Links

Links

Sharing – Healed is a Myth and Marketing Tool
ByMikeM October 1, 2025September 30, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

So many survivors want the answer to that first question. They want to know when this will be over and done with, but that’s not realistic. It would be like me asking when will I be “healed” from diabetes. I won’t be. My disease is something that is part of me that I have to manage. I take medicine, I watch what I eat, I don’t drink, etc. That’s not going to end. I fully understand that there is no future version of me where I don’t have to do any of those things.

Similarly, there is no future version of me that isn’t a survivor of child abuse. It happened. There is no cure I can buy that will create a version of me where I didn’t have that experience and be shaped by it. That’s not to say that I cannot have a great life, but I will always have a life impacted by those events.

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Sharing – New research illustrates how live events foster social connection
ByMikeM September 23, 2025September 21, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

If we’re going to become a less lonely society, we need to take advantage of opportunities to gather together. It’s that simple. It’s also becoming more challenging to do as we hide behind social media and news media, more interested in keeping us afraid of “others” so that we will continue to give them our attention.

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Sharing – The startling emotional health benefits of serving others
ByMikeM September 22, 2025September 21, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

We talk about loneliness as a mental health issue often. We complain about the lack of third spaces in society. We complain about how people don’t reach out anymore. What we likely don’t talk enough about is how volunteering to help other people is an antidote to all of that.

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Sharing – What suicidal teens say matters most to them
ByMikeM September 12, 2025September 11, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

I don’t claim to have all of the answers to the challenge of suicide prevention, but the basics are relatively straightforward. This research into teenagers shows us precisely what keeps people alive:

Despite high suicide risk, most teens can identify reasons to live, from family bonds to small future dreams – offering hope for prevention.

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Sharing – Little Boys are Sexually Abused as much as Little Girls
ByMikeM September 8, 2025September 8, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

I, for one, was sexually abused by an older boy. Not a stranger. Someone in my family. Many other men I know were abused by a family member, a member of the clergy, a coach, or some other trusted person known to their parents. I also went into my 20s planning to never tell anyone. I know many men go through most of their lives never planning to tell anyone. I was lucky to find other men who did talk about it, and helped me realize first that what happened to me was abuse and that someone would believe me if I spoke up.

I would argue that most men have never had that. Thus, they don’t show up in any statistics about sexual abuse. The sexual abuse of minors is chronically underreported and is likely to get worse as society continues to push victims to “move on” instead of speaking out. We need more spaces to discuss CSA, not fewer.

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Sharing – Surprising lessons from studies about post-Katrina trauma
ByMikeM September 4, 2025September 3, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Post-traumatic growth can happen. Healing from any trauma can happen. It occurs more frequently when the survivor has the financial means and social support to seek help.

This is not something we do on our own. It requires resources. It requires people in our lives to be there with us through it. Ignoring survivors’ current needs and assuming that they will eventually see growth is harmful. It might just be the missing thing, preventing growth.

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