Pride
I was a young girl at the time of the 1969 Stonewall riots. Those were days when virtually no one talked about homosexuality and the AIDS Epidemic was still in the future. Fifty years on, an estimated 4.5 million people will be in New York City for International Pride this
The Long Shadow of Trauma
The news has been filled with grief and confusion emanating from the recent suicides of a father of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook shootings and two Parkland students. These individuals were survivors of the school massacres that occurred on 14 December 2012 and 18 February 2018,
Hello 2019; Goodbye 2018
With the start of a new year, we all engage in some form of accounting – taking stock of the last twelve months and setting resolutions for those on the horizon. In doing so, almost universally, we focus on aspects of our lives that are intimately associated with our mental
Suicide and the Holidays
Suicide is more common around the holidays, right? Wrong. 1. It is a myth that suicide rates increase around the holidays. Perhaps because we hope that the holidays will be a time of enhanced joy and connection, it feels especially poignant when someone dies by suicide at this time of year.
Men, Mental Illness, & Suicide – Your Questions Answered
“Huh…what?” I have heard from many of you over the past few weeks with questions regarding my posts on men, male athletes, mental illness, and suicide. Your questions bear repeating and warrant replies. Sometimes the data are difficult to believe, and sometimes they are difficult to describe. So, here’s some
Two Suicides in One Week?
This is the refrain of the day. Yes, the two high profile suicides this week are tragic. Just a few blocks from my home, the iconic handbag designer Kate Spade took her life at age 55. This morning, media headlines are filled with references to the death of superstar chef
Five Courageous Women, Five Personal Stories, Five Documentary Films
1 in 4. That’s the statistic for how many of us will have a mental illness over the course of our lifetimes – sometimes fleeting, sometimes enduring, always significant. At that rate, if it’s not ourselves, it will be a parent, sibling, partner, child, friend or colleague. Some of us