Stigma

  • Concentric Circles of Trauma

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    No, the easiest way to break up those circles, as any kid who threw rocks into the water can tell you, is to throw another rock and create new concentric circles starting from a different location.

    In my metaphor about the trauma, I wonder what those other rocks could be. Mental health treatment? Care and support from family and friends? The elimination of stigma attached to trauma?

    How about instead of ignoring the circles, we started throwing some more useful rocks and disrupting the cycles of trauma that we see repeated over and over again in those circles?

  • World Suicide Prevention Day 2021

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    So, the thing I want us to talk about this year is not just encouragement to call a hotline or to reach out to a friend for help, or even to tell our stories and erase the stigma around mental health issues. I want us to consider doing more than that. I want us, as a society, to figure out how to provide hope. As much value as there is in all of those other things if I can’t provide some hope that things will get better, that we are working and advocating for things to get better across all areas of our culture, then I can’t honestly say that there is a reason for someone to hope, and at the end of the day, the thing that truly prevented me from taking my own life when I was at my worst, was the hope that life wouldn’t always be that painful.

    As it turned out, my life wasn’t always that painful, and even in times of pain, I can look back and remember that.

    How do we provide that hope for others who have been beaten down and worn out with life right now? Where does their hope come from?

  • Disclosure Seems Like a Simple Word, It’s Not a Simple Thing To Do

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Ah, the art of disclosure. Actually coming forward and telling someone about the childhood abuse you experienced. Seems like it should be so simple. Something bad is happening, or did happen, so tell someone about it. If only…. It’s not that simple, and we all know that. I recently saw someone sharing an article from…