As I’ve said many times, I want to teach people that it’s ok to reach out, which means that I also need to advocate for the resources to be available when someone does!
If you think kids are resilient and they’ll be fine, or that by teaching kids mental health and emotional skills, you’re causing them to have mental health issues, you are depriving them of a much-needed source of development that could make the difference between spending years as an adult struggling versus having the skills to navigate the difficulty of adulthood. We recognize that early intervention in mental health is crucial. Why would we not do that?
The same thing is true of adults, and this is why the lack of places where we can talk about difficult things without someone threatening to “ban” sites is also dangerous. We are cutting off the community that so many people desperately need.
Saving a life is not about having a hotline, though they do help. (If you’re struggling, you can find a list of resources here.) It’s not about offering advice like “touch grass” or exercise more. It’s about being in a community that will sit with us at our worst and reminds us that we can get through this because we are not going through it alone.
Too many of us are incapable of creating that community for our friends and family members. If we don’t, who will?
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I don’t think we are on a path to create that world. I think a world where human beings are valued based on how much money they make and how “strong” they are does not even care if older men are lost. They feel like a burden because society treats them like one. How much could they contribute to our community if we didn’t think that way? If we had a community that involved them instead of isolating them, and a healthcare system that didn’t cause people to go bankrupt because they grew old and became sick, perhaps we’d find out.
