Sharing – Calls are up, but many 988 call centers lack resources to offer in-person help

Sharing – Calls are up, but many 988 call centers lack resources to offer in-person help

The hard work is developing the proper resources for people who need help after the immediate crisis. That costs money. Money that a significant number of people in the US will balk at paying because it goes to “other people.” These are the same people who balk at paying taxes for schools when they don’t have kids or at higher insurance premiums, let alone the taxes necessary for things like Medicaid, that pay for people who “made poor health decisions.” So, rather than stand up to that kind of thinking, many politicians at the state and local levels will go along with that. They won’t even attempt to provide funds for mental health services.

Some will even go so far as to say those services are just propping up “weak” people who need to get over those issues.

At the end of the day, while we can point to the number of people who talk about mental health and are supported for talking about it, we cannot say we’ve eliminated the stigma associated with it until we all put our money where our mouth is and provide the help that people need.

Until then, I’m afraid that many people will learn lessons the hard way, that it’s easy to write off funding resources for “other people” until you or someone you love winds up being one of them.

There’s No Magic Pill

There’s No Magic Pill

Mental health is complicated. The solution to one individual case is complicated. The solution to the lack of resources is complicated. Telling people to get more exercise, let alone selling them the diet and workout that will solve all their mental health issues, is a fraud, isn’t it? Saying that we simply need to give everyone free therapy without addressing the serious shortage of therapists is as well.

Anyone who suggests there is a simple solution to the mental health problem facing us as a country and the world is not to be taken seriously.

John Oliver Takes a  Look at Mental Health Care in the US

John Oliver Takes a Look at Mental Health Care in the US

I wanted to share this with you because John Oliver makes some important points about how we have made so many strides in acceptance and encouraging people that it is OK to ask for help, and then the system doesn’t provide it. Sadly things have gotten so bad that we’re trying just about anything, and even the technology isn’t living up to the hype.

Real people with real needs are left with nowhere to turn. A society that claims to care about people cannot accept that status quo.

Sharing – How Does Trauma Affect the Brain?

Sharing – How Does Trauma Affect the Brain?

Read the whole thing. It’s important. Children amid trauma focus on surviving. Their brains focus on surviving and not development. They then grow up to be adults without a chance to develop fully.

The fix is to get kids with resources to help them develop as early as possible. (And to also get them removed from the things causing so much trauma.) The longer this goes on without any treatment, the more damage is done.

We may not be able to prevent every kind of childhood trauma, but we need to understand the impacts and how to treat them. Otherwise, we are simply leaving too many people behind.

Shared Links (weekly) July 3, 2022

Shared Links (weekly) July 3, 2022

Sharing – If Republicans Were Serious About Addressing Mental Health, This Is What They’d Do
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Sharing – If Republicans Were Serious About Addressing Mental Health, This Is What They’d Do

The article breaks the steps into two large buckets, and I’m going to ask you to consider these when you stop to consider whether your state, local, or federal representatives are actually doing something to improve the state of mental health care.

Are they doing something to make it easier to pay for mental health care services?
Are they doing something to make it easier to find mental health services?

If they’re not doing either of these things, or worse, cutting funding and services, they are not actually interested in improving the mental health situation in the US.