The question is, would someone treating me as a young person have decided I was an introvert and possibly on the autism spectrum, or would they recognize the possible trauma I was experiencing? I’m not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know for a fact that we miss the signs of childhood trauma often. I would not mind if we took a second look at some young people with a trauma-informed lens.
Those are good things. Properly dealing with the mental health crisis will require more research, tools, and treatment resources. These don’t grow overnight; achieving them takes years of hard work, so any progress is good news.
However, I agree with Time that the incoming Presidential Administration has not indicated a preference for continuing this work with research funding, new drug and therapy approvals, or respect for the science. That puts our progress at risk.
If you do not have significant resources available to you in terms of money, time, and connections, it is possible that the only way to get any treatment for your child is to turn them over to the state.
That’s no way to care for the next generation.
The bottom line is that when we talk about young LGBTQ+ people and the lack of acceptance they get from people closest to them, we run the risk of losing more of them to mental health issues. We could make a significant impact on youth mental health if we stopped stigmatizing and acting horribly towards people who are different than us.
If you’re not willing to do that, don’t tell me how much you care about mental health and young people.
I decided to stay because I knew that, eventually, that final day was coming for me anyway. All of this was temporary.
I remind myself of that when I feel anxious or make a mistake in front of people. All of this is temporary. Whatever embarrassment I might feel at this moment, eventually, everyone involved will not be here to talk about it, and I won’t be here to be embarrassed by it.
I find that freeing. It is freeing to remember that I’m only here temporarily and to remind myself that I only have so much time to do the things I want to do and make the impact on people’s lives that I want to make.
I’m sharing this resource from Thorn because parents need it. It can be difficult to tell the difference between someone grooming a teenager and someone just trying to be friends with a teen, and we can’t expect anyone always to know the difference.
However, we can communicate openly with teens about what they are doing online. We can also stay involved with kids and their online experiences so that there are more eyes on what is happening and a safe place to turn if something seems off about what someone is asking them to do.
