In the News

  • Tomorrow Is World Mental Health Day, and If You Don’t want to Participate, That’s Cool

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    So let’s get this out there. Tomorrow is a day to raise awareness about the importance of mental health. It’s an opportunity for anyone who is dealing with mental health issues to see that there are many people who get it, and do support them, even if only virtually. It’s also a day to be reminded, sometimes literally, that there is still far too much stigma, and far too little investment, in mental health. That’s not fun. That’s not uplifting.

    Taking care of yourself is an incredibly important part of looking out for your own mental health. Tomorrow is also Saturday. If your mental health will be better off by you not being online tomorrow, go do exactly that. Go enjoy your weekend, and know that I see you, and I feel what you’re saying. Your frustration is my frustration too. Being tired of the stigma, and how hard it is for people to get help is normal. I’m exhausted. I’m tired of talking about it, tired of reading about it, and tired of seeing stories of people who can’t get help when they need it, all around the world. I’m also tired of all the people on social media who make talking about it even harder than it already is, who want to troll, or just create drama because it’s never enough for them. 

    Again, I’m exhausted. I also know how incredibly lucky I was the get help, and I want that same thing available for everyone. So, I’ll find away to continue talking about it here, while also taking care of my own mental health. I hope you will too, even if we don’t all take part in the same events. 

  • CoE Abuse Report from IICSA

    ByCBG Reading Time: 1 minute

    The BBC has linked to the Independent Inquiry In Child Sex Abuse’s report about Clergy Abuse in the Church of England. In the middle and end boxouts it also generally explains how the enquiry works as a general reminder, while the report itself is linked at the start of paragraph 2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54433295 Also on: Facebook…

  • If the US Lacks Resources, What Does Mental Health Care in Nigeria Look Like?

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    In the article there’s even a story of a man who was chained up in a room with no windows for 30 years, who suffered from psychosis. Which is terrible.

    But, isn’t this just the same stigma we have here too? Is it any “better” that we have people living on the streets or in prison when they suffer from psychosis or delusions? Aren’t we just locking them away in a different way, because we understand that we don’t actually have any way to help them, so we just want to ignore the issue?

    In Nigeria, there is less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. 0.15, in fact. There is no rational way that someone suffering with psychosis in Nigeria is going to get professional help with those kinds of numbers, yet rather than coming together to support the families involved, they feel so much shame about having a “sick” family member that they try and hide them away for years, or completely abandon them to the streets.

  • What is the Justice System For, Anyway?

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    I found myself reading this interview with Dr. Mary Koss recently, and while I’m not 100% sure about the prospect of “Restorative Justice”, as she refers to it, I think that often, when we think about child sexual abuse, we fall into the same misconceptions about the legal system that she refers to when talking more broadly about sexual assault.

    Namely, that the legal system is not really designed to assist with the healing of a victim.

  • BBC CiN Spring ’20 Team-Up With Comic Relief

    ByCBG Reading Time: 2 minutes

    One event that we didn’t comment on during the height of the initial Pandemic lockdown last spring was the fact that the annual BBC Children in Need (CiN) Telethon shifted from November back to 23rd April to join forces with the Spring Telethon Comic Relief (or Sport Relief in alternate years). The initial “night” of…

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    Sharing – COVID-19 stress is making America increasingly irritable. But what is all this rage hiding?

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    I don’t know anyone that isn’t more irritable now than they were a year ago, but do we know why? And what do we do about it? This seems like a fairly accurate picture of our current situation: “In fact, neuroscience tells us is that irritability and anger aren’t in our conscious control. Think of…