Want to Share Your Story for Mental Health Month? Check This First

Want to Share Your Story for Mental Health Month? Check This First

ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

Choosing to tell your story for the first time or to a more public audience is not a decision you want to take lightly. Many of us who have done it and are “public” about our past or current issues can tell you that while there are great things that can come from sharing, there are also things you should be prepared for.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was not prepared for things. As much as I have never regretted starting this site and sharing my story, there have been times when it’s been a bit awkward. Times I did not think enough about ahead of time and might have handled differently if I had thought more about it.

So, with that in mind, let me share this resource from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:

Sharing – Kids Who Witness Domestic Violence May Suffer Mentally for Decades

Sharing – Kids Who Witness Domestic Violence May Suffer Mentally for Decades

ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

Despite childhood trauma’s disadvantages, kids can recover after childhood trauma and live perfectly healthy, successful lives. They need help. They need a support system and people there to help them navigate it, but childhood trauma is not, as we often hear a life sentence.

I wish we would talk about this more. Survivors could use the reminder.

Sharing – Here’s How to Actually Talk to Little Kids About Sex

Sharing – Here’s How to Actually Talk to Little Kids About Sex

ByMikeM Reading Time: 4 minutes

Since you didn’t, and school isn’t allowed to, teach them someone else will. It might be online or in person, but there is nothing more attractive to real pedophiles than kids who lack the basic skills and open communication with adults to tell on them.

Kids who are aware of their bodies and their place in the world can openly talk about sex with trusted and safe adults, understand what it means to be LGBTQ in some basic fashion and what to do when someone makes them feel threatened, making for poor targets. That’s not grooming; that’s teaching them basic self-defense. That’s teaching them the truth and the basics of reality.

I know a lot of supporters and people in the child abuse community don’t want to hear this, but I will not stand by while we practice things that make children less safe. Lacking knowledge about these topics does that. You’re not protecting them. You’re endangering them.

Shared Links (weekly) March 27, 2022

Shared Links (weekly) March 27, 2022

ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute
Shared Links (weekly) Feb. 6, 2022

Shared Links (weekly) Feb. 6, 2022

ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute
Sharing – Why Mourning for the Self Is a Necessary Part of Healing

Sharing – Why Mourning for the Self Is a Necessary Part of Healing

ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

It’s the step where you can truly understand at the deepest level that what happened was not your fault. Many a survivor will say that without ever really feeling it, and you can tell because they will say that and immediately begin talking about how weak or needy they were as a child. As if that explains why they were abused, when in fact the only explanation necessary is that someone decided to abuse them.