That’s the winner right there. Kids who are not isolated or lonely and who know they are loved and supported are the ones who tell you about grooming behavior from the very start. They have adults they trust and are connected to people who are more likely to notice grooming and believe the child who reports inappropriate behavior.
That’s the best tool we have to prevent child sexual abuse.
We need more resources and more access to care. Not less.
We need care located where people live and work so they can remain part of their communities.
We need NIH grants to pay for more mental health research.
Our government is in the process of doing the exact opposite while claiming to care about mental health.
It turns out that our environment contributes to the mental health crisis, and improving that environment lessens the suicide risk. If the goal is to prevent suicide, then we need to be looking at the world we create around people.
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.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t much acknowledgment of situations we are powerless to change and thus have no reason to feel hope about. That aside, the advice in this article is pretty good. The first two bits of advice have helped me in times when everything has seemed overwhelming and hopeless.
Get specific and break down what seems like an overwhelming problem into tasks I can realistically do one at a time. Then, do the next task.
Ask for help because many things seem less overwhelming when we know someone else is there. They don’t have to improve everything; it just helps to have hope when we are not alone.
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