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Each day from Thanksgiving until Christmas, hear the voices of male survivors of childhood, adolescent or adult sexual abuse share their stories of hurt, pain, joy and triumph as they heal from the aftermath of betrayal and trauma. You are not alone https://www.safeplaceformen.com/30days Thank you Thomas! Honored to help kick this series off – gifts of healing. Take care, Michael Skinner https://safeplaceformen.podbean.com/ www.safeplaceformen.com #safeplaceformen #malesexualabuserecovery

There is power in standing up for yourself and sticking to your personal boundaries regarding how you participate in life as a trauma survivor. I hate the constant barrage of showing up because of obligation. Fuck that. I mean, when I think about the fact that people will shame you over not doing something that you don’t want to do, I get irate. I think about how many times in our lives that we are put in the position of showing up due to social constructs, and I want to smash my face into...

If there’s one thing most adults agree on, it’s that there never seems to be enough time in the day. Everyone is busy in their own way, and even though most of us are aware of basic time management techniques, living them is a very different matter. From a spiritual perspective, however, time management really doesn’t need to be so hard. To understand where you might be going wrong, let’s look at five common time sucks which stand in the way of the fulfilled life you just know you were meant...

Hi Folks, The latest edition of the Surviving Spirit Newsletter is posted at the website - http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/index.php or PDF - http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/pdfs/2020-11-The_Surviving_Spirit_Newsletter_November_2020.pdf To sign up for an e-mail copy, please write to me @ mikeskinner@comcast.net or sign up @ Website via Contact Us. Thank you & take care, Michael. Newsletter Contents : 1] People Constantly Underestimate How Much They Benefit From Being Kind...

356 pounds?! Are you kidding me, Michael? What the fuck are you doing to yourself? Every morning I would wake up and watch the number on the scale tick up as I slowly allowed obesity to run wild and consume my body. Fat . I was always the chubby kid. I shopped in the boy's husky section at Walmart as a preteen. Husky for the unware is the polite nomenclature for fat kids. I spent summers running around with my shirt on. I ate entire boxes of gummy bears for dinner. I never ordered just one...

Join me for a 6 week digital discussion group about Laura van Dernoot Lipsky’s amazing book, Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others . This book has been a game changer for me throughout my social work career. Impactful, funny, and practical, I have use this book to not only support my own selfcare but also to support teams that I’ve worked with. As I’ve revisited this book, I often find myself wanting to share what I'm learning with others, dive...

I’ve always been fascinated by the strong connection between psychological turmoil and spiritual transformation, which I explored in my book The Leap . Combined with an attitude of openness and acceptance, psychological turmoil can have a powerful awakening effect. This links to the well-researched phenomenon of post-traumatic growth, which shows that trauma can have long-term positive after effects, such as enhanced well-being, a sense of appreciation and connection, more intimate...

Eleven years ago my friend Sally was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the degenerative motor-neuron disease which gradually renders you unable to move, to eat, to talk, and in the end to breathe. She had just turned 40, two kids, happily married to a prince of a guy, so much to look forward to, for all of them. And then this horrible suffering. This “very slow car crash” was her husband’s description and I can’t get that image out of my head. The wreckage, the...

Lately, a lot of people who grew up with childhood trauma are going “no contact” with their families and loved ones. I hear people talking about it with relief and sometimes a sense of accomplishment. For many people, the abuse was egregious and may be ongoing; in these cases, walking away for good may be necessary and courageous. For others, going no-contact is an emergency form of self-protection that, over time, may not need to be permanent. So I want to share with you ten tips to protect...

By Suhani Dalal, South Seattle Emerald, November 11, 2020 Since the start of the global pandemic, one Seattle therapist said that roughly 90% of her new clients are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), compared to before, when about 70% were white. “There are so many people coming into therapy for their first time — first in their family, first in their history,” said Asian American psychotherapist and codependency therapist Ivy Kwong . “I always tell them: ‘I’m so grateful you’re...

For more information and to register - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/124637117975 Reimagining Resilience: Using a Trauma Lens helps adults build positive relationships with children who have experienced trauma. We will explore the impact of adverse experiences and the effect they have on developing brains and student behavior. The course gives teachers, parents, and other adults working closely with kids the skills they need to make sure that every child knows that they matter. An online...

NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND ADDICTION BORN OUT OF ACES AND THE RETURN OF HOPE Dr. Susie Wiet The downstream effect of childhood trauma has been well documented regarding the biological and psychosocial impacts. This presentation will highlight the neurobiological changes associated with ACEs that function as a "primer" for the onset of addiction and related behaviors. It will conclude with principles for influencing these same pathways that assist with restoration of the mind and health. Susie...