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(Blog image of Paul Zentveld - Lake Alice abuse survivor) Read this NZ Stuff article by Aaron Smale I ask that you reflect on your definition of mental health Your definition of mental health will determine how you respond to people with mental health The term "mental health" does not need to change Our perceptions, our definition, our response to the term "mental health" needs to change. Once I said that we need to take away the term "mental health" and replace it with another term. I...

Our child protection services in NZ have the knowledge they struggle with the implementation I identify the problems I have found supporting parents who have had their children removed by child protection services in NZ (CYFS) These are the solutions: Build trusting relationships - change social worker when required Create full, accurate, objective records Complete thorough ecological assessments Identify the strengths of parents and use them to address the needs Support parents in the...

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is an old favorite of mine. When I was a teacher I would sing this song and do the actions in our school assemblies. The children loved it. Now that I am older with all my lived experience of trauma. I can identify the strong message the story gifts to us We are all going on a bear hunt When we face adversity We can't go over it We can't go under it We can't go around it We got to go through it Then when we find the bear in the deep dark cave We can run home to our...

@Umi Asaka kindly shared this short sound clip (3:29min) with me. As I read it I thought came floating gently into my head Interview between Mia Mingus and Alice Wong 23 August 2014 This is a short audio clip from an interview of Mia Mingus, activist, and writer, conducted by Alice Wong, Project Coordinator of the Disability Visibility Project at StoryCorps San Francisco on August 23, 2014. Text transcript: Alice: In your blog, Leaving Evidence, this passage really resonated with me. You...

This is a good article to read: Why we should befriend Adversity Snippet: We all go through difficult situations, period. There is no magic formula for dealing with these times, but there are ways we can learn to manage them. Through the process of struggling, we acquire knowledge and skills that allow us to function at a higher level. We gain an understanding of our strengths, as well as those areas of life which need improvement. It allows us to connect with our values, which leads to...

Through my work as an advocate, I have met many people who, like me, have PTSD. I have PTSD because people made the choice to hurt me so bad that I now live with that every day. I live with trauma. The thing is I survived. I made the decision to pick myself up, to stand again, reset and keep moving forward. I now face many, many people including professionals who believe, erroneously, that I am my trauma. This is especially true in NZ because, in my country that I love so much, far too many...

I have changed the name to CYFS as they desecrate Maori and ALL that is Maori. They do not deserve to carry a Maori name. This post is especially for all Child, Youth, and Family Services (child protection services in NZ) social workers and Family Court judges Whanau and the child are one Removal of children from their whanau is the last resort Removal from their birth mother is the last resort Kelvin Davis told us that CYFS would only remove children from their parents as a last resort...

Anger can be helpful in driving change Read the article by: Chloe Young, Kat Williams, & Scott R. Stroud, Ph.D. Media Ethics Initiative Center for Media Engagement University of Texas at Austin Snippets from the article: Macalster Bell discusses how most literature on feminist moral psychology and philosophy defends anger in four ways: (1) Calling out wrongdoing and oppression, (2) disvaluing the disvaluable, (3) motivating overall social change, and (4) providing new knowledge about the...

Listen to me! Bad things happen to good people in NZ Many families in New Zealand have been ruthlessly torn apart and desecrated by Oranga Tamariki, harming the very children they were tasked to protect. There are many horrific stories that are hidden away from the general public because parents and children are so traumatized that they cannot speak up. They cannot share what they have experienced because it is so painful for them to do so. Some parents do speak up. They are neither seen nor...

Emotional work is invisible Emotional work is just as hard as physical work You just can't see it Very often we are excluded or judged by others as incapable of holding down a job Because we have moments when we can't perform when called to attention It is NOT that we do not want to It is very often because in that moment of time we CAN'T do it Please do not discredit us Please do not exclude us Please do not judge us Give us time and space to deal with our trauma and to heal We can do the...

The danger of flashbacks is that once you are back there, You can get stuck and Never find a way out. That is why we need strategies To find our way out again When you are with a person especially children who are facing flashbacks Please show us kindness and compassion And if you have absolutely no idea about what I am saying Please educate yourself If there is anything that is going to help us ALL to get unstuck Is empathy and that means EVERYONE knows about trauma and what it is like...

A friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. That friend is me Make sure you do self-care and build your resilience First me then the world Have a great day