The resources listed are specific to Canada, but I looked at the booklet and I think there is a lot of really useful information for male survivors, or anyone trying to support male survivors.
I love what Amelia has to say here because this is something I’ve shared when it comes to healing from abuse too. What works for some, even most, people, may or may not work for you as an individual
I want abuse survivors to know that healing is possible. I want people dealing with mental health issues to have hope that they can get better. I work hard to get that message out, but those 700,000 people who died by suicide in 2019 won’t ever get to read what you just read. They aren’t here.
I’m tired of that. These numbers are so much more than numbers.
I love the fact that her boss was just honest about his mental health issues, and the fact that he took antidepressants, and how much difference that made it her own ability to talk about mental health. Simply put, this has to be what we do. All of us who advocate for more mental health conversation, awareness, and resources, need to create a space where anyone, everyone, can share their own stories, and advocate for their own care, without fear of being judged for needing it.
Kudos to WHO, and the folks who shared their stories. As the WHO says on their website, 1/2 of all children experienced some sort of violence in the last year, and that violence leaves lasting impressions. (And that is pretty much the norm every year, as well.)
We have to have serious discussions about mental health resources, for adults and kids. This isn’t even about stigma or awareness, this is a system with fundamental flaws, that creates this lack of available, and affordable, resources. This is a society that is unable, and unwilling, to provide basic care for too many of its own members. Is that the society we want to live in? I hope not, but as long as we continue down a path where the best plan we can come up for a teenager struggling with suicidal thoughts is 17 days on a gurney, and sedated, inside of an ER, we are not that society.Â
