we “have to do something”, without explaining all of the trade-offs is not to be taken seriously.

  • Sharing – Everybody Deserves Empathy

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    As Scarlett discusses, it’s easy to feel sympathy for the “good” people with mental health issues. That would be the folks who didn’t commit a crime, and who can act mostly in socially acceptable ways. The ones who have much messier situations often escape our empathy, especially if they happen to be homeless, or a member of an underrepresented group.

    Mostly though, it’s just luck. Just as I’ve mentioned many times that I was privileged and lucky enough to be able to get help to learn how to deal with my trauma, I was also lucky enough to have only been homeless for a little while, and to have not had a violent or disruptive outburst that led to my being imprisoned or killed.

    That luck doesn’t make me more worthy of empathy. It was just luck.

  • Sharing – Why It’s Okay to Not Be Okay: Tips for Telling Someone You’re Struggling

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    I cannot emphasize enough how difficult it is to talk about our struggles. We should never take that lightly. We should also never take lightly how much trust and vulnerability it takes for someone to choose us as the person they want to talk to about their mental health.

    Don’t take that for granted and please do not take that with anything less than the utmost seriousness. Dismissing someone who is talking about their mental health is a great way to make sure they don’t talk to anyone ever again.

    Don’t be the person who causes that.

  • Sharing – The concerning rise of the “Trauma Essay”

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    Jake has concerns, and I think we should be concerned about this. “High school students are being encouraged to write about their struggles, hardships, and traumatic life experiences in order to be admitted into college & university. This therapist has some concerns.” Writing about trauma can be beneficial. I’ve always encouraged people to talk and…

  • Sharing – How To Help De-Escalate Bad Situations When You’re In Public

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    I think we can agree that having a manic episode in public shouldn’t mean you can be killed. We’d like to think we would be better than that but faced with an uncomfortable situation that is exactly what happened. Probably because no one on that subway expected that the possibility existed and hadn’t considered how they would act and how it might help until it was too late. The article linked below offers some good advice for how to both keep yourself safe and also de-escalate the situation. Which is what should happen if at all possible. Escalating the situation rarely ends well. Someone died in this case. Let’s do what we can to prevent escalation so that no one has to get hurt.

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    Sharing – The Fun Is Why

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    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?