Another interesting post from 23 and Me Blog. Genetic Differences in the Immediate Transcriptome Response to Stress Predict Risk-Related Brain Function and Psychiatric Disorders http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(15)00473-0
I hit the jackpot and can’t wait to share with you. Have you peaked at my Twitter timeline lately? My passion has changed from Rock Stars to Support Resources, from Charities, Organizations and OutReach Programs who support the issues closest to my heart. The mix includes resources for PTSD, Sexual Abuse of Men and Women and Mental Health, Child Abuse and Physical Challenges. I follow 40 Charities, Organizations and Survivors. There is a learning curve, I will share thru post once comfortable how support services are delivered. I hope you will take at look at the retweets, conversations and resources on the Twitter feed, updated daily. Once confident my understanding of the group/mission, I’ll share via post. When possible, I’ll ask a few questions and ask them to talk about the who, what, when and why. One of the few lessons learned in Journalism class. In sixth grade I set a goal to work as a Photo Journalist for Life magazine. Tossed aside when I turned down a scholarship and passed on college. Men’s Movement has asked me to write for them, my pride bubbles over. At 53 the opportunity is far greater than Life magazine, now defunct. Everyone I’ve talked with seems genuine, in a few short weeks I have over 100 followers, many of which have visited my site. Taking my Advocacy work to Twitter looks like a good decision. I’m interested in your ideas and […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $4.9 million in grants to a total of 17 colleges and universities across the United States. The grants, varying in amount from $47,494 to $102,000 annually, will be funded over three years by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) through its Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Program. The awards support a range of activities for the promotion of mental health, suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention, and more. This includes training faculty, students, and staff to recognize a student at risk for suicide and to intervene. The awardees include community colleges, small and large campuses, and state and private institutions. More… https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201706200200
Time will tell if Walgreens accomplishes the goal and how people are helped by the initiative. Another drug store chain publicity stunt? M Bruce Japsen , CONTRIBUTOR I write about healthcare business and policy Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. About one in five Americans suffer mental health conditions, which is more than those with medical conditions Walgreens and Mental Health America set a goal to screen three million people by the end of 2017 https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.173.0_en.html#goog_1359855531 A year after Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA -0.06% expanded access to behavioral health treatment by adding an established mental health screening, most patients took “active steps for follow-up,” the drugstore giant said. Walgreens and its partner, nonprofit Mental Health America (MHA), say nearly 75% of visitors to the drugstore giant’s mental health site who completed MHA’s free screenings are moving toward follow-up treatment. That’s important because patients with mental health needs are known to not seek treatment or medication even once they know their diagnosis, behavioral health professionals say. “One of our primary objectives when first launching this program was to help meet the growing need for resources and access to care,” Walgreens chief medical officer Dr. Harry Leider said in a statement. Mental Health America is helping the drugstore giant connect its customers to free community-based screenings for mental health conditions that include depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders. Walgreens is also working with Mental Health America and other experts in […]
May 2017: Providing Treatment and Recovery Support in Rural and Frontier Communities Find the latest episodes of the Road to Recovery media series. Aired: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 About 46.2 million people in the United States (14 percent of the population) lived in non-metropolitan (rural) communities in 2015. The nation’s rural and frontier communities face some challenges when addressing behavioral health conditions and gaining access to treatment and recovery services—including an insufficient number of specialist providers and models of care that may not consider rural-specific issues (e.g., geographical distance or the need for transportation). However, these communities have developed and applied creative approaches—especially telehealth technologies and innovative methods of service delivery—to provide access to treatment and recovery supports for residents of rural and frontier communities. Panelists will discuss the particular issues in addressing the behavioral health needs that are relevant for these communities, share innovative approaches to addressing them in remote areas, and review the challenges faced when attempting to reduce the treatment gap for rural and frontier residents. They will also address the special considerations of Native American/American Indian communities living in rural areas. Read the discussion guide (PDF | 665 KB) Download the transcript (PDF | 216 KB) Listen to the radio episode
The article written by Mental Health America looks very informative. I am adding to resource page. Let me know what you think of article and first impression of company. Thank you Xx M Mental Health America
Xx M
Daughter My Birthday wish for You I hope that every candle brings a new wish. I hope the Smile that lights your face stays there all year-long. I hope everything you’ve dreamed it will come true. I hope you know how much I love You and how proud I am of you. Happy Birthday With So Much Love. Card from my Mother You can’t give back what you took from my life. Xx M
Years after my diagnoses with Bipolar Disease. I thought it was time to participate in my medical care. To understand layman’s terms, what to expect and when to call doctor. Getting on the same page as you learn doctor speak and how they hear. A proficient Psychiatrist with a background helping Mentally Ill patients. Please save your time and money going to General Doctor. Most are not versed in how drugs work together or not. Psychiatrist understand drugs, spend more time to make diagnoses and discuss the drugs to help. A Therapist, my foundation in healing. The key to healing is understanding yourself. They can help take the weight you’re carrying around. Don’t stop taking your medication. Medications cause side effects, the drugs you buy at CVS have side effects. Every drug has side effects. It may take 6-8 weeks for the medicine to level off. If you want to change a drug in a week, please understand, there are no short cuts. Short cuts not only prolong the treatment and can be dangerous. If you’re determined to stop medicine, Call your doctor first! If you become delusional, psychotic or determined to hurt yourself go to local hospital. Keep a journal to document the changes in mood. Keeping a log helped my doctor see my mood was cycling. A medication change was needed. There are many ideas on how people were helped or not by medicine. I will admit a couple […]
Original post 1/2015 I found photos of myself starting at birth. As I looked at each photo my mind was asking who could hit this child. I began to sob, continuing to look at each as I grew older. The question who could hit this child growing louder in my head. People who don’t know me are probably thinking I […]
Original post 5/2014 We do things for people we love not for those who do not deserve love. I woke today with a tug, my introspective mood. I save difficult post for days like this. It’s not depression or sadness more logical than emotional. Dissociation is a conversation my therapist and I have talked about for 15 years. When I talk about child abuse at the hands of my mother and stepfather my mood is flat. One of the ways I survived was putting each memory in a box to deal with later. After awhile some memories fade. Other’s are yearly reminders. My mother still sends Birthday and Christmas cards. About 15 years ago she sent a Birthday card triggering the last blow. She basically said “I’m not the only person with problems get over it.” Nothing ever changes, everything is about her. I had not thought about my mother yet would send thank you notes for Christmas gifts. I didn’t think about it, just on auto pilot. This Birthday card was different, it pissed me off almost to almost losing it which I rarely do. I took the card to my next therapy appointment. I sit down and Diane knew something was very wrong. I handed her the card and the inscription written in the book. Diane was a cool therapist, she knew me well. She could tell the anger was building and ask what was my next step. I […]
I started Looking for the Light on 2-22-2014, exactly 22 years after my father’s suicide. Every year on the date, my emotions/logic are so conflicted. I stopped drinking years ago but every year I get drunk, my coping mechanism. I thought my dad was cool as a child and we had lots of fun. My father had no clue how to parent, it was scream or give in. My brother and I where seeing my father every two weeks. My father (married) had a girlfriend and liked to party, 8:00 p.m. on Saturday nights he would head out. We were left with our step mother and step brother. It was boring for me. I remember the weekend well. I got dressed, put on my stepmother’s make up and said I’m going with you. He said no at first but it was the well ask me again type of no. I said I had to get out of the house. I’m 9 years old but I looked older, not that much older. I received a lot of attention from the guys and it made me feel good. It made me feel pretty, when I got older the memories screwed up my view of relationships. Being the life of the party was great. I know there were several men who would have slept with me if I’d let them. My dad had one club he liked, I became a regular. He would find a couple of […]
Original post 8/2014 Elvis Presley had a lifetime fan in my father. I remember playing his Elvis records at 4 yrs. old. Jumping on my friends pink canopy bed with hair brushes belting out Jailhouse Rock. After the divorce Daddy would visit driving to a mom & pop store, we’d get bottles of RC Cola, sitting in-car belting out to the radio. We had to drink in the parking lot because the bottles required a deposit, after finished daddy would take back for the deposit. I think it was a dime. My father was one of my abusers, I have few good memories, they’re cherished. I forgave my father, choose to focus on this nugget. My father was mentally ill, committing suicide in 1992. Abuse complicates grieving, warm tears roll down as I write. Tears for my grandmothers pain and the years I didn’t have a father. He was reading the Book of Job during his last struggle, the last moments between him and God. To daddy
Original post 5/2014 My mother was physically abusing me at 2 years old, actually started around 6 months old. She would grab me by the arm and dig her nails in on the underside. Nobody could see that way. I learned early how to smile to cover the pain. How could anyone hit this child
Original post 5/2014 It was a normal Sunday like any other. I’m 6 and my brother was 3 1/2 years old, my mother was taking us to the lake. We never went to the lake, I began to get excited about playing in the water. I also grew concerned, what did she have on her mind. Even at 6 years old I knew she always had an agenda.We pulled up to the picnic tables on the far side of lake, nowhere near the water. She tells my brother and me that our parents are getting a divorce. Not understanding what it meant I ask her to spell it for me. I kept repeating the spelling in my head so I could ask my friend. I would find out sooner than later. Gramps truck was overflowing my father’s belongings. They were driving off as we rounded the corner. Their relationship went from bad to hell on earth. My mother took every chance to tell us how much she hated him. She married within six months his name was R known as (Nazi & Lucifer). He was her supervisor at work and could get her the white picket fence. We moved into a new house with a big back yard, things looked so normal on the outside. If people only knew the carnage on the inside. Custody was a nightmare, daddy would bring us home and she would throw things at him. One time […]
Original post 5/2014 I had to buy this Warhol because it was the complete opposite of my childhood. I saw the happy little girl and thought about me in kindergarten. She’s carrying a bag of candy and a good report card, again not me. What makes it so special is my mother told me I was stupid all the time. I began to believe her. You look in the corner and see “So Smart”, words I love to hear. I wasn’t stupid, just carrying a heavy load. No kindergartener can handle the burden of that secret. Warrior
Original post 3/2014 It’s been an emotional month with thoughts of my father’s suicide and writing about him for the first time. I never grieved my father, the emotions caught me by surprise. It’s been very confusing because my father was one of my abusers. I am having health issues which is stressful. The Black Dog has come to see […]
Original post 4/2014 My brother and I called our stepfather a Nazi because he was mostly German and he would beat our mother unmercifully. Her crimes as we knew were not having dinner ready or not warm enough. The kids were to loud, noise was not allowed in the house, he was an alcoholic with major control issues. I was 9 years old, my brother six & half years old and our two-step brothers where much younger. They came to live with us after Houston Social Services found my stepfather the better parent. Of the choices, he was. Their mother was a drug addict. He never saw the boys after the divorce. By the time they were in the court system, they had been left at home for up to two weeks with no food, nothing. The youngest in the same diaper. The youngest experienced trauma so severely he regressed to a baby. Her addiction took over her life for that matter she may have forgotten she had kids until she came down enough. I hated my stepfather from the beginning, he didn’t wait to start controlling everything. He rarely talked to my mother it was always yelling. It was very complicated for me. I hated my mother for abusing me but it still hurt when he beat her. We had a long hallway that passed our bedrooms. When he was out of control he would walk my mother down […]
Original post 4/2014 I’m writing the post with the outcome first. It made sense to me when reliving it. The tides turn It’s beyond comprehension why my probation officer saw hope in me. I gave her no reason, I had lost hope in myself, in life for that matter. I didn’t speak one word to her for seven months. I attended weekly meetings for possession of a handgun. I was a bad ass in my mind. I had to see a psychiatrist several times. I was smarter than my age at 12 years old. The psychiatrist asked me how many children I wanted. Without blinking I said none. “I wouldn’t take a chance on beating my children”. She said statics show abused people are less likely to abuse their children. I’d been sexually abused and beaten all my life. Stats meant nothing to me. The State wanted me in a boot camp type facility. My probation officer fought hard to find a less destructive facility. She felt a boot camp style would make me worse. She was right, I was wound very tight. If I can plan my father’s death what stops you from hurting a stranger. My grandmother knew about a convent that was for bad girls when she was younger. My probation officer Ruth Barrier agreed it was a better environment. I might reform in this setting. The down side, it cost $2,000 a month back in 1975 and my grandparents […]
Original post from 3/2014 The song “Running to Stand Still” by U2 pierced my soul. I can’t explain the feeling. It describes my life in four simple words. I have fought most of my life to stay alive, many from my own bad choices. In the early sixties my parents met at a party. I don’t know if they dated […]
We Are The World Blogfest: Spreading Stories of Positivity and Compassion in Social Media
