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#youth mental health canada
coochiequeens · 2 months
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A teen girl with mental health issues who expressed a desire to transition was removed from her family who wanted to try treating the mental health issues before transitioning was romeved from her home by the state’s child protective services and is now in Canada?
By Anna Slatz. January 29, 2024
A family in Glasgow, Montana is accusing the state’s child protective services of “kidnapping” their teenage daughter after the girl began to identify as a transgender “boy.” Krista and Todd Kolstad spoke to Reduxx about their ordeal, revealing that the child had been removed from their care and was now going to be sent to Canada.
Krista, the child’s step-mother, explains that their nightmare began in August of 2023 after they received a call that their 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer*, had expressed suicidal ideations while at school.
“She had always had problems at school,” Krista says, noting that she and Todd had even pulled her from one district and sent her to another due to issues with bullying in an effort to give her a fresh start. But despite experiencing some real-world hardships, Krista claims Jennifer also had some undiagnosed mental health concerns, including attention-seeking behavior.
Later on that same evening, a case worker with Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) showed up to the Kolstad home to speak with Jennifer and do an inspection. Krista had been preparing dinner at the time, and invited the case worker to tour the residence despite both her and her husband being distressed by the sudden appearance.
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Todd, Krista, and Jennifer in a Christmas photo. SOURCE: Supplied.
During the interview with CFS, Jennifer claimed to have consumed toilet bowl cleaner and painkiller medications that day in an effort to commit suicide. Krista says that it had immediately struck her as being highly unlikely, as not only did Jennifer not have access to either substance unmonitored, but that Jennifer had expressed no symptoms of imminent illness that day.
Despite their doubts about the veracity of Jennifer’s claims, Krista and Todd agreed to take Jennifer to the local hospital on an emergency basis. While there, blood work returned that Jennifer had not consumed any toxic substances.
Krista and Todd provided Reduxx with copies of Jennifer’s medical paperwork to substantiate their claim that Jennifer had not consumed any dangerous substances the day she was admitted to hospital. The paperwork confirms that there were no abnormalities detected in Jennifer’s system, and that her overall physical health was good.
But notes taken at the hospital consistently mention that Jennifer identifies as a “male” and wishes to be called “Leo.”
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From the hospital documents. SOURCE: Provided.
Krista says she and Todd immediately made their objections known to Hospital staff, requesting Jennifer be called by her birth name.
“We were very clear to the emergency room staff as well as [CFS] that this goes against our values, morals, and our religious beliefs,” she said, but hospital staff refused to listen. “They told me to call their lawyer if I have an issue as they will do what the patient tells them.”
While the medical transitioning of minors was prohibited in the state of Montana at the time, Krista says the hospital told her that “social transitioning” was a “grey area” and continued to call Jennifer “Leo” and refer to her as a boy.
As a patient admitted for suicidal ideations, Jennifer was placed on 24/7 watch to keep her safe. But Krista says an aide was placed outside of her door who would regularly talk to Jennifer about “gender affirming” care.
“I came one day and she was talking about having top-surgery and being non-binary,” Krista says of the aide. She took her complaint to the on-duty Doctor, who dismissed her. “He told me, ‘why are not you more concerned that your daughter is trying to harm herself, then what [the aide] is talking about?'”
Another aide who had been set to watch over Jennifer similarly chastised Krista, telling her to “respect” Jennifer’s wishes to be called “Leo.”
Krista describes Jennifer’s time in the hospital as a period of constant efforts to undermine her and Todd’s parental authority. In addition to not respecting their wishes to refer to Jennifer by her birth name, hospital staff refused to abide by any other requests, such as limiting Jennifer’s TV and phone time, encouraging her to do her school work, and not allowing her to have copious amounts of junk food.
During this time, Krista and Todd had communication with Child and Family Services, and all agreed that Jennifer would benefit from specialized residential care for treatment and counseling. But during a conversation about where Jennifer could be placed, Krista says the possibility of her being moved to Wyoming was presented.
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Jennifer and Todd. SOURCE: Provided
“They told us that there were 6 facilities in Montana, but that there was also a facility in Wyoming. And at that point, because we were already in such a state from the hospital disrespecting us and our wishes, we immediately looked up Wyoming’s laws on transitioning minors,” Krista says. “It looked to us like kids could go ahead and have procedures done and have hormones without parental consent.”
Concern began to set in, but Krista and Todd were assured that the most likely scenario was Jennifer being placed in a Montana-based facility, and on August 22, Krista and Todd were told that Jennifer was next in line for a bed in Billings, Montana.
But hours later that same day, Krista and Todd were called and informed Jennifer would be moved to Wyoming.
“They called and told us that a bed had opened up in Wyoming and that Jennifer needed to go. [The Doctor] said ‘she has to go. she’s not doing any good here,’ and we were really blown away,” Krista recounts. “No one talked to us about the the name of the facility — we had no one to answer our questions. We told them we wanted our questions answered before we accepted the bed.”
Ten minutes later, Child and Family Services arrived at the Kolstad residence with police.
“They showed up at our home to serve us with papers to take Jennifer out of our care,” Krista says. “They told me the reason was that we were ‘unable or refusing to provide medical care.’ That’s just not true.”
The next day, August 23, Jennifer was transported to Wyoming. Despite the fact that Krista and Todd were not allowed to see Jennifer during her move, CFS did allow Jennifer to stop and see friends and co-workers prior to leaving the city. Krista would later find out that Jennifer had told her friends that she was “crazy and trying to kill herself” and was being taken away from her parents.
“I feel this was a lapse in judgement by [CFS], a violation of HIPAA, and a miscarriage to Jennifer, as she is only 14. What if, when she is 17, this incident is behind her and she is in a good place mentally? This is a very small town and they have just let her brand herself as the ‘crazy kid’ who tried to kill themselves.”
While Jennifer was in Wyoming, neither Krista nor Todd were allowed to speak with her directly. Instead, they had to go through Jennifer’s counsellor, but Krista says they were very reluctant to give her information.
Krista later had to request Jennifer’s records from the center in order to get an understanding of what had happened to her while she was at the facility.
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A letter sent by Krista to CFS expressing dismay at the situation and offering Jennifer clothes and comfort items. SOURCE: Provided.
On September 25, Jennifer was returned to Montana and placed in a Youth Dynamics group home where she has remained ever since.
“They called it ‘temporary legal custody,’ which means they have the say over where she is at, but we are supposed to be able to have the say over everything else. But that was not upheld. There were incidents of her getting vaccines we did not consent to, we were not told the name of the Doctors involved, and she was allowed to shave her head,” Krista says.
Since Jennifer returned to Montana, Krista and Todd have had monthly court meetings along with Child and Family Services to determine next steps. The couple was assigned a public defender, who simply encouraged them to keep their head down until the process was complete.
“I am not trying to throw them under the bus… but all of their advice has been ‘play nice, just let her finish the group home program and then get her back in your care and move on with your lives.'”
But while the group home placement should have been just 6-9 months, the family’s situation took a dramatic turn for the worse during their hearing on January 19, 2024, when the court decided to hand custody of Jennifer over to Child and Family Services.
“We were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her ‘therapeutic best interest’ and because we aren’t willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,” Krista says. “CFS is now going to place Jennifer in the care of her birth mother in Canada, who has never really been apart of her life. The judge said to us ‘you need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting.'”
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Krista and Jennifer. SOURCE: Supplied.
Jennifer’s birth mother, Christine, currently lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her new husband. After Jennifer was born, Christine reportedly left the child with Todd, and has never been involved in her care since.
“She’s never called to see how [Jennifer] is. She’s never sent her anything. Nothing,” Krista says.
According to Krista, any communication from Christine at all has been sparse, and she has never made a meaningful effort to have a relationship with the children she left in Montana. Despite her apparent lack of interest, Krista has been sending Christine semi-regular updates on all of her children for the past seven years.
But disturbingly, Krista explains that she and Todd have grave concerns about Christine’s fitness as a parent.
“I have this letter from one of Jennifer’s previous counsellors that recommends that if Christine wants to come back into her children’s lives, she should do unification therapy, there should be trial visits… all of this stuff should happen because the children reported her as being abusive,” Krista says.
Krista and Todd provided Reduxx with a copy of a statement from a licensed professional counselor detailing sessions that Jennifer and her sister had attended. Both girls described Christine as being uncaring, abusive, and even “crazy.”
In one section of the statement, the counselor describes one of the girls as witnessing “incidents of violence directed at an older sibling,” which involved Christine “throwing that sibling against the refrigerator after becoming enraged at her” for wearing her mother’s jewelry without permission. The child goes on to detail “incidents when her biological mother would punch, hit, slap, and kick her and her siblings.”
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An excerpt from the counseling report reviewed by Reduxx. SOURCE: Provided.
Jennifer similarly alleged disturbing cases of abuse by her biological mother, including one time Christine reportedly grabbed and held her around her waist while repeatedly slapping her in the face.
Of the five children Christine and Todd had together, only one had lived in Canada with Christine prior to aging out of her care. While living with Christine, the boy exhibited severe behavioral problems to a point where Christine approached Krista and Todd for help.
In one conversation, Christine admits to regularly checking homeless encampments and police records in anticipation she would one day find her son in jail.
Child and Family Services was provided both the counselor’s statement and the text messages, but Krista said that nothing could be done to intervene in Jennifer’s placement.
“Our family has been destroyed by this. We have little to no contact with Jennifer and our rights as her parents have been trampled on,” Krista says. But despite the turmoil that has been brought into their lives, the couple says they will never stop trying to help their daughter come home.
Krista and Todd chose to defy a judge’s order to remain silent on the case in order to tell their story. They were set to appear in court today to respond to charges of contempt, but have had to delay the hearing due to a family emergency.
“We will continue to fight. We will never give up on our daughter and for what we believe is morally right. We will continue to tell our story, even though we are currently in contempt of court, and try to keep other families from going through this. Our greatest fear is that our daughter is now going to become a victim of this system and eventually take her own life.”
While Krista has expressed fear that the family’s legal avenues are limited, she has said that they intend to find any means they can against Montana Child and Family Services as well as the hospital where Jennifer was treated.
“I will also be looking at if we have a case against Youth Dynamics Group Home for socially transitioning our daughter against our wishes,” Krista says. “This is NOT about money, this is about standing up and telling our story so this does not happen to another family. We will fight to save our daughter no matter what it costs us financially or emotionally. That’s what parents do for their children.”
*The child’s name has been changed at the request of her parents.
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glcarissa · 1 year
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ART PRACTICE
Texture is an important component to my art practice and hints at the unspeakable stories that lie underneath the surface of both the art and the artist.
The geometric patterns in this work illustrate the range of movement associated with the process—sharp edges colliding, shattering and realigning— and allude to the ways that oppressed groups might eventually break through.
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drasadonbrown · 2 months
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HUMAN trafficking
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“Human trafficking is not only an injustice to the victim, but it is an injustice unto the families and friends of that victim.” ~ Dr. Asa Don Brown 
#human #family #families #friends #children #youth #StopHumanTrafficking #HumanTraffickingAwarenessMonth  #humantrafficked #humantrafficking #injustice #victim #NorthCarolina #asadonbrown http://www.ncstophumantrafficking.org
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anthonyrendeyorku · 1 year
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Growing Up Too Fast
Having a parent who has a disability, makes a youth grow up too quickly or in other words, they go through what is called Parentification. Parentification, according to the website The Awareness Centre, is a process where a child takes on the responsibilities and/or the duties of a parent due to the parent's disability. It can lead to many negative effects on a youth's mental health.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my father was the major source of income for our family. He took over cooking duties, shopping for groceries, and keeping the lights on in our house. Thankfully, I was spared from being thrust headlong into being a total caretaker for my mother, but that doesn't mean that I didn't feel responsible for her well-being.
Humour and TV quotes are a big thing between my mother and I. Keeping her in a light mood helps her to momentarily forget the pain that she is going through on a daily basis. We have the same sense of humour so that comes easily. A quick Seinfeld or Monty Python quote uttered at a perfect time would get her to laugh uncontrollably for minutes on end. Nothing made me happier than to get my mother to laugh. My dad would have absolutely no clue what we were talking about. We called it "talking TV" like Wreck-Gar the Junkion says from Transformers: the Movie (1986). We could have an entire conversation composed of random TV quotes and we would understand where it came from and what it means in context. Here's a YouTube clip (start at the 1 minute and 43 second mark) so you can see what I'm talking about:
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Laughter is truly the best medicine. We have a special bond that cannot be duplicated and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Hopefully, this post can help you to understand that taking care of a parent can be stressful, but it can also provide you with great moments of joy. Hold on to them and don't let go.
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slyandthefamilybook · 4 months
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since we now know that all those "my blog is safe for Jewish people" posts are bullshit, here are some Jewish organizations you can donate to if you actually want to prove you support Jews. put up or shut up
FIGHTING HUNGER
Masbia - Kosher soup kitchens in New York
MAZON - Practices and promotes a multifaceted approach to hunger relief, recognizing the importance of responding to hungry peoples' immediate need for nutrition and sustenance while also working to advance long-term solutions
Tomchei Shabbos - Provides food and other supplies so that poor Jews can celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays
FINANCIAL AID
Ahavas Yisrael - Providing aid for low-income Jews in Baltimore
Hebrew Free Loan Society - Provides interest-free loans to low-income Jews in New York and more
GLOBAL AID
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee - Offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities
American Jewish World Service - Fighting poverty and advancing human rights around the world
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society - Providing aid to immigrants and refugees around the world
Jewish World Watch - Dedicated to fighting genocides around the world
MEDICAL AID
Sharsheret - Support for cancer patients, especially breast cancer
SOCIAL SERVICES
The Aleph Institute - Provides support and supplies for Jews in prison and their families, and helps Jewish convicts reintegrate into society
Bet Tzedek - Free legal services in LA
Bikur Cholim - Providing support including kosher food for Jews who have been hospitalized in the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Israel
Blue Card Fund - Critical aid for holocaust survivors
Chai Lifeline - An org that's very close to my heart. They help families with members with disabilities in Baltimore
Chana - Support network for Jews in Baltimore facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, and elder abuse
Community Alliance for Jewish-Affiliated Cemetaries - Care of abandoned and at-risk Jewish cemetaries
Crown Heights Central Jewish Community Council - Provides services to community residents including assistance to the elderly, housing, employment and job training, youth services, and a food bank
Hands On Tzedakah - Supports essential safety-net programs addressing hunger, poverty, health care and disaster relief, as well as scholarship support to students in need
Hebrew Free Burial Association
Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services - Programs include early childhood and learning, children and adolescent services, mental health outpatient clinics for teenagers, people living with developmental disabilities, adults living with mental illness, domestic violence and preventive services, housing, Jewish community services, counseling, volunteering, and professional and leadership development
Jewish Caring Network - Providing aid for families facing serious illnesses
Jewish Family Service - Food security, housing stability, mental health counseling, aging care, employment support, refugee resettlement, chaplaincy, and disability services
Jewish Relief Agency - Serving low-income families in Philadelphia
Jewish Social Services Agency - Supporting people’s mental health, helping people with disabilities find meaningful jobs, caring for older adults so they can safely age at home, and offering dignity and comfort to hospice patients
Jewish Women's Foundation Metropolitan Chicago - Aiding Jewish women in Chicago
Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty - Crisis intervention and family violence services, housing development funds, food programs, career services, and home services
Misaskim - Jewish death and burial services
Our Place - Mentoring troubled Jewish adolescents and to bring awareness of substance abuse to teens and children
Tiferes Golda - Special education for Jewish girls in Baltimore
Yachad - Support for Jews with disabilities
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onlinedepththerapy · 2 years
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Youth Counselor For Youth Community in Canada
If you're looking for a kind and mature counselor to help youngsters in our community in Canada. Dr. Stacey Shelby & Associates is a youth counselor and is responsible for helping youths grow access to the services they need while allowing them to feel safe and supported. Many youths are dealing with problems such as: anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and self-injurious behavior's. Give social services to minors by providing mentorship, feeling, legal support, and boost with domestic effects. They generally work with at treat children and teenagers to support them beat particular problems.
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itgetsbetterproject · 5 months
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🏳️‍⚧️ We're trying to raise $200,000 for LGBTQ+ youth programs before the end of the year! 🏳️‍🌈 Wanna help?
As they grow up in a world that wants to keep them down, LGBTQ+ youth are fighting to be themselves. But we believe young, queer people shouldn’t have to be "brave" just to exist.
By making a donation to support our programs, you're showing that you believe in the better world that we can create together.
Over the past couple years, the support we've gotten from some amazing donors has enabled us to support queer youth in SO many ways, like:
Granting LGBTQ+ students more than $1.2 million to imagine and create their own safe spaces and resources in schools across the US and Canada through 50 States, 50 Grants.
Creating award-winning content series educating LGBTQ+ youth on safe sex ed, inclusive terminology, careers in STEM, as well as tons more educational and mental health resources.
Handing LGBTQ+ youth the mic to advocate for themselves — at national conferences, on our award-winning Twitch vodcast Perfectly Queer, on social media, and in interviews with major news outlets...
...and so much more that you can see on itgetsbetter.org!
🟣 If you believe in "better" the way we do and want to help us keep doing this work to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the world, you can make a donation here!
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creature-wizard · 4 months
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"I'm in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?"
I figured I'd make a post with all the resources/tips I've collected to help people get out of shitty situations so far, since it's easier than linking to a bunch of posts each time.
Seek out appropriate resources. This can include support groups (online or offline), helplines, and the like.
If you're in the US, you can call 211 to help you find resources.
Crisis Text Line offers services to the US, Ireland, Canada, and the UK.
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is a US service offers a lot of information for sexual abuse survivors.
The Trevor Lifeline is a service for queer youth in the US.
If you're a minor, you may wish to read How To Escape Abusive Parents: A Guide For Minors.
If you're an adult, you may wish to read How To Escape Abusive Parents: A Guide For Adults.
You might also Duckduckgo something like "resources for people in abuse" or "abuse resources help" or "domestic violence survivors resources".
Ask people for help in finding resources. If you can't find anything on your own, there are other people who know where to direct you. It might take awhile to find what you're looking for, but keep asking.
A WORD OF CAUTION: there are many predatory spiritual groups and conspiracy theorists out there who prey on abuse survivors and mentally ill people. You will often see these people claiming that channeling or hypnosis can help you remember past life memories or repressed traumatic memories. This is nonsense and quackery.
Relevant posts of mine:
Hypnosis is unreliable for memory recovery, and this is one way we know.
False past life memories among the starseed movement
Here’s the trouble with hypnotic regression…
If you're on a website that claims to support cult survivors and you see any of these names in the citations (and make sure you check the citations!), leave immediately - all of these people are far right conspiracy theorists. (Unfortunately, many people today are unwittingly perpetuating the BS of Fritz Springmeier in particular. See this and this for more info on that.)
Change who and what you surround yourself with. Start associating with different people/groups as much as you can. Get hobbies to fill your time. Unfollow blogs that reinforce the beliefs you're trying to get away from, and follow blogs that provide a healthier alternative.
You might follow blogs like:
A Kind Place
Trauma Survivors Helping Trauma Survivors
Compassionate Reminders
Trauma Survivors Activities
Reasons For Hope
Bluest Fluff
If you're trying to rebuild your worldview without conspiratorial/culty elements, go take a look at my Resources page.
Remember that your first job is looking after yourself. You don't owe the group. You aren't responsible for the group, or for anyone in it. It might feel that way, but it's vitally important to acknowledge when you're unqualified or suffering burnout. You might feel like bad things will happen if you leave, but that's a fear, not a fact.
You also don't have to justify your departure to the group. You can just leave. If you feel that you must give a reason, you can offer something as simple as "I need to take some time to focus on my mental health" or "I'm really busy lately and don't have time to spend here." If they throw a fit over this, that's honestly just more proof that you need to get out.
If any practices the group taught you actually helped, you can keep doing them. If doing affirmations helped you, keep doing affirmations. If listening to so-called healing frequencies actually made you feel better, you don't have to stop listening to them. If you were practicing something like the Law of Assumption, you can carry on with a lot of that under a psychological model rather than Neville Goddard's wacky metaphysical model. (See this video for an example.) If it genuinely helps you and doesn't hurt anyone else, by all means, keep doing it.
Get some critical thinking skills. In order to keep yourself from falling into another bad group, it's important to develop your critical thinking skills.
Learn to apply the Five W's (who, what, when, where, and why) when encountering any information.
Learn common logical fallacies.
Learn the difference between fact, opinion, belief, and prejudice.
Don't equate emotional reactions with some kind of innate or higher moral guidance.
Ask yourself if you're "thinking for yourself" or being led to believe you're thinking for yourself.
Know what emotional manipulation tactics look like.
Watch out for these behaviors in any new group you join.
Yes, there are ways to confirm the age of an old text without having the original text itself.
Learn how propaganda works.
Watch out for these red flags in spiritual groups.
And watch out for this red flag.
Understand that belief doesn't have to be binary.
So yeah, hopefully this'll give folks some actionable advice. I can't promise it's going to help each and every person out there, but hopefully it'll give a lot of you something that will help.
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More than half of non-binary youth in Canada are avoiding team sports due to discrimination, with only 11 per cent of non-binary youth currently participating, new research from Simon Fraser University has found. According to the first-of-its-kind 2023 Canadian Non-Binary Youth in Sport Report, 66 per cent of non-binary youth have avoided joining an organized team sport because they would have to play on a gendered men’s or women’s team, with four in five fearing locker room layouts. More than half the participants who currently play team sports have also witnessed discriminatory comments, and more than 16 per cent have witnessed physical harassment because of a person’s gender as well, the study found. “We see in our numbers that there is a lot of exclusion and discrimination occurring in sport,” lead author Martha Gumprich told Global News. “We know that physical activity is can improve someone’s mental and physical health, and this is especially important for the LGBTQ+ community. As we know, they have worse mental health outcomes than those who are heterosexual or cisgender. By making sport safer for everyone, everyone benefits.”
Continue Reading.
Tagging @politicsofcanada
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hymnsofheresy · 2 years
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If anyone is wanting to have a child and needs emotional and material support from a non-CPC in the USA, here is a list of resources I mostly got from this article.
All Options (Formerly known as Backline) is a pro-choice resource that provides non-judgmental, free counseling on all the options available to someone in their pregnancy and after, including abortion, adoption, and parenting. Their toll-free talk line number is 1-888-493-0092 and it’s open Monday through Friday from 10-1 a.m., and Saturday through Sunday from 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. ET.
DomesticShelters.org is the first and largest online and mobile searchable directory of domestic violence programs and shelters in the U.S. and Canada, and a leading source of helpful tools and information for people experiencing and working to end domestic violence. They aim to make it faster and easier for victims of domestic violence and their friends/family, as well as program and shelter providers, to quickly find services and information best suited to their location, language, and needs.
LoveIsRespect.org engages, educates, and empowers young people to prevent and end abusive relationships. Their free and confidential services are available 24/7: Chat at www.loveisrespect.org; Text ‘loveis’ to 22522*; or make a toll-free call to 1-866-331-9474.
Parents without Partners provides single parents and their children with an opportunity for enhancing personal growth, self-confidence, and sensitivity towards others by offering an environment for support, friendship and the exchange of parenting techniques.
Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. Partnering with over 1,000 local sexual assault service providers nationally, RAINN carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help victims, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. Their toll-free hotline is 1-800-656-HOPE and it’s open 24/7.
Single Mothers By Choice provides peer support and information to single women who are considering, or have chosen, single motherhood. Members connect with one another through local chapters all over the US, and in Canada, Europe, and beyond.
The National Diaper Bank Network raises awareness of diaper need, strengthens community-based diaper banks, and generates donations of dollars and diapers, so that all babies remain clean, dry and healthy.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline staffs highly trained, experienced advocates to offer compassionate support, crisis intervention information, and referral services in more than 200 languages for DV survivors. Visit their website to find information about DV, safety planning, and local resources. Their toll free hotline is open 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
The National Parent Helpline connects parents or caregivers of youth to local services and resources and counsels on problem-solving and personal empowerment for caregivers. Their hotline is 1-855- 4A PARENT (1-855-427-2736) and it’s open Monday through Friday from 10am-7pm PST.
The National Pro-Choice Adoption Collaborative is comprised of two non-profits: Open Adoption & Family Services and Friends in Adoption, which provides pro-choice, not religiously affiliated and non-discriminatory adoption information and counseling. Their toll-free hotlines are open 24/7 at 1-800-772-1115 (OAFS) or 1-800-982-3678 (FiA)
ChildCare.gov is a government-run program to help parents find childcare and government resources. This includes financial assistance, healthcare, and mental health resources.
Free Formula Exchange is a nationwide mutual aid network connecting families who need baby formula to people who have formula to donate.
PDF on how to create a childcare collective which is a way multiple families can collaborate with each other to provide child care.
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a government healthcare program for children in families not eligible for Medicaid. It offers free or low-cost health insurance for kids and teens. Children can get regular check-ups, immunizations, doctor and dentist visits, hospital care, mental health services, prescriptions and more. In a handful of states, CHIP also covers prenatal care. To find information on health insurance programs call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669).
Every Mother Counts is an organization that advocates for and supports accessible maternity care, especially for WoC. They provide guidance about your pregnancy needs, such as finding an affordable doula, and information about pregnant people’s rights.
National Respite Network and Resource Center provides information for national and state respite programs. This includes a directory of various crisis nurseries which provide a temporary safe space for high-risk children without placing the child in foster care.
Hill-Burton Facilities are medical institutions that are obligated to provide free or affordable healthcare. This can be helpful when seeking prenatal and postnatal care.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has a list of resources on finding health assistance programs. To find free or reduced prenatal care call the toll free number Call 1-800-311-BABY (1-800-311-2229) to get in touch with your local health department.
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blusical · 5 months
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Ableism in Hockey
[PT: Ableism in Hockey. End PT] Trigger warning: Ableist comments and language, uncensored slur. We already talk about the homophobia, misogyny, racism, abuse and bullying that's almost engrained in hockey culture. However, I don't see many people talk about the ableism that's way too common within hockey. Firstly, what is ableism?
Ableism is a form of discrimination, particularly towards people with physical, mental, intellectual and other forms of disabilities. Ableism towards those with mental illness is called sanism. Some examples of ableism include inaccessiblity, using ableist slurs (such as the r-slur), believing that disabled people are broken and need to be "fixed" or "cured", believing that people with certain mental health conditions are "evil" (ex. the evil alter stereotype towards folks with Dissociative Identity Disorder or believing that everyone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is abusive). Ableism within hockey fandoms.
Some of you are already familiar with the "blind/deaf ref" joke. Almost everyone has made such jokes at some point (or at least laughed at one). Well, earlier today I was watching an Instagram reel featuring a league of blind hockey players. The comments, while most of them surprisingly supportive, also showed that such jokes aren't exactly harmless...
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Worst part, I only saw two people take issue with these comments. TWO. Ironically enough, one of them was a referee who just so happened to actually be blind! While it's easy to assume they didn't know better (and they probably didn't, considering this joke is unfortunately way too common), it kind of serves as a reminder about how we view disabled hockey fans, players, coaches and, yes, even refs (especially those that are blind or deaf). And it's not just blind or deaf individuals being made fun of. It's also very easy to go into hockey spaces and see disability or neurodivergent-based buzzwords thrown around, such as "delusional" (or, and this is the only time I'll say this willingly, "delulu"), without the people saying it even realizing the harmful affects it could have on those who do genuinely experience delusions or psychosis (such as those with schizophrenia).
Ableism within the sport itself.
Within hockey, some youth organizations still use the m-word (shown below so people know what I'm referring to), despite it being considered an offensive term (and even a slur to some) towards people with dwarfism. In 2020, Hockey Canada dropped the term, but some organizations still use it, including USA Hockey.
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Ableism by the players is also something we should address. In 2022, the Boston Bruins signed Mitchell Miller, a player who's infamous for bullying a black disabled teen (CW: Uncensored r-slur, brief detail of physical violence and unsanitary actions). He was eventually released two days later after backlash from fans (though the contract didn't end until February), however it was not a good look for Boston. (Man, ableism and racism. Talk about a double whammy). Earlier this year, a video surfaced of Carson Briere and a few other individuals pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down the stairs; the wheelchair was severely damaged and had to be replaced. Not long after the video surfaced, Mercyhurst Hockey cut him from the team. Both of the above mentioned have since signed with a team in Slovakia.
And this isn't even getting into the likelihood of ableist slurs being used on the ice. Lastly, many hockey arenas are still inaccessible, with many disabled fans unable to enter access in some, getting accessible seating is a hassle and many unable to buy tickets due to high prices (something that lots of disabled folks have issues with in many events.). Crowds and noise at venues can also be overwhelming to those on the autism spectrum (Like me!) and unfortunately not many hockey arenas have sensory rooms (However there IS some improvement being made on this end!) And unfortunately, watching from TV might not even be an option for some folks, as digital ads have also raised concerns about potentially causing seizures in photosensitive folks.
Disabled folks are considered an afterthought when it comes to fun events such as sports.
That may seem like an exaggeration, but unfortunately it's not. Disabled folks are always viewed as an afterthought in the world, and whenever basic accessible features are requested, they're told to "grow up snowflake" or that the "world doesn't revolve around you". And sports is no different. As the above show, disabled folks aren't taken seriously, especially when it's so easy to see blind and deaf folks become the butt of jokes when making fun of refs, mockery of addiction (alcohol addiction, gambling addiction, drug abuse, etc). And the worst part: Almost nobody is talking about it. Not until not anyway. We discuss the misogyny, the queerphobia and the racism. But we never talk about the ableism within hockey culture. Well, now's the time.
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world-of-wales · 6 months
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❥ CANADA TOUR : DAY VIII - 1 OCTOBER 2016
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge started off their final day in Canada by visiting Cridge Centre for the Family in Victoria.
They then dropped by at a café downtown to meet with members of the Kelty Mental Health Resources Centre. Following this, William and Catherine went the Pacific Grace and sailed into Victoria’s Inner Harbour with two youth and mental health charities; Sail and Life Training Society (SALTS) and Jack.org as their final engagementon tour.
After a culmination of a successful tour, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their two children Prince George and Princess Charlotte departed on a sea plane from the Victoria Harbour seaplane terminal.
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Welcome!
This blog is a compilation of resources for queer or questioning youth. Some original posts with advice, some (mostly) reblogs, some links.
Tagging system
All posts will be tagged #queer youth resources unless it's not a resource. In that case, those posts will be tagged #not a resource for filtering.
Other tags include:
#trans youth resources, #homo youth resources, #mspec youth resources, #aspec youth resources, #intersex youth resources, #questioning youth resources, #mental health resources, #ally resources
You can also find upcoming pride events in the tag #pride events
Some posts are sorted by country. Current country tags with content posted include #usa resources, #uk resources, #czech republic resources, #wales resources, #germany resources, #japan resources, #ireland resources, #canada resources
This blog is majority English language, however in country tags you may find posts in the official language(s) of the country.
Most important posts are also tagged as #important as I think they can be very important resources.
All of these are featured tags if you'd like to look through them, however many currently only have a few posts as I'm still gathering resources.
Contribute
This blog is currently run by one person, so I can't be active all the time. If you'd like to help me gather queer resources, here's what you can do.
1, tag me in posts that contain resources so I can reblog it.
2, send me links to resources or your own advice to queer youth in the asks.
3, make posts of your own with resources. If you do so, please tag me!
Even if you can't create/find resources, any interaction is greatly appreciated! Reblogging our posts, sending an ask, etc.
Feel free to request resources on a certain topic or for a certain purpose! I will do my best to find resources that fit what you ask for :)
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anthonyrendeyorku · 1 year
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The Feelings of Guilt
The Multiple Sclerosis Alliance of Southern Colorado has quite a few resources listed on their site. One in particular entitled When a Parent Has MS: A Teenager's Guide, proved to be very useful in articulating the various conflicting feelings a youth may be experiencing. Sadness, frustration, and anger are just some of the feelings you may have either towards your parents, yourself, or even others who don't understand what you're facing.
Guilt is probably the one emotion that I had the most experience with growing up as my mother faced MS.
We couldn't go the places that we used to frequent anymore. I previously mentioned my mother's motion sickness whenever she traveled in the car, but I didn't mention the hurdles she had to jump over in order to get anywhere. Going to amusement parks, baseball games, movies, family gatherings or even to a restaurant was now out of the question. MS affected her digestive system, so she had to be very specific with what she ate. She whittled down her diet to only things that wouldn't go right through her system and that took quite a while to figure out by trial and error. If she wanted to go church, for instance, she couldn't eat anything big the night before. She would have a waffle and some tea just so that she wouldn't vomit or have an accident when she's in the car the next day. She hated doing this and she didn't like people questioning her, gawking at her and pitying her. So she stopped leaving the house unless it was an absolute emergency.
All this lead to me feeling horrible if I ever left her alone. I didn't want to go on field trips at school, go out with my friends or go to my family's annual Christmas gathering because of the guilt that I would feel if I left her for any lengthy period of time. I wasn't guilted by her, I did that to myself! Sometimes I would get frustrated because I felt cooped up too long inside the house. I wanted to play video games to escape and not vacuum or dust like I should be doing. My mom, being the stubborn woman that she is, would ask me to do something and if I didn't start within a minute, she would get up and do it herself! "Ma! Are you crazy? Sit down I'll do it! You're so impatient!" That's just me trying not to feel so guilty about being selfish.
It took a while to come to grips with the conflicting feelings that I had. None of this was her fault and I shouldn't make things any harder than they already are for her. I may have missed out on some fun field trips or friend's birthday parties, but the time I spent helping my mom cannot be replaced.
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By: Colin Wright
Published: Aug 28, 2023
One might think the fact that the medical establishment is endorsing and performing experimental, irreversible, and often sterilizing medical procedures on children would be an immense journalistic discovery. But a recent New York Times article—investigating allegations made by Jamie Reed, a former case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital who blew the whistle on medical malpractice at the clinic traveling under the guise of “gender-affirming care”—downplays the results of that discovery in a way that privileges personal testimony over evidence.
Reed’s allegations were numerous. She claimed that the clinic was inundated with requests for transition services without adequate protocols to handle them, that patients were hastily approved for transitioning despite notable mental-health comorbidities, that individuals were not fully briefed on the risks and side effects of their prescribed medications, and that any opposition within the clinic was quelled. As Leor Sapir observes, the Times investigation corroborated most of Reed’s claims. A discerning reader who cuts through the article’s euphemisms and sidesteps the author’s political asides would discern as much.
Indeed, the newspaper of record has verified concerns that critics of “gender-affirming care” have raised for years. The current influx of trans-identified youth, primarily girls with no previous gender-related distress, symbolizes a fresh patient group exhibiting a new and as-yet-unstudied form of gender dysphoria. Gender-affirming care is experimental, with no long-term, rigorous studies demonstrating its advantages over the many obvious risks.
Yet throughout, the Times article alludes to the realities of pediatric gender medicine, while simultaneously obscuring them. Consider some representative quotes.
[A]ccording to an internal presentation from 2021, 73 percent of new patients were identified as girls at birth. Gender clinics in Western Europe, Canada and the United States have reported a similarly disproportionate sex skew that has bewildered clinicians.
Here, the Times concedes that the children currently fueling the unprecedented surge in gender-clinic referrals differ significantly from the group (natal males) that the original, ostensibly more cautious, “Dutch protocol” for pediatric sex-trait modification was intended to serve. As a Reuters investigation recently revealed, U.S. gender clinics aren’t adhering even to the Dutch approach. Instead, they’re adopting a less rigorous, highly medicalized “gender-affirming” model, which entails automatic social transition and on-demand puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. Considering that this form of gender dysphoria is new and rapid, it would seem prudent to gather more data about its possible causes before offering medical interventions.
Pediatric gender medicine is a nascent specialty, and few studies have tracked how patients fare in the long term, making it difficult for doctors to judge who is likely to benefit.
This dramatic understatement amounts to an admission that the current practice of “affirming” a child’s cross-sex identity with hormones and surgeries is completely experimental. It follows that advocates’ claims that such interventions are beneficial or “life-saving” are not based on any high-quality research. Those who have meticulously monitored the data have been aware of this from the beginning, and systematic reviews conducted in Sweden, Finland, and the U.K. support this view. Yet, despite such evidence, U.S. medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have obstinately maintained a pro-affirmation stance.
It’s clear the St. Louis clinic benefited many adolescents: Eighteen patients and parents said that their experiences there were overwhelmingly positive, and they refuted Ms. Reed’s depiction of it.
This particularly jarring statement showcases the post hoc, ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”) fallacy: it presumes a causal relationship between phenomena merely because one follows the other. Being cautious of this fallacy, especially in the realm of human health, is fundamental to evidence-based medicine.
Few deny that many individuals are genuinely satisfied with the results of their hormonal or surgical transition. I’ve heard heartfelt accounts from minors stating that their mental well-being improved after gender-affirming treatment, and I don’t question their sincerity. However, modern medicine doesn’t—or shouldn’t—gauge the success of a treatment based purely on a patient’s personal testimony. Without comprehensive long-term-outcomes data and controlled experiments—which Ghorayshi acknowledges do not exist—it remains impossible to know whether the “positive” outcomes mentioned by the patients she references flow from the gender-affirming procedures or if the same contentment could have been achieved without resorting to body-altering hormones and surgery.
The Times article inadvertently suggests the importance of evidence-based medicine. Evaluating the effectiveness of a drug or surgery solely based on patient satisfaction constitutes a significant departure from its fundamental objectives. Were observers to start taking personal testimonies as sufficient evidence for the success of a medical treatment, the FDA would become obsolete. We’d all be forced to embrace the extravagant and pseudoscientific assertions of any self-styled health guru or medical quack.
Compare the use of testimony to support gender-affirming care at the St. Louis hospital with the Minnesota-based “healing center” known as Spring Forest Qigong (SFQ). SFQ champions the use of an ancient Chinese ritual called “external qigong” to heal the afflicted. According to its website, illnesses, or “dis-eases,” as they are fancifully labeled, are the result of “energy blockages within the body.” SFQ asserts that qigong is the magical wand that dispels these obstructions, thereby restoring the body’s “natural balance.” This involves the enigmatic Qigong Master Chunyi Lin waving his hands over one’s body, channeling energies and dissolving said blockages. If the idea of driving all the way to Minnesota for treatment seems tedious, fear not: Master Lin generously offers to transmit these energies and conduct qigong sessions over the phone.
The SFQ site provides links to several “scientific” articles from the Journal of Holistic Nursing and The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. These papers, apparently, endorse external qigong as an antidote for chronic pain. But for novices to the mystical realm of SFQ and qigong, the site offers glowing testimonials from satisfied SFQ customers.
One says: “I’ve tried different medicines. They gave relief but didn’t cure me. This season I’ve lived allergy free and I credit it to the [Spring Forest Qigong] Active Exercises I've been doing [for the past six months]. I didn’t take even one pill. Since there weren’t any other changes in my lifestyle, diet, or anything, I credit the [SFQ] active exercise. Channels were cleared, immune system adjusted and here I am, happy and allergy free.”
Another: “I was breathing into the shoulder and seeing the pain turn to air or smoke each night before I went to sleep, and it got better and better and better. I went back to the doctor months later and showed him the improvement. He said, ‘There is no way you should be able to do what you’re doing. You should be in excruciating pain. I can’t explain how you can do it, but whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.’”
Still another: “Chunyi Lin and Spring Forest have had an amazing impact on my life. It’s given me a way to live life more fully, happier. To me it’s a God send. The practice of Qigong is something everyone can benefit from. Once you have had an experience with Qigong you want to keep it a part of your life.”
One woman even says that qigong eradicated her Stage 4 breast cancer: “I rejected conventional cancer treatments from your classically trained oncologists because they didn’t work the first time. This time it was my life that hung in the balance and I was resolved to find alternative measures to find healing. And, fast forward, after six, seven months of both medical treatments and visiting with Master Lin in the Spring Forest Qigong Center I am completely healed. My cancer’s gone. My doctors call me a ‘walking miracle.’”
Should doctors and scientists view these “overwhelmingly positive” experiences as clear proof that Qigong Master Chunyi Lin healed these patients by simply waving his hands over their bodies (or through the phone) to dispel their energy blockages? Should we confidently endorse external qigong for people with Stage 4 breast or liver cancer? Probably not. Instead, we’d likely advocate for rigorous testing of external qigong through randomized control trials, demanding tangible evidence of its benefit before suggesting it could treat even minor ailments.
But if we’d be hesitant to accept these testimonials about how qigong cured some people’s energy imbalance, then why are many political progressives so quick to accept similar testimonials from minors who claim their mind-body imbalance was corrected after undergoing sex-trait modification procedures? Why is such testimony taken as definitive proof of these procedures’ benefits? Ideology couldn’t possibly be the reason—right?
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By the way, this is intentional. It's part of the postmodern goal of deconstructing objective reality.
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So I'm a therapist right? I mostly work with teens and adults these days, but I have a few young kids on my caseload, and I've been a case worker for foster youth before with mostly under-12s on my caseload, so school aged kids are an area of special focus for me.
Which is how I found myself trawling my union's school-age-kids current events newsletter this week and stumbling across this little gem of an article.
The article is rightly critical of the school administrators responsible for the sudden spike in kids being barred from school until they're cleared by a licensed clinician. They rightly connect this suddenly flourishing policy as an extension of the history of isolating disabled and high needs kids in rooms that range from horrific to an offensive caricature of a safe space. I actually really appreciate how careful the author was to address the impacts/motovations across the board of these kinds of policies, and think they did a decent job of holding space for the many horrors of how this came about.
I've worked with a lot of other mental health providers, and have even done crisis work like that which districts are proposing parents use to get their kids cleared for return. I've also worked with a lot of school staff and understand just how difficult it can be to meet kids' needs in many schools. There is something so emotionally devastating to me to realize that this is yet another sign of our fracturing education system post-COVID. I've been watching most of the institutions involved in the care and wellbeing of communities (esp children) limp along the road in a desperate effort to keep providing services to the millions who rely on them. I've been marking each critical failure that becomes the new normal in these systems as the confluence of factors that makes up The COVID-19 Pandemic steadily degrades our ability to do our jobs. I've been screaming as loudly as I can in every advocacy setting I am permitted in that we are watching these systems collapse in real time and we absolutely cannot allow it to continue.
It is admittedly extremely hard to do that day in and out while maintaining a sense of optimism but I'm doing my best. We all are.
I'm aware that to many it may not seem like much. And I definitely grant that this mechanism of informal removal/segregation for students isn't new. But the frequency with which it's used definitely is. And sure, it's easy to say things like "see, virtual home destroyed kids mental health they're doing so much worse now" or "schools are so understaffed and overwhelmed that they're no longer capable of managing students' needs" or "well, maybe this wouldn't be as big a problem if it weren't for the fact that 47 out of 40 US states fail to meet the well-being standards of 1 school social worker for every 250 kids" (I need you to understand that this bar is so fucking low that it makes me physically sick, being responsible for 250 students as 1 social worker is absurd to the point of cruelty to the kids and the adults in that situation, and 47 states have WORSE ratios) or even "well, of course it's awful but what are the schools supposed to DO, they can't put other students at risk even if the risk is the result of a systemic and catastrophic failure".
I don't think I have answers on my own honestly, but I do know of at least a few points of intersection that are definitely making this worse.
At least 2.6 million educators have quit their jobs since the start of the pandemic.
Child care workers died during the pandemic at a rate of about 38 per 100,000, educators died at a rate of about 15 per 100,000, and I actually cannot find rates of death among my own profession (within the US at least, I have found statistics for the UK, Canada, Spain, and a bunch of other countries and the fact that mine appears to have simply neglected to track the deaths of my colleagues and friends is sometbing I scream about into my pillow at night) but can tell you anecdotally that my graduating MSW class was down several dozengraduate students to COVID-19 deaths by the time I finished the program. These elevated death rates appear throughout healthcare, education, and essential & service workers broadly.
For many care professions there are quite literally not enough new workers-in-training to replace those lost to death, retirement, or career change related to the pandemic.
Surveys are showing that the mass exodus isn't even over yet, as some report that nearly half of remaining healthcare workers intend to leave their jobs by 2025. If we already don't have enough people coming into the field to replace who we've lost over the past 3 years, I cannot even fathom how we are supposed to replace so many more over the next 3.
A recent policy review from the Economic Policy Institute found that even in times of economic and social comfort, schools are receiving an inadequate amount of funding across the board, meaning they are unable to spare the resources to prepare for periods of economic and social hardship when funding often gets cut back even further.
Care professions are notoriously underpaid, even before the pandemic, and often rife with labor protection exemptions and workplace abuse.
I'm genuinely not trying to be alarmist, but I need people to understand that my colleagues and I are desperately trying to steer a sinking ship. There weren't enough of us to meet demand (and we ran ourselves ragged to only sort of manage it anyway) even before the pandemic massively expanded the need for our services. We died en masse. We got sick en masse. We sacrificed everything until there was nothing left of us en masse. Our systems are collapsing and we can't do anything to stop it unless people start supporting and advocating for us (and by extension for yourselves).
Many workers are considered essential by legal and social definition, and while I always love a good debate about whether and how to overhaul that, the reality is our essential systems are disintegrating under the weight of decades of popicy failure and 3 years of psychological (and physical) torture. If we don't DO something, these systems will fail altogether.
I'm not in the business of trying to predict exactly how long that will take but. Looking around myself? I think it'll be sooner than any of us would like. I'm tired. And I'm a relative infant in my career at only 7 years of service. I don't even qualify for profession-based student loan forgiveness yet (yet another factor making this worse: many of us are tens of thousands if jot hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for our undergraduate and professional/technical degrees). I help mentor and supervise the interns at my practice, and I can't tell you how many zoom calls I've sat through comforting someone sobbing their way through a breakdown and on the verge of walking away forever. I can't bear it, reassuring these kind, wonderful people that they CAN do this, that it gets easier with time, that "we all hit a wall around this time in school and you've been through so much, I'm so proud of you". I can't keep telling these newbies that they can and should put themselves through this because we need them so desperately, they deserve better.
I've lost the plot of my own post and am just drowning in grief now. Grief for my colleagues, grief for my patients and clients and everyone who needs our services. Grief for the work that I love and how it is changing in ways that threaten all the progress so many of us spend every day fighting for.
I have sat in rooms with congress people and demanded to know where the funding was on all their fucking bullshit legislation creating commities and implementing new demands on workers when we already can't meet the existing ones. I have screamed at union meetings about caseload/care ratios and the constant overtime shifts. I have stared wealthy CEOs in the face and informed them that they either need to hire more staff, up our pay, or refine our job descriptions because the current status quo is killing their staff.
I need people to see that we are hurtling towards a point of no return and help us. All of us. Every new report about services cutting corners and riding the grey space of legal versus ethical is a canary in the coal mine, and pretty soon the air is going to be too toxic to breathe.
Anyway, if you have no idea where to start learning about/advocating around these issues, most professional oversight organizations have a policy and advocacy section on thejr websites where they talk about that. Mine, NASW, can be found here. Most of our professions also have industry-specific unions, and they'll have similar pages on their sites. If you have the bandwidth and inclination, please please PLEASE, start familiarizing yourself with the work being done to protect us and you and all of our access to essential services and care. And if you have someone in your life who's an educator, a direct care worker, a healthcare worker, etc, maybe give them a hug and tell them you love them and find out if there is any daily life busy work you could take care of for them so they can have just a little more time to rest in their day.
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