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Reviews Elsewhere – The Strange & Curious Guide to Trauma by Sally Donovan
I came across this review when someone shared it on social media, and it got picked up and passed around a bit. The review is from the Foster Talk page, which is aimed at Foster families and intersects the topics here when we talk about childhood trauma. Ruth Willets shared this about the book, which might be of interest to many of you who have teens and kids who have experienced trauma, or maybe even some young adults who could use some help understanding what trauma does to us.
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Sharing – People harm themselves to cope with big emotions. You can help them heal.
I appreciate that there is someone researching this, and I am also glad that the subject of the article, artist Donalen Rojas Bowers, is sharing her story as well. It’s not an easy thing to talk about, it’s not an easy thing to learn about, and it’s definitely not an easy thing to find out someone you love is self-harming.
None of that unease should matter when compared to understanding and helping kids and adults who feel the need to self-harm because there have no better options available. The only way we find those is to talk about this.
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New To Me – Teen Suicide Prevention Series
I say new to me only because I hadn’t seen it until yesterday. It’s an animated series aimed at telling the stories of teens dealing with a variety of issues called My Life is Worth Living.
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Sharing – A Shortage Of Mental Health Treatment Beds Can Trap Kids In Crisis Inside ERs
We have to have serious discussions about mental health resources, for adults and kids. This isn’t even about stigma or awareness, this is a system with fundamental flaws, that creates this lack of available, and affordable, resources. This is a society that is unable, and unwilling, to provide basic care for too many of its own members. Is that the society we want to live in? I hope not, but as long as we continue down a path where the best plan we can come up for a teenager struggling with suicidal thoughts is 17 days on a gurney, and sedated, inside of an ER, we are not that society.
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Sharing – Young girls more vulnerable to online predators than ever
Imagine, if you will, the awkward social learning that goes on at a middle-school dance, for example. Now imagine a handful of 40 year old men were in the middle of that awkwardness, disguised as teens? You’d have some serious chats with your daughter before sending her off to the dance, wouldn’t you?
What do you think the internet is for 11-13 year-olds?
Have that talk, keep open lines of communication, understand the tools they are using, and how they are using them. If anything, please do not think they are too young to have to worry about this. Clearly, they do.
