Commonalities & trends always emerge when we listen. 2 things happened concurrently this time:
We had SameHere Citi Field last nt w the Mets. Mike Sweetney threw out the 1st pitch exactly 20yrs after he’d done so as the Knicks 1st Rnd pick in ‘03. That was the last day he saw his dad alive. It was a loss that sent his MH spiraling & contributed in a big way to him leaving the NBA. He got to make the throw again; for his dad, 20yrs later. Was honored to catch his pitch.
Shared some highlights from the nt ➡️. Two things happened in the post game session: 1) someone asked – how can we possibly help everyone when it’s so hard to find a therapist…who takes our insurance…or just generally…there’s just too short a supply if truly 5 in 5 ppl need to work on their MH. 2) post-event, a very brave man came up to me, tears in his eyes & said – “thank you for doing this…I had a talk w my friend abt the bad thoughts I was having the past few days…this talk came just at the rt time…I needed this to save me right now.”
So you have those 2 things abt care systems & community support, & then late last nt I was prepping our next LIFESaver family story: John from @jadeleemarasigan_charity & I’m reading thru his share, & so much of it’s how the care system failed his daughter. The merry-go-round of meds, Docs saying – they don’t have other options she’s tried it all. And what I took so poignantly from John is: HE was there for his daughter. Slept in her room so she wouldn’t feel alone. Did activities w her so she had companionship. Was there holding her hand thru her pain.
It made me think…while we tragically lost Jade – how much John & his fam might’ve kept Jade alive for longer – bc of their love, companionship, community. We focus as a society so much on the loss…& don’t consider how much our ability to help may’ve kept someone alive just that much longer.
I’ll share more on it, but to the question of care beyond the system, it’s why we developed & just launched a 17 Hr STARR Certification course – for ANYONE: CEU credits for professionals, to parents. We needed a scalable way to teach mind/body science & skills, & now have one.
