Child Abuse and Mental Health Survivors Information - Issue #48
Good Friday y'all. It has rained here in South Louisiana every day for the last two weeks I think. When it's not raining, it's humid and hot. It's Louisiana, so it's not really a surprise. August is not much of an "outdoor" month, but the rain is also making it quite dreary. Holding on to the small pleasures in life, like A/C, listening to the rain fall, and watching our outdoor plants grow from all this water.
Take a moment this weekend to find the small pleasures.
New From the Blogs
Sharing - How Does Trauma Affect the Brain? — www.childabusesurvivor.net Read the whole thing. It's important. Children amid trauma focus on surviving. Their brains focus on surviving and not development. They then grow up to be adults without a chance to develop fully. The fix is to get kids with resources to help them develop as early as possible. (And to also get them removed from the things causing so much trauma.) The longer this goes on without any treatment, the more damage is done. We may not be able to prevent every kind of childhood trauma, but we need to understand the impacts and how to treat them. Otherwise, we are simply leaving too many people behind.
John Oliver Takes a Look at Mental Health Care in the US — www.childabusesurvivor.net I wanted to share this with you because John Oliver makes some important points about how we have made so many strides in acceptance and encouraging people that it is OK to ask for help, and then the system doesn't provide it. Sadly things have gotten so bad that we're trying just about anything, and even the technology isn't living up to the hype. Real people with real needs are left with nowhere to turn. A society that claims to care about people cannot accept that status quo.
Sharing - The Legit Mental Health Benefits of Doing Nothing, According to Science — www.childabusesurvivor.net This study shows us something really interesting. I don't know that I can remember the last time I just spent a short period thinking and not doing something to distract me from thinking.
Shared from Elsewhere
How to be a Good Friend: Tangible Ways to Support a Struggling Loved One — mytherapynyc.com Are you wondering how to be a good friend to someone who is struggling? Read this blog post for tips on supporting a friend.
The Mighty Podcast: Tips on Finding the Best Workplace for Your Mental & Physical Health — themighty.com In this special minisode, Mighty staff members Ashley Kristoff and Camara Rauen dive into the pros and cons of working from home or going to an office or dedicated workplace, and the impact both physical and mental health can have on those decisions.
Supporting a Family Member with Serious Mental Illness Is Harder Than It Should Be — www.oprahdaily.com When a person has a serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, it can affect the entire family. The Treatment Advocacy Center is working hard to provide much-needed resources.
Books Under Review: Summer 2022 - Mad In America — www.madinamerica.com Reviews of five recent books reflecting various perspectives on the mental health system.
Finding Hope After Trauma Can Actually Happen — www.aarpethel.com Finding hope after trauma may be difficult but it actually can happen if you put yourself first. Here's the crucial advice you need to hear.
From the Archives
Why SEL Should Not Be Controversial — www.childabusesurvivor.net While I'm not an expert by any means, I look at it similarly to how I look at mental health in the workplace. You simply aren't going to get the best results from people until you recognize that they are people first, and employees (or students) second. That means that they cannot perform their best when they are also dealing with various life situations and struggles that have nothing to do with the immediate work at hand, and we would get better results if we made efforts to support the whole person and not just the robot that is there to do work. SEL is that for schools. It recognizes that kids come to school with a variety of issues that would hinder their ability to be successful in school, and makes an effort to support them in those struggles so that they can be more successful not only with school work but with the interactions they have with teachers and other students. But, this acronym has gotten mixed in with all the other things that some parents are upset about and they are demanding that schools stick to teaching math, science, and reading instead. Let me try and point out why this is a mistake.
It's Been a Rough Week So I'm Reminding Myself of These Things — www.childabusesurvivor.net Even when there are things in the world that I do not have the power to change, I use my own words to remind myself that there are things I CAN do. I can look after the people around me. I can add my voice to support mental health, survivors, and marginalized groups. I can find ways to contribute to making the world a better place in some small ways while also encouraging others to do the same. This also serves as a great reminder to myself that writing here about these topics is never a waste. I just found some hope by going back and reading what I wrote. Who knows who else might read these words and find a little hope too? That is another small thing I can do that is more useful than wallowing in my anxiety.
You're a Survivor and More — www.childabusesurvivor.net In my reading this week, I came across an article that talked about the danger in telling ourselves only one story about ourselves. The article wasn't
A Young Survivor Speaks — www.childabusesurvivor.net One of the reasons we made this move to Louisiana was to have the ability to see family on a routine basis, something that was difficult when you live