Child Abuse and Mental Health Survivors Information - Issue #43
For many of my US readers, there's a long weekend coming up, and I hope you find a way to spend some time doing whatever it is that recharges you. We all need it, even if "recharging" for me looks different than it does for you.
New From the Blogs
Sharing - Patrice Evra: Ex-Manchester United star wants to end violence against children and details his own experience of sexual abuse — www.childabusesurvivor.net How many times have we heard "why did you wait so long to speak out?" Have we considered what we've done to make survivors feel safe to do so? Have we considered what our friend or family group would need to look like in order for a survivor to feel safe opening up about their experiences?
Sharing - America Needs a National Institute of Healthcare Education — www.childabusesurvivor.net Dr. Smith calls for the creation of a new institute to educate not only new mental health professionals but also to make sure that primary care practitioners are trained to offer some mental health support to patients since right now that seems to be where most people who are in need of mental health care wind up. I haven't fully considered all of the possibilities with this particular idea, but I will agree that it's going to take something at this kind of national level to start to address the need.
Quick Thought #20 - As a Male Sexual Assault Survivor, I'm Appalled by what the US is Doing to Women — www.childabusesurvivor.net I cannot imagine the kind of harm we are doing to female survivors when we tell them they have to carry their pregnancy to term. That they remain in a condition where they have no choice. States, including my own, that have or are moving toward enacting complete bans on abortion with no exception for rape and incest victims are ripping the choice of how to move forward away, victimizing these survivors a second time. Forcing their own desires on the bodies of women. If your religion is willing to force the victim of a violent crime to continue to be violated in this way, you need a better religion. You need a better god, and you absolutely need a better heart. You are not righteous, you are an abuser.
Sharing - If Republicans Were Serious About Addressing Mental Health, This Is What They'd Do — www.childabusesurvivor.net The article breaks the steps into two large buckets, and I'm going to ask you to consider these when you stop to consider whether your state, local, or federal representatives are actually doing something to improve the state of mental health care. Are they doing something to make it easier to pay for mental health care services? Are they doing something to make it easier to find mental health services? If they're not doing either of these things, or worse, cutting funding and services, they are not actually interested in improving the mental health situation in the US.
Shared from Elsewhere
3 people with serious mental illness share their pandemic journeys : Shots - Health News : NPR More than one in 20 Americans struggled with serious mental illness even before the pandemic hit, and the shutdown of services and support networks took a toll. But many found ways to get through it.
Social Isolation and Alone Time Aren’t the Same—Here Are the Mental-Health Implications of Each — www.wellandgood.com As refreshing as it is to spend time alone, what happens to our mental health when we take *too* much of it? Here's what experts have to say.
The weight of men’s mental health | Omnia Health Insights — insights.omnia-health.com In a webinar ‘Men’s mind matters’ hosted by the Lighthouse Arabia, Dr. Saliha Afridi cautioned about the repercussions of neglected mental health.
Employee health contributes to organizational health — www2.deloitte.com There’s an opportunity for employers to improve employee health and well-being by expanding benefits and promoting health equity in the workplace.
The Dark Art of Pretending You Are Fine - Darius Foroux — dariusforoux.com I landed on a documentary about a guy who had a headache for years and never had a check-up. They found out later he had a brain tumor.
From the Archives
Quick Thought #13 - More Trauma Makes More Problems More Likely, and This is Trauma — www.childabusesurvivor.net All of the caveats aside about ACE scores that I've written about before, (tl;dr - Yes the more childhood traumas you've had, the more likely you will
Sharing - Overcoming Depression Demands Flexible Thinking, Not Positive Thinking — www.childabusesurvivor.net Most things in life are not that clear. They are ambiguous. I know that when I'm unable to think beyond simplistic right and wrong it is very likely part of my own struggle. I'm falling for the cognitive biases that try to convince me that all the negative things I've ever experienced are the truth, and all of the positive things have been a lie. It's these cognitive biases that prevent many people from healing. Simply put, you can't heal when you are unable to believe healing is possible for you.
How We Make It Harder For Kids to Tell — www.childabusesurvivor.net I was dismayed, though not surprised at all, when I saw a number of Facebook users and pages link to an article about an inmate convicted of child