Tagged With "end the stigma"
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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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The Decision that Changed My Life
Four years ago, I decided to start a conversation about the long term impact of childhood abuse. More specifically, about what happens when those abused children grow up and have children of their own. When I had become a parent, I went looking for books on this topic, and I didn’t find anything. But I knew I couldn’t be the only one who was dealing with this. And once I found one other person who was willing to write about this, I said, let’s collect these stories. The stories of these...
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Birth Trauma, an anniversary
For mothers who experienced traumatic births, these birthdays are the cruelest of celebrations. We are supposed to smile and shower love on our children, and never admit that on these days we would really love to curl up in a ball and sob. We are not supposed to say that having our children took too high a toll on our physical and mental health. We are not supposed to mention just how badly our medical and social systems failed to support us when we needed it the most.
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The Empowered Parent
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Dr. Claudia Gold's Recent Blog Posts & Videos
Dr. Claudia Gold is an ACEs Champion who has as much medical expertise as she does empathy for parents, including and maybe especially for parents who are struggling. She recognizes the challenges and difficulties many parents experience but instead of shaming or punishing parents, she starts by listening to and learning from us. While this seems like the most practical, effective, and common-sense approach, to me, it is something many providers don't have the time, skill, inclination, or...
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Amazing Infographic on ACEs, Spanking, and the Benefits of Positive Parenting
Putting the pieces together! Join an upstream approach to ending violence against children! This is an ACEs & Spanking INFOGRAPHIC that helps parents understand the connection between ACEs and the importance of not spanking and instead, using positive parenting techniques. For a free webinar series to support parents: https://stopspanking.org More information on ACEs, Spanking, and Positive Parenting: https://stopspanking.org/aces/
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Normalizing Men as Caregivers Helps Families and Society (rwjf.org)
When we imagine a caregiver, we often picture a woman: a mother caring for young children, spouse, and the daily household chores, a daughter nursing a father with disabilities, or a female child care provider. Historically, women have been expected to serve as primary providers of “caretaking” work, whether it’s parenting or caring for an aging family member or paid work in positions typically associated with women such as child-care providers, nurses, or health aide. Alternativley, men are...
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Teen Mental Health - Resilient Georgia General Meeting
Resilient Georgia is excited to share information and resources from our June General Meeting on Teen Mental Health , where we brought together experts and advocates in the Georgia behavioral health space to discuss their work around adolescent well-being. Teenagers can be hard to decipher at times, but one point is clear: teens need large amounts of support to overcome the staggering odds of having mental illness. With rates of teen mental illness already higher than the adult population...
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Forward: A free Guide for youth and adults impacted by the stigma of Parental Addiction
"Forward: A Free guide to support the Wellbeing of Youth and Adults who have been Impacted by the Stigma of a Parent's Drug or Alcohol use." I am proud to share the release of our new guide: Forward. This guide is intended to increase a youth's understanding of their experiences with a parent's drug or alcohol use while empowering them to use their incredible resilience to move forward with hope and healing.
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When the Parenting Never Stops (nytimes.com)
By Jessica Grose, Image: Eleanor Davis, The New York Times, February 16, 2022 We have a mainstream directive for raising children in our society: You provide them with support, shelter and care until they’re 18, and then they’re supposed to be, more or less, self-sufficient, launched into the world as adults. This framework leaves out millions of parents whose children struggle with substance abuse or mental illness, who may be providing active care to their adult children for the rest of...
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E-Newsletter for youth and adults impacted by parental addiction: Grief
National Grief Awareness Week "Crying isn't the hurt, it is the process of being unhurt". Althea Solter ------------ The chronic grief of children and youth who are impacted by a parent's substance use can often go unacknowledged or be invalidated. As such, it is important for professionals to understand the chronic loss that can occur in a child's life when a parent struggles with addiction, particularly if both parents struggle. This grief can be compounded by a stigma that prevents...
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A Report on How Stigma Harms Youth Exposed to Parental Substance Use Disorder
A New Path Forward: A Report on How Stigma Harms Youth exposed to Parental Substance Use Disorder and Recommendations for a New Path Forward NEW REPORT: On February 3rd, Starlings Community released a FIRST of its kind report on how stigma impacts youth exposed to parental substance use disorder. Approximately 1 in 6 youth are exposed to the stress and stigma of a parent's substance use disorder. These children/youth are at double the risk for depression, triple the risk for addiction, and...
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Representing youth impacted by the stress & stigma of parental addiction
In Canada, 1/6 youth are exposed to a parent's addiction, and stigma prevents many parents from recovery. This stigma has detrimental consequences on the health and well-being of impacted youth. As such, we are excited to introduce Starlings Community Youth Advisory Committee . Vision: It is the vision of the Starlings Community Youth council to represent the voices of youth who have been impacted by the stigma of a parent’s substance use within the provincial and federal supports and...
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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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Support Post-Traumatic Stress Awareness Month
I'm grateful for the awareness on post traumatic stress - but I hope someday they drop "disorder" from the language and use "injury" or some other word - just feels stigmatizing, like we are defective and lends credence to the stigma & discrimination we face when trying to heal from things that were done to us, experienced or that we observed. Take care, Michael. Support Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month & Learn the Signs of PTSD - ...
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Latchkey Urchins & Friends, the childhood neglect comedy podcast, is back for Season 2!
We are so excited to launch Season 2 with author, psychologist, and former Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ventriloquist Susan Linn. We interview Dr. Susan Linn about her new book, Who’s Raising the Kids: Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children. It turns out we've all been indoctrinated from a young age to value buying things due to the United States' lax child protection policies for advertising. Here's Susan Linn on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood early in her career. The show ran from...
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The trauma of weight shame on kids
Many parents accidentally weight-shame their kids, which can result in trauma. These parents do not intend harm, but the impact of their behavior can be felt for a lifetime.
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Teen mom who couldn't find babysitter takes her 1-year-old toddler as prom date and they're adorable (upworthy.com)
Image source: TikTok/melissa-mccabe To read more of Sethuraman S.'s article, please click here. A teenage mom has received appreciation after taking her toddler as her date to the school prom. Melissa Mccabe, who is 16 now, became pregnant when she was 14 and gave birth to Arthur in November 2020. Mccabe, who lives in the U.K., describes her 1-year-old son as her "little blessing" and said she wanted him to be part of her prom. "When prom came around, no one could really have him and I...
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A Letter to Kyle
To mark the anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation of the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, we are sharing a letter written a year ago by Roland Behm, Co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Policy Partnership, Board Member and Former Board Chair, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Georgia Chapter. The letter is to his son, Kyle, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010 as a junior in college and died by suicide in August 2019.
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Barbie Debuts First Doll with Down Syndrome to 'Counter Social Stigma Through Play' (people.com)
First-ever Barbie doll with Down syndrome. PHOTO: MATTEL To read more of Nick Maslow's article, please click here. The National Down Syndrome Society, which collaborated with Mattel on the doll, says it's a "huge step forward for inclusion". Barbie is making history once again! Mattel on Tuesday announced the debut of its first-ever Barbie with Down syndrome. The doll was "created to allow even more children to see themselves in Barbie, as well as have Barbie reflect the world around them,"...
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Life-saving or stigmatizing? Parents wrestle with obesity treatment options for kids (npr.org)
Image: Janice Chang for NPR To read more of Yuki Noguchi's article, please click here. Two mothers — Jen McLellan in Albuquerque, N.M., and Grace, of Bethesda, Md. — haven't met, but they share a common childhood trauma: Both came of age in the 1980s and '90s feeling burdened by shame and stigma over their body size. Both tried every known diet plan and pill available at the time, only to have doctor after doctor admonish them to restrict calories and exercise still more. Since then,...
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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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NURTURING GUILT: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF GUILT ON FOSTER CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE
Foster care is a crucial system designed to provide temporary homes and care for children who are unable to live with their biological families. While foster care aims to offer stability and support, the experience can be emotionally complex for children. One emotion that often plagues foster children is guilt. Guilt can arise from a range of circumstances and can significantly impact a child's emotional well-being and overall development. This article delves into the various sources of...
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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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A Balanced View on Mandated Reporting versus Family Supporting
Viewpoint July 31, 2023 Seeking a Balanced View of Child Protective Services Howard Dubowitz, MD, MS 1 ; Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW 1 Author Affiliations Article Information JAMA Pediatr. 2023;177(10):991-992. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.2578 A s professionals working closely with child protective services (CPS) for many years, we are well aware of its shortcomings, particularly undertrained and overwhelmed staff who may inadequately protect children and serve families as mandated by...
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Healing the Generations - Historic, Two-Day Event Virtual Event On Trauma, Race, and The Body
Presented by Clifford Beers Community Care Center, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and KPJR Films, Healing the Generations is a two-day conference which brings together trauma-informed authors, leaders, and changemakers whose work focuses on resilience, trauma, and anti-racism. REGISTER HERE Collectively, we recognize the health implications that grief, loss, political unrest, and racial trauma have on the human body. We are convinced that in our families, communities, and ancestors,...
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Caregiving for a youth who is impacted by parental substance use
We know how challenging it can be to support a youth who is impacted by the stress and stigma of a parent's substance use, and we also know that your care can be one of the greatest sources of well-being a youth can have. 1 in 5 Canadian youth grow up with the stress and stigma of a parent's substance use, and youth have said the family could be one of the greatest sources of shame AND/OR hope and healing. This space is for Canadian caregivers (Parents, aunts, uncles, Elders, grandparents)...