Stigma

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Sharing – Sexual abuse: Why young males are often invisible victims
ByMikeM May 6, 2022June 7, 2022 Reading Time: 2 minutes

I grew up in a world where having my friends and other parents think I was gay seemed worse than just continuing to be abused. Think about that for a minute. Think about what we tell boys about being a man and how society reacts to men who share that they were sexually abused as a child? Is there anything about it that screams “Tell your story. We support you!”.

There are some small pockets of that online and in certain circles, but it’s going to also come with a lot of questions about why you didn’t fight, how you’re destined to now be an abuser, that you enjoyed it, etc.

Female victims of almost all ages will get asked about what they were wearing, how much they drank, etc. That’s wrong.

Male victims will get our own set of questions, mostly about why we didn’t fight, why we were so weak, are we gay? That’s equally as wrong.

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Shared Links (weekly) May 1, 2022
ByMikeM May 1, 2022May 1, 2022 Reading Time: 1 minute
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Sharing – Depression in Kids: All You Need to Know
ByMikeM April 7, 2022April 7, 2022 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Getting kids help as early as possible gives them a much better chance to have less depression and fewer effects as adults. Imagine how many people might have been able to develop mentally healthy strategies instead of devolving into worse conditions if it was common for kids to have access to mental health resources?

Please, don’t ignore signs of depression and mental health struggles in kids. Yes, they can be resilient, but the research clearly shows that they aren’t as resilient as we think they are, and waiting to get access to help is doing more damage.

In this case, it is better to be safe. The worst thing that happens is a kid gets some time to talk to a therapist who determines that it’s not depression but something else. This is not a bad thing, even if the stigma surrounding it says it is.

Read More Sharing – Depression in Kids: All You Need to Know
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Sharing – The Emerging Science of Suicide Prevention
ByMikeM March 24, 2022March 24, 2022 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.

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Sharing – Persuading a Loved One to Seek Mental Health Support
ByMikeM March 23, 2022March 22, 2022 Reading Time: 2 minutes

There are quite a few ideas to consider before you talk to someone you love that I highly encourage you to read. The last thing you want to do is create a situation where they feel judged or stigmatized but it happens more often than it should. (It should never happen, we aren’t even close to that.)

However, there is one thing that I have found really helps whenever someone is talking about their own mental health issues, or feeling embarrassed about considering therapy for themselves and it’s quoted right there in this article:

“If you’ve gone to therapy, you can share your experiences with them, too. It can help to let them know they aren’t alone in seeking help. “

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Sharing – Mental Health – Keep talking about it. Make it public and open
ByMikeM March 17, 2022March 17, 2022 Reading Time: 1 minute

I 100% agree with Alison on this, we are not comfortable talking about mental health, and we aren’t comfortable even hearing someone else talk about it:

Read More Sharing – Mental Health – Keep talking about it. Make it public and open