A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
StopSIM When Skinny Hobbit shared an iNews article with me the other day about the mistreatment of high-service-needs people with mental illness, I had no idea just how deep of a rabbit hole the whole thing would be. The story of Serenity Integrated Mentoring, the NHS (the UK's National Health Service), and the way the… Continue reading Serenity Integrated Mentoring: Suicide Attempt? Do Not Pass Go
I've written before about a police wellness check gone wrong that resulted in an unconscious woman being dragged along the floor, in handcuffs and without a shirt on, by a police officer doing a so-called wellness check. In this latest story of a wellness check gone wrong, CBC News reports on an incident where police… Continue reading A (Re)Traumatizing Police Wellness Check
I've written before about defunding the police as a way to address the mismatch of the standard police approach and appropriate mental health crisis response. The picture below from a "wellness check" is a good illustration of just how significant that mismatch is. In June of this year, information became public about an incident that… Continue reading A Police Wellness Check/”Arrest” Gone Wrong
I'm pretty active on Pinterest, and sometimes I'll create new pins related to older blog posts. Recently, I created a pin asking whether people in mental health crisis should be handcuffed, and linked to a post I'd done on that topic and the stigma inherent in it. Once in a blue moon I'll get a… Continue reading Handcuffs to Protect Police from Mentally Ill? That’s Stigma
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
This post is by HealthComesFirst!!! Blogger. Stigma I have often felt that the stigma associated with bipolar illness is as big if not bigger (twice as big) than dealing with the illness itself. Every time there is a school shooting or a gun incident or a drug cartel development that involves an unstable person with… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: HealthComesFirst!!! Blogger.
geralt on Pixabay Is there a limit to what's ok to post on social media? I'm not thinking about trolling and other such nastiness, but rather about widely broadcasting messages about being suicidal. I'm not a huge social media user, but I do spend some time on Twitter. I follow around 2500 accounts, pretty much… Continue reading Mental Health Crisis–What Goes Too Far on Social Media?
Have you seen some of the claims out there that suicide is 100% preventable? There are a variety of organizations that promote a zero suicide goal. One example is the Zero Suicide Alliance, which is based in the UK and offers free suicide prevention training. There's a Suicide Is Preventable website, which belongs to Know The Signs,… Continue reading Will Suicide Ever Be 100% Preventable?
Recently, I did a post about a local police force that routinely handcuffs people being apprehended to hospital under the Mental Health Act. That got me thinking about what it should look like to help people in mental health crisis. Police-mental health partnership The police force in the city where I live (not work) has a… Continue reading Police Partnerships in Mental Health Crisis Response
When I arrived for my shift the other night at the concurrent disorders (mental health and addictions) transitional program where I work, my colleagues informed me that one of the patients was being sent to hospital, as she was having intense, active suicidal ideation. Shortly after I arrived, paramedics and police showed up, and that's… Continue reading Should People in Mental Health Crisis Be Handcuffed?