Anyone surprised by this headline? This was a story that ran in many papers over the past few days.
So why share an article abt a part of the world most of our community may never have visited? Bc I just don’t understand when we as a society are going to wake up at the enormity of what’s going on.
Know what the greatest reaction to a post on twitter of all places we ever got, was? You have to be to the point on that platform. Here’s what I wrote, looking back:
“We don’t have an at athlete suicide issue. We don’t have a doctor suicide issue. We don’t have a student suicide issue. We don’t have a musician suicide issue. We don’t have a lawyer suicide issue. We have a SOCIETAL suicide issue.
The placing of people into neat little buckets & categories & the constant dissection of the minutia – disorder label buckets, age range buckets, geography buckets, career buckets. How many different “groups” do we need to see these trends in, before we as a society recognize that this issue is one impacting ALL of us, “5 out of 5.”
Why does MH take a back seat all the time? 1) it’s harder to talk abt, so we don’t, 2) it’s always looked at as the “2nd” issue being caused by the “1st” issue, which gets more focus. Look at what’s happened with this pandemic. We are so focused on masks & social distancing & hand washing (which don’t get me wrong are impt), that the “what” this pandemic is exposing – an even more pronounced EPIDEMIC of underlying & new MH complications is getting glossed over.
You have a chance to make a difference. We all do. Today is #GivingTuesday. Give to local orgs doing things on the ground. We are fortunate that today, all donations are being generously matched $ for $ so we can do the vital work we need for the next yr. But this isn’t an ad. While I’ll put the donation link in our profile bio, you can find other local orgs to donate to. You can simply share our msgs in stories w your friends/followers.
But let’s all do something. Let’s keep talking & let’s raise the volume. Our govts (local, state, federal…& it seems like in most countries) aren’t doing the job, so it’s on us!
