Building mental wellness on a foundation of strength
The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem – David Shankbone / CC BY-SA from Wikimedia Commons Yesterday, I saw that the Holocaust was trending on Twitter. It turns out that it was because of new survey results. Claims Conference released the results of its U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, which surveyed 18 to… Continue reading The Holocaust and the Failure of the US Education System
Two men get killed. Some members of the Christian right are calling the man who killed them a hero and a patriot sent by God. Something isn't adding up here. On August 25, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse grabbed his AR-15 style rifle and left his home in Antioch, IL, to head over to Kenosha, WI. He… Continue reading Kyle Rittenhouse as Christian Right Hero?
I heard recently the Daisy Coleman, who was in the 2016 documentary Audrie & Daisy, had died by suicide. I had watched the film on Netflix a couple of years ago, but I thought I'd watch it again and write a post about it in honour of Daisy. Rape culture was a problem then, and… Continue reading Rape Culture Kills
Lembagai KITA / CC BY-SA Just because slavery is no longer legal doesn't mean it isn't happening. Human trafficking isn't an issue that gets a lot of public attention, but if you look, what you can find is scary. What human trafficking is There are thee fundamentals elements of human trafficking: Actions: This includes recruiting,… Continue reading Slavery Isn’t Over – The Horror of Human Trafficking
Lately white privilege has been a hot topic. The people I've come across who take a stance against the idea of white privilege seem to have in common the line of thinking that they haven't been handed anything, so how can they have social privilege? I thought it might be worth reframing social privilege in… Continue reading Another Way of Looking at Social Privilege
Black Lives Matter has been leading the charge in calling for defunding the police. While that may initially sound like a very bad idea, taking money away from the police is only half of the picture. The money that would be spent on police is instead shifted to community programs and supports to handle the… Continue reading Defunding the Police: What It Could Mean for Mental Illness
Through our shared humanity, all lives matter. So why is it important to talk about black lives mattering? All lives should matter equally. That is the ideal, and probably most of us would agree that it's the "right" thing. Unfortunately, though, in practice, not all lives are given equal value. An obvious example would be… Continue reading Why I Use My Voice to Say Black Lives Matter
Today is the International Day of Happiness, an observance day marked by the United Nations since 2013 after it was first proposed by Bhutan. In keeping with the fact that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, this year's theme is #HappinessForAllTogether. There are also #TenStepsToGlobalHappiness set out for this year: Let's stick… Continue reading It’s International Day of Happiness
It's International Women's Day, and the theme for this year is #EachforEqual. THE IWD website has this to say about this year's theme: "An equal world is an enabled world.Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve… Continue reading International Women’s Day #EachforEqual
This came up in a recent post by Kacha of Food.for.thought – a therapist had pointed out the privilege that came with her being white and educated, as if that somehow made her less entitled to have a mental illness. So what does it mean to have privilege? And can you have privilege but still… Continue reading Social Privilege and the Underprivileged