So again, we see that simply accepting people for who they are has a pretty large impact on the risk of losing them to suicide. Why would we do anything else, for anyone?
I’d rephrase their language a bit. Instead of waiting for the “best” time to say thank you in the best way, it’s far more important to just say it however you can. I would much rather get a quick text expressing gratitude than potentially not get anything because so much time has passed.
I don’t think I’m alone in that.
So worry less about “how”, and just make sure that you actually say thank you!
This makes sense. Even something as common and necessary as background checks are only going to catch people who’ve already been caught before. It’s a good thing to do, but it leaves that gap. What doesn’t leave a gap is having policies and procedures in place that prevent anyone from being able to abuse kids when working with your organization. If being alone with a child is simply not acceptable for anyone, that closes those gaps.
As the article goes on, that means rules like not giving kids gifts, not driving them home, etc. That’s what works, and it has to just be the culture in the organization, no questions asked. Create that culture, and you’re making the best effort to protect kids that you can make.
I’m not in the Pacific Northwest any longer, but if you are, or if you’re interested in learning about the issues surrounding mental health in Washington State, which I assume are going to be similar to everywhere else in the US, they will be launching a two-year project to look at mental health.
As you read the rest of the article you’ll see how self-distancing conversations look a lot more like those conversations with friends I referenced earlier. Getting away from all of the “I” and “me” and fairly judging the situation quietly and calmly as if it was happening to someone else can put it into a perspective that we sometimes lose when we are thinking of ourselves, especially those of us who struggle with self-blame. Of course, then that self-blame turns to rumination which feeds into depression, and round and round we go.
There is a better way, and the examples given can help if we are willing to practice them. Especially the idea of reminding ourselves that we’ve already been through tougher, and more stressful situations and come out the other side.
I like this comparison to the flu, because the flu is something we all deal with in one form or another, and most people struggle with it for a time, and then get better. Some get treatment, and get better. Some get treatment, and don’t get better. Some have it worse than others, some let it linger without treatment and it becomes a more serious problem, etc. And some people, just don’t get the flu much at all, for some reason.
That sounds a lot like the diverse ways many of us deal with mental health struggles. Some are more dangerous than others, but many, many people end up dealing with it, even if just for short time.
Perhaps, if we viewed depression, anxiety, as something closer to the flu, as opposed to something to be kept secret at all costs, more people would have minor cases that are treated and recover quickly, as opposed to letting them fester and become more complicated. And the folks with more complex issues, akin to pneumonia, would not be told to just suck it up because it’s all in their head. They’d get the treatment that their illness requires, because we all recognize that mental health issues are easily as common as physical health issues, and there’s no weakness associated with them.
