I ask myself when will I realize that setbacks are setbacks? That they aren’t destiny. I’ve always struggled with believing the bad. I always assume that the bad stuff is real and the good stuff is a facade. So if I make a mistake or I struggle or I fall, I assume that is me and…
“Education can’t get rid of mental illness but it can give you the tools you need to do what you can to stack the odds in your favour that you won’t get it,” said Kutcher, a former member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s youth advisory committee. Without this education, misinformation and isolation run…
Human connection is so important and effective because it breaks through the isolation and loneliness common among people living with mental illness. Connecting with someone else allows people to share their humanity, to exchange stories, to celebrate life’s joys and to empathize through life’s sorrows. Friendship also motivates, inspires, and encourages. While it might be…
“Children learn what they live and that was their life.” The struggle is real. Children absolutely learn what they see everyday, and if what they see everyday is mistreatment, abuse, chaos, etc. how can we expect them to learn anything other than the world is dangerous, this goes on everywhere, and I must have done…
“When a person experiences a traumatic event such as rape, abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, there is a strong chance, especially if these things are experienced as a child, that negative messages will worm their way into our subconscious. What are these messages and who is sending them? Sometimes it is people around us, sometimes,…
The sentiment what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger seems to be commonplace among those who espouse the virtues of resilience, grit, and mental toughness. But what happens when adversity strikes during childhood? What are the adult responses to an early life filled with not just adversity and trauma, but toxic stress? And more importantly,…
