Tagged With "addressing stigma"
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Dr. Claudia Gold: Empathy & Listening as ACE-Informed Practice
"You are absolutely not doomed from having ACEs."
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How Bibliotherapy Can Help Students Open Up About Their Mental Health (kqed.org)
Mental health concerns, like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, can affect a student’s ability to concentrate, form friendships and thrive in the classroom. Educators and school counselors often provide Social and Emotional Learning programs (SEL) in order to help these students, as well as school-based therapeutic support groups. However, even in these forums, getting teenagers to speak about their problems can be challenging, especially when they feel like outsiders...
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Interview with Jason Lee, author of Living with the Dragon: Healing 15000 days of Abuse and Shame
Jason Lee is an author based out of Coquitlam BC. He’s also a mental health advocate and speaker at events across Canada. His book Living with the Dragon, Healing 15 000 Days of Abuse and Shame has received praise from counselors and comes highly recommended as a resource particularly for men in recovery from depression, anxiety and anger stemming from childhood abuse and trauma. In this interview, we talk about how his book is changing the way people are viewing mental health, depression...
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"Stories of Complicated Grief: A Critical Anthology"
25 October 2013 : I had the pleasure of taking part in this very special project on complicated grief, titled Stories of Complicated Grief: A Critical Anthology , edited by Eric Miller, PhD. It will soon be released by NASW Press , and if...
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The implicit bias of, “Mental Illness” and “mentally ill”, a lexicon of hurt.
How can we heal from the implicit bias of “ Mental Illness ” and “ mentally ill ”? I hear these words and it sounds like fingernails scraping down the chalkboard. “ The stain of dehumanization colors the mind, body and spirit and it is not so easily washed away.” - Michael Skinner Recently I read a blog post at the ACEsConnection website, “Erasing My ACES” by Sirena Wheeler. It was posted on April, 19, 2020. It struck a chord with me, many in fact and it put me on a spiral down memory lane.
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The Legacy of Freedom Writers; How Literature is Helping Children and Teens Find Purpose
If you have ever seen the movie Freedom Writers , you might have thought the story ended alongside the film. However, Erin Gruwell has grown the movement she began decades ago to reach beyond Los Angeles. Now, the Freedom Writers Foundation offers training, scholarships, and curriculum for educators and students in cities across the nation. Their main goal is to work with "unteachable students" and show them they are fully capable of pursuing a collegiate career. Many of these students come...
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This veteran found a creative way to talk about his PTSD with his child. (upworthy.com)
Kastle created the children's book titled, "Why Is Dad So Mad?" to help explain to his 6-year-old daughter his struggles with PTSD. And when it was published, he read it to his daughter for the first time "There’s a section in the book where I describe the anger and things associated with PTSD as a fire inside my chest," he says. "After I first read the book to my daughter, I remember her saying, 'I'm sorry you have a fire in your chest now, Dad." According to the PTSD Foundation of America...
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Unity Radio - ALL NEW Talking Wellness. Today's special guest is Michael Skinner
Unity Radio WUTY 97.9FM Worcester, MA ALL NEW Talking Wellness with Mike MacInnis. Today's special guest is Michael Skinner I'm particularly proud and happy about yesterday's "Talking Wellness" episode. Michael Skinner was a trailblazer in trauma informed peer support work, getting it done before people even knew it was a thing. A class act and genuine good guy. Definitely give this show a listen!
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Why I believe Gregory Williams, and his book, Shattered By The Darkness, will help save lives and revolutionize healthcare.
When you first hear about it, it sounds unlikely, fact that something that happened to someone in utero, at the age of two months, or four years, or any time in childhood, is what is killing them as an adult, or making them want to die, or making them want to hurt themselves or others. Yet the connection between childhood trauma and adult disease, mental illness, addiction, suicide, violence – most all of society’s ills – is as irrefutable as the myriad truths revealed about it in the...
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New Book: Crazy Was All I Ever Knew By Alice M. Kenny (pseudonym)
To this day, I still think of my childhood home as "the crazy house." Like me, millions of adult Americans are living with the effects of the precarious childhoods they experienced as offspring of mentally ill parents. If you are one of them, you can no doubt relate to my book. As a child, you most likely lived in a crazy house of your own. As an adult, you’ve probably retained and may even relive memories of your tumultuous upbringing. Crazy Was All I Ever Knew combines memoir with...
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The Beautiful Darkness: A Handbook for Orphans
I became a professional reader long before I was a writer when I was living in homeless shelters, subsidized housing, and welfare hotels with my mother in New York City. Most of the middle class and affluent black folks I would come to know in the future would wince and give me a look I couldn’t read when I would tell the story that I outline in my new memoir, The Beautiful Darkness: A Handbook for Orphans . All some intolerant, ignorant bigots need is to continue to hear about the...
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Redefining Trauma: Understanding and Coping with a Cortisoaked Brain
I am honored to introduce my newly published book, which aims to help people understand the normal impacts of intense or ongoing stress. The book uses metaphor to help understand our complex brains, and to have some distance while considering some potentially emotional and challenging topics. The word "trauma" has become so widely used, that some may not understand all that it implies. By focusing more on what's happening in the brain, hopefully we will pass less judgment on others and...
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Surviving Spirit Newsletter October 2020
Hi Folks, The October edition of the Surviving Spirit Newsletter is posted at the website - http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/index.php http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/pdfs/2020-10-The_Surviving_Spirit_Newsletter_October_2020.pdf To sign up for an e-mail copy, please write to me @ mikeskinner@comcast.net or sign up @ Website via Contact Us, Thanks! Michael. Newsletter Contents : 1] Beauty 2 The Streetz: This woman is beautifying Skid Row one makeover at a time by Alicia Lee 2]...
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RUMBLE - The Indians Who Rocked the World - Independent Lens
Hey folks, A powerful music documentary. Well worth watching to learn the back story on some great musicians and music. I saw this a few years ago, glad I watched it again. Talk about overcoming trauma, racism and stigma....these folks exemplify the courage and the perseverance of the human spirit. Take care, Michael. - RUMBLE | The Indians Who Rocked the World | Independent Lens | PBS - https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/rumble/
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Left Behind: Surviving Suicide Loss (dailygood.org)
In the spring of 2017, Nandini Murali, a South Indian journalist and author, returned from an out-of-town assignment to an eerily quiet home. Typically, her husband would greet her at the front door, but that morning he hadn't answered her phone calls. It was Nandini who discovered his body, and confronted an unfathomable reality. T.R. Murali, one of the most prominent urologists in India, and her beloved husband of 33 years, had ended his own life. "Space dissolved," writes Nandini, of that...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter May 2021
Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter May 2021 http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/pdfs/2021-05-The_Surviving_Spirit_Newsletter_May_2021.pdf Hi folks, Greetings from New Hampshire....spring has arrived and the weather has been all over the place –...
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The Powerful Connection Of Music With Michael Skinner - Cybertrap 60
The Powerful Connection Of Music With Michael Skinner - Cybertrap 60 Published on July 20, 2021 Here's the latest episode of "The Cybertraps Podcast," co-hosted by Frederick Lane and Jethro Jones. Michael Skinner is an award-winning advocate, educator, writer and critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, guitarist, addressing the issues of trauma, abuse and mental health concerns through public speaking, writing and his music. He has spoken at the National Press Club, was a keynote presenter...
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Children’s book aims to combat stigma, uplift children with incarcerated parents [jjie.org]
By Renee Menart, Photo: Rob Marmion/Shutterstock, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, April 1, 2022 Children’s books centered on characters involved in the justice system can support kids with incarcerated parents and offer a compassionate window into this experience for broad young audiences. Incarceration is harmful not only to people held in confinement but to the health of their children , who, for example, may experience post-traumatic stress from witnessing a parent’s arrest or...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter July 2022
Healing the Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter July 2022 “ By giving ourselves unconditional kindness and comfort while embracing the human experience, difficult as it is, we avoid destructive patterns of fear, negativity, and isolation.” -...
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City Voices Interview with Michael Skinner-Real People, Real Stories
Hosted by City Voices editor – Dan Frey – a short candid interview addressing the concerns of complex post-traumatic stress, depression, male suicide and healing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk9q3jlV17o Bio - Michael Skinner Michael Skinner is an award-winning advocate, educator, writer and critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, guitarist, addressing the issues of trauma, abuse and mental health concerns through public speaking, writing and his music. He has spoken at the National...
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Dare To Share Your Untold Story: Trauma Accumulated, Misperception of Illness and Finding his way to be Impactful
Dare To Share Your Untold Story: Episode 58: Michael Skinner - Trauma Accumulated, Misperception of Illness and Finding his way to be Impactful - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dare-to-share-your-untold-story/id1550712085 or Dare To Share Your Untold Story: Episode 58: Trauma Accumulated, Misperception of Illness and Finding his way to be Impactful - https://daretoshare.libsyn.com/episode-58-trauma-accumulated-misperception-of-illness-amp-finding-his-way-to-be-impactful ‘Dare To Share...
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Psychologist Enrique Echeburúa: ‘People who die by suicide want to stop suffering, not to stop living’ (msn.com)
Enrique Echeburúa at his office, in San Sebastián, Spain. © Javier Hernandez Juantegui (EL PAÍS) To read more of Daniel Mediavilla's article, please click here. Enrique Echeburúa (San Sebastian, Spain, 72 years old), Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), says that when a suicide occurs, there are other victims beyond the deceased, and they do not receive adequate support. “The first thing [we need to do] is make it easier for the family...
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Walk With Me - a song addressing the stigma & discrimination for those labeled, "mentally ill."
“Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.” – Native American Proverb Walk With Me by Michael Skinner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5WMypXDn8 [Lyrics posted below] Michael Skinner Music - https://www.mskinnermusic.com/ https://www.mskinnermusic.com/music/album-train-tears/ - scroll down to Track # 7 All of my songs are on Amazon, Spotify, etc...& two minute clips are posted at my website. “Everyone has untold stories of pain and sadness that make them...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter September 2023
Healing the Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter September 2023 Hi Folks, Welcome to the September issue of the Surviving Spirit. Fall is definitely in the air here in New Hampshire, pleasant days and chilly nights ...a sign of what's to come.
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Mad In America Song of the Week - Walk With Me by Michael Skinner
Hi folks, quite honored with this - Song of the Week - Walk With Me by Michael Skinner - Mad In America "I had a life as a husband, father, professional musician and owner of a successful music company. The childhood trauma I experienced came back to knock me down with complex PTSD and depression. The mistreatment and over-medication was the catalyst for me to write this song." https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/09/walk-with-me-michael-skinner/ Lyrics are also shared. Mad in America hosts...
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Re: Mad In America Song of the Week - Walk With Me by Michael Skinner
Those meds can do a number on the mind, body & spirit. & not making folks aware of the side effects is so damn wrong.
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Re: Mad In America Song of the Week - Walk With Me by Michael Skinner
I share your concern, Michael: Two weeks into my 'In-Hospital recovery' [from open=heart surgery], I reportedly had a 'PTSD Reaction' and was prescribed 'low dose Mellaril', in July 1991; regretably our US FDA had not listed a 'side-effect' that the Canadian 'equivalent agency had listed {"Prolongs the Qt heart rhythm"). I ended up going by ambulance from the 'teaching hospital' to 'Saint Elsewhere' to have my heart rate re-set.
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Follow The Light by Michael Skinner - A song addressing the loss of those we love to suicide
Follow The Light by Michael Skinner - A song addressing the loss of those we love to suicide...lyrics & resources shared below the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvW6sQ0SXQ&lc=UgxkYReNZA6Y6zRw3OB4AaABAg
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Re: Follow The Light by Michael Skinner - A song addressing the loss of those we love to suicide
It's still standing...a friend and I 'created' this a few years ago in the woods behind my home. as a kid, I did this all the time..my friend never had, so she had fun in setting this up.
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Re: Follow The Light by Michael Skinner - A song addressing the loss of those we love to suicide
LOL I see a Sasquatch structure in the top photo. Very cool addition ..
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter January 2024
The latest Surviving Spirit Newsletter - Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health is out - It can be read online via this & you can also subscribe - http://ml.survivingspirit.com/dada/mail.cgi/archive/newsletter/20240124222342/ Newsletter Contents : 1] Seasonal affective disorder: Self-care tips to fight the winter blues By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira @ CNN 2] Why more men are joining the ranks of therapists: ‘We’re rushing to a place we’re needed’ by Daniel Duane @ The...