Physical courage is overcoming a fear of death or physical harm. Firefighters, soldiers, and police officers are brave. Moral courage is acting against social behavior such as facing a fear of social ostracism, i.e. confronting a peer group over a racist joke. Psychological courage can be the most intimidating form of courage. It is the […]

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. All month, mental health advocates, prevention organizations, survivors, allies, and community members unite to promote suicide prevention awareness. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among Americans, and it’s getting worse. From 1999 to 2018, the suicide rate has increased by 35 percent, according to the CDC. People […]

The definition of cringeworthy is something so embarrassing, awkward, or upsetting as to cause one to cringe. Imagine you are having a fine day, going about your business, when you are suddenly hit with a memory, and let out a gasp at the stupidity of the incident. Your body may have an immediate and involuntary […]

I attended a training recently by Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, on best practices in mental health and substance abuse treatment. He raised some interesting points about dependence and recovery. What makes for a better outcome for those people who have developed substance dependence? I learned that people who have greater resources before the problematic substance […]

I attended a training recently by Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, on best practices in mental health and substance abuse treatment. He raised some interesting points about dependence and recovery. What makes for a better outcome for those people who have developed substance dependence? I learned that people who have greater resources before the problematic substance […]

Personally, I want our political and religious leaders to aspire to be ethical, trustworthy, and decent individuals who will make every effort to be a servant of the public. Leaders are held to a higher standard of personal behavior when they seek public offices with civic and leadership responsibilities. Unfortunately, many leaders fall short of […]

With a new school year beginning during the Covid19 pandemic, parents are caught in a dilemma. Should I send my child to school or keep them home? One mother said, “I can’t get past the guilt. Guilt if I’m not letting my kids connect with other kids, vs. guilt that I send them and they […]

As of the date of writing this column, July 19, 2020, the U.S. has 3,698,161 confirmed Covid19 cases and 139,659 deaths, according to the CDC. We don’t know if illness or death is just around the corner for us. And yet, according to a 2019 survey by Caring.com, 57 percent of U.S. adults do not […]

I saw a Facebook post that said, “I wonder why we did not fix this racial issue when we had a black president for 8 years?” This social media post was presumably a response to recent Black Lives Matter protests. My response was to suggest that 400 years of systemic racism can’t change in 8 […]

Author Robin DiAngelo of White Fragility, Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, challenges the assumption that racism has to be intentional. Most people feel good intentions exempt them from accountability. She calls for white people to examine their bias and its impact on people of color, not their intentions. This […]