Today is a Special Day

shrinbks-links-photo1Bringing you the best of mental health every week.

June 12, 2017. What is so special about today?

I’ll tell you.

Today is Superman Day, a great day to stand for what the Man of Steel stood for. It’s Red Rose Day, so visit a garden. It’s Loving Day, commemorating the day in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled against laws that made mixed race marriages illegal. You can celebrate it by telling someone you love them. And it’s Peanut Butter Cookie Day, so bake some cookies and share them.

Have you ever wondered how these wacky holidays got started? Many of them were invented by Adrien Sue Cooper-Smith, a zany old cat lady from Chicago. Years ago, grieving the untimely death by alcoholism of a boyfriend, she created hundreds of them. She had been thinking about events. She thought, if you can make it through one day without drinking, that is an event, but it’s an event about not doing something. She thought it would make things easier if there was always another event to celebrate. She wondered, what could people do in lieu of doing something bad? They could do something to get them through that day and pull them away from what addicted them.
So, that’s what many of these silly holidays are for. They’re not just to sell you something. They’re there to save your life.

Click here to go to a calendar of events.

Click here to listen to a podcast that includes an interview with Adrien Sue Cooper-Smith.

Make today special, somehow.

In Memory of the Forgotten

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Bringing you the best of mental health every week.

On this Memorial Day, I’d like to remember the hundreds of people held in public institutions, sometimes for decades, for being poor or mentally ill, back in the 1800’s. During that time, Rochester had an insane asylum,  almshouse, and penitentiary on South Avenue, near Highland, around where the Vietnam memorial is now.  When the inmates died, they were buried in unmarked graves on the grounds. This graveyard was forgotten until 1984, when a bulldozer, landscaping the park, uncovered them.

Almost 300 skeletons were removed and re-interred in Mt Hope Cemetery, where a marker now stands.

 

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If you’d like to read more about this grave site, click here.

Crisis Text Line

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Anyone who can text can text the Crisis Text Line at 741741 and they will be connected to a trained crisis counselor.

Anyone who fills out a 30-minute application, consents to a background check, and completes the 34-hour web-based training can be a trained crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line.

Is this a good idea to turn to a minimally trained volunteer when you are in the middle of a crisis?Continue reading “Crisis Text Line”

Announcement: A New Series of Shrink’s Links, Reviewing Rehabs

shrinbks-links-photo1I’ve reviewed books here. Now I’m preparing to write a series of reviews on regional chemical dependency inpatient and detox facilities for this blog.

I am often asked by clients for recommendations. I can make them based on reports from other clients, as well as my own impressions, but I would like to have more to go on. I have written to the facilities themselves for outcome data and the like, but I would also like to hear your impressions of whatever facilities you have encountered.

If you’ve had experience as a patient, a professional, a family member, or a visitor with any rehab or detox in the region (anywhere in the Northeast) and care to share it, please fill out the form below. I won’t even ask your name, so your response will be kept confidential.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

Feel free to forward this announcement to anyone else you think might be interested in this project.

Thanks
Keith

10 Ways to Screw Up an Apology

If you’ve decided you can’t apologize to the person you hurt because it would hurt him more, then go with God. If you’ve decided you can’t apologize to the person you hurt because it would hurt you more, then see you in Hell. But, if you’ve decided you will apologize to the person you hurt because it’s the right thing to do, read on. There are still mistakes you could make.Continue reading “10 Ways to Screw Up an Apology”

MOSAIC Threat Assessment System

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Bringing you the best of mental health every week.

When you have a stalker, a troll, or a partner who is out of control with violence, it can be really hard to objectively assess the threat to your safety. Emotions so easily get involved. For this reason, the MOSAIC Threat Assessment System was developed. Just register and answer the questions in a lengthy questionnaire. MOSAIC helps you weigh your situation in light of expert opinion and research, and instantly compare it to past cases where the outcomes are known.

Click here to begin.