Child Abuse and Mental Health Survivors Information - Issue #70
An extra treat - my favorite photos of 2022
With this being the first week of 2023, I thought I’d reach into one of my hobbies and share a wrap-up post of my favorite photos from the previous year. This is something I do annually on my photo blog.
Now, on to the rest of this week’s stuff!
New from the Blogs
Good News – People Probably Like You More Than You Think They Do
The bad news, however, might be that almost everyone does this. So instead of connecting with each other, we are each stressing over all the things we may have done wrong when we interacted, which isn’t great. That makes it harder to connect with others, which has many adverse effects on our mental health.
Sharing – Red Flags of child sex abusers from an ex-child abuse detective
We’ve spent so much time looking at lists like this one, looking for the bad people, and that is absolutely part of abuse prevention. Still, we’ve missed the boat on what might be the most significant tool in our prevention toolkit, taking the target off kids by connecting with them as parents and with other trusted adults—helping them be less vulnerable.
Kids who don’t have secrets make terrible targets for abusers. Kids with support and secure relationships aren’t easily manipulated and aren’t too eager to please adults.
Reviews Elsewhere – The Book of Burnout – Bev Aisbett - It’s a book about burnout. Who isn’t feeling that way at least a little bit right now?
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Shared From Elsewhere
England’s mental health care lacks money, yes – but it also lacks compassion
The same themes occur again and again. The overuse of restraint, which can spill over into the violence of being dragged down corridors; arbitrary and, at times, punitive boundaries being set; a lack of understanding of autism, eating disorders and self-injury; suicidal patients left at high risk; a lack of compassion.
Something I am all-too familiar with:
Dissociation as Self-Defense in Childhood Sexual Abuse
Labeling Yourself Is Keeping You Down, Do This Instead
That’s because language shapes expectations, which shape our reality. If we have experiences that lead us to label ourselves in specific ways during our life, then we are likely to stick with those labels and the behaviors that go with them.
Later it occurred to me that mental health should be handled the same way in the workplace. No two people are the same or have the same mental health issues. What I could accomplish work-wise during the time I was medicated and seeing a therapist might not be the same as someone else in therapy. One person might need some time away from work during a crisis, while someone else might need work to be the thing that keeps them living with some day-to-day structure. There will not be one solution that fits everyone.
Two more for the new year:
Eight Self-Help Books That Actually Help
Self-Care Goals for the New Year: Compassion, Respect, Patience, and Persistence
When I think about self-care, I’m not just thinking of myself, but also of the people in my life, since one affects the other. Taking care of my mental health and wellbeing allows me to have better relationships and help others if they need it.
From the Archives
You Don’t Get There All At Once
Take a step. Then, when your feet feel firm beneath you again, take another. That’s how we make progress, step by step, until one-day we see how far we’ve come and marvel at it.
Another Decade, and I’m Still Here
So, I guess, if I have a message for my readers as we enter a new decade, it’s that you’re still here. No matter how difficult the last year was, no matter how much you are hurting, grieving, struggling, or just plain exhausted, you have survived it.
