Family

  • Sharing – The Emerging Science of Suicide Prevention

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    I’m not a researcher but these two facts make me wonder if there’s not something we can do.

    If we have a list of “nudges” that can help people feel like they belong or help educate people about things like safety plans, etc. and we don’t know who is at risk and which nudge might help them, maybe we should just continue to generally be kind to the people around us. That means trying to understand what makes them feel supported, connected, etc., and doing those things consistently. It also means noticing if a “nudge” has the opposite effect, and trying something different instead.

    Help people feel like they belong, educate people about prevention resources, help them stay connected to family and friends, involve them, accept them, etc.

    Help your friends and loved ones by communicating the kinds of things that help you. When you feel disconnected or like you are a burden, what can they do to keep you connected? What things do they do that make it worse?

    When we don’t talk about these things we only make it worse, and we only continue to lose more people. We have to learn how to have these conversations. We have to be open to listening to the people closest to us and connecting to them without stigma and judgment. The researchers will keep working to learn more about prevention, but in the meantime simply caring about each other and being honest with each other is the best tool we have. We should use it.

  • We Teach Children all the Wrong Things

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    I came across this video of Emma Jean Taylor’s TedTalk about child abuse the other day and wanted to share it with you. First because, as the title of the video says, we teach kids to be wary of strangers all the time but we don’t teach them to also be wary of people they know, despite the fact that up to 90% of sexual abuse victims know the abuser.

    I fell into that category. I remember learning all about windowless vans and strangers with candy. No one ever told me that someone within my own family could also be a sexual abuser.

  • Why do we get Stressed About Replying Quickly?

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    My first thought, obviously, was about the workplace and the culture we have created there that rewards being “always-on” but I think so much of this pressure permeates beyond work. As technology has become commonplace we all live with this pressure and this expectation. Think about it, how many times in a given week are you apologizing to friends and family because you couldn’t get back to them right away?

    I do it all the time.

    Heck, I’ve gotten text messages while having lunch or dinner with a friend, catching up with someone I haven’t gotten to see much for the last couple of years, and then apologized for doing that and being unavailable. Why? That makes no sense but we live in a culture where being connected to technology all the time also means that we should be responsive all the time. Or at least we feel like we should. Frankly, that’s a lot of pressure.

  • Sharing – How to help someone having a panic attack: 3 immediate actions you can take

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    Would you know if someone you know is having a panic attack? Whether it be at work, at some social event, or even within your own home with your family, it can make a huge difference to first know what a panic attack looks like, and then if they agree to your help, what help you can provide.

  • |

    Sharing – How To Identify Grooming Predatory Behavior & Stop It

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    That’s our blind spot. We’re so busy looking for creepy, anti-social, stereotypes that we miss the charming abusers right in our midst, and we miss all the signs and hints that our kids might be dropping because we just didn’t stop to consider that adult to be dangerous. We just assumed they were safe, and our kids would somehow know better anyway.

    Clearly, that strategy isn’t working.

  • Sharing – Why telehealth for mental health care is working

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    It’s all about flexibility. As the article below points out, online appointments don’t work for everyone. They do require a stable and fast internet connection for video, and not everyone has that.

    On the other hand, they also point out that not everyone has transportation to a therapist’s office, time away from work to regular travel to appointments, or the ability to get the whole family, for example, transportation to the same location.

    For those folks, the switch to Telehealth that the pandemic thrust upon all of us is proving to be a godsend because they have something that was inaccessible to them previously. Even as others need a place to meet with a therapist, or simply connect better in person.