Jacob Ernst, MSW RSW
2 St. Clair Avenue West #1004 M5R 1A9 Toronto, ON, Canada

How often do you rush in to prevent people from feeling their big feelings? How often do you take responsibility for the emotional state of others? In what situations or circumstances might you feel the need to manage the emotional states of others? ... Despite what you’ve learned, it is not your job to manage someone’s feelings or control people’s emotional reactions. Perhaps you’ve learned to prevent, fix, or rescue people from their feelings in order to help them regulate or avoid big reactions to stress, anger, or fear. Perhaps you continually avoid big reactions by stopping big feelings in their tracks. Perhaps you’ve been made to take care of the emotional state of others and you’ve expertly learned how to prevent big fights or blow-ups. Perhaps you may have been responsible for managing the emotions of others growing up and so you’ve learned to fear or avoid the big feelings of others in adulthood. Perhaps you’ve been an emotional caretaker your whole life and you see helping as your main duty and purpose. Perhaps you’ve learned that helping others feels better or focusing on the emotions of others is more comfortable than focusing on yourself. Perhaps you’ve learned that avoiding feelings altogether is a better alternative to feeling or facing them. Perhaps you’ve been made to fix or find a solution for big feelings and so you take it as your responsibility to rush in and fix or eliminate people’s big emotions and big reactions. If the task of managing the emotions of others keeps you from focusing on your own, remember that you don’t always have to carry the stress and burden of doing so. You do not have to manage everyone’s feelings. See more

"Of course, our inboxes and social media feeds are being flooded with 'helpful tips' on how to manage these times. But it’s important to ask your nervous system how it responds to those recommendations. Each nervous system is going to have a different response. Once we take somebody else's idea and make it into a protocol to follow, we've stopped communicating with our own nervous system. We're then listening to somebody else's idea about our nervous system. ... So, especially during this time, we want to create a capacity to turn toward our own nervous system and ask, "Does this feel like it would nourish me?" Deb Dana: Finding ventral vagal for our clients and ourselves. (via Sage Hayes)

Do any of these resonate for you?

I just met Jeremie Saunders yesterday and am already so inspired by him. Thanks for talking about this Jeremie. #CFgetloud

Start small & go slow

Sometimes when we leave old patterns behind or develop new responses, people resent us for it. They stop listening to us. They stop trusting us. They might not return our calls. They might unleash the classic youve changed or who do you think you are?... And sometimes we do the same when we realize the company we keep isnt able to stand alongside who were becoming. Your growth might feel threatening to someone who hasnt yet experienced their own growth or hasnt y...et experienced the same growth you have. Change is uncomfortable even for people who arent experiencing the same things we are. We know that change takes time but so does gaining the courage to leave your old thoughts, feelings, and patterns of behaviour where they lie. Its easy to fall into old patterns around old friends and its easy to rely on a previous script to lessen the emotional load were used to carrying. These are just some of the ways we help move our nervous systems out of emotional overload after developing a new pattern of living. Living that new pattern out is easy until youre confronted with the old circumstances or parts of yourself that youve released or let go. Change can be a teacher when we let it be. Allow and accept that it will change you. Our relationships will change as we release and shed the layers of ourselves that arent serving us. Friction is a part of movement which explains why and how we outgrow friendships. When its hard to bloom where youre planted, it helps to remember that its okay to plant new seeds in new places. Like a caterpillar in its true home, the cocoon, you are changing and growing at a rate that you and I cannot see or comprehend. You are changing even when it doesnt feel like it and sometimes people arent ready for that. Sometimes people arent prepared to grow with us. I hope you dont blame yourself when people are unable, unwilling, or not prepared to grow with you. See more

by Kai Cheng Thom - Writer

Happy Friday! Heres a short argument in favour of adopting a both/and mindset to life before choosing an either/or approach. Swipe to read. P.S. Sending a warm welcome to this deep purple transition tile. ... Background art by me! See more

As you navigate the big back to school feelings, it might be helpful to remember that, for kids, questions arent always connections. (This is true of adults too!!!) Adults often find calm through learning information and knowing more. For kids, it can sometimes be different. ... Most often, kids find comfort through presence, play, and connection. Kids find comfort through feeling cared for and cared about. Kids often just want to feel understood and can sometimes have a hard time turning their experiences or thoughts into language. The pressure to perform positivity, discern nuance, or produce information while regulating feelings can sometimes be tricky for kids especially when feeling big feelings like anxiety, stress or overwhelm come to visit. If youre noticing that your kids arent feeling pulled to connect after school through sharing information about their day, you might find it helpful to connect with them by making statements and observations instead of asking questions. Instead of How was your day? you might try to normalize feelings by saying I remember you were worried about wearing a mask all day. I hope it went okay. Instead of asking them Why are you so grouchy? you might label for them You look tired. That must mean youve had a long day. Instead of What was your favourite part? you might ask them to draw you a picture of what their classroom looked like or (depending on age) to act out a scene from recess. Instead of What did you learn at school? you might try connecting with them by getting them to tell you a funny or interesting story about it. Instead of Did you have fun? you might just connect with them by labelling how excited they look or how happy they must feel. I offer these alternatives not to shame parents and caregivers for wanting to know and understand. Its okay to want to know but sometimes kids dont always speak that language especially after a long day of focusing and keeping it at all together. Offering kids a chance for connection before jumping into ask a question might just be your saving grace for those big back-to-school feelings. Oh... and grown ups need more of this too! :-) See more

Trauma never goes away, but through self-advocacy (like showing up for yourself and doing the work) and really good care (like a good therapist, community, or s...upport group), it can become a small part of our life instead of constantly taking center stage. . . . This doodle is a version of a sketch that popped up in my margin notes as I read the book Naming the Shadows (1994) a few years ago in graduate school. In that book, authors Susan L. Roth and Ronald Batson describe how, through good trauma therapy, past trauma is able to take up less space within ones self, and the impact of trauma is minimized. As this happens, more energy and internal resources are available for experiencing meaningful social connections, self-respect that fuels good self-care, and the positive feelings that come from less trauma-symptom intrusion, healthy relationships, and good self-care. . . . I want to point out that like most resources on single-event or past-tense complex trauma, this is, at best, only partially applicable for understanding trauma that is systemic and ongoing, like that experienced by people in marginalized bodies. Trauma recovery for these populations falls on ALL OF US. Collectively, we are responsible for ending the ongoing trauma of oppression and violence against marginalized bodies, in order that healing can begin. . . . Get a printable handout/poster of this image via the link in my profile. Image description for screen readers in comments. . . . . #therapyworks #therapistsofinstagram #ptsdawareness #traumarecovery

When we are hurting, scared, and touched by emotional pain, there is a deep longing wired within us to be companioned, for a safe soothed nervous system to reso...nate and co-regulate with. So much of our wounding our grief, rage, trauma, heartbreak is relational and is also embodied. That which were unable to integrate will drop into our bodies and held in an open, sensitive, holy limbic system where it remains until conditions are ripe for re-emergence and healing. While understanding by way of left-brain processing can be helpful and supportive, it is right-brain immersion in safety which fosters reorganization. The body will reorganize when it feels safe. It is a corrective emotional experience, or we could say a reparative neural experience that brings that sacred soothing, where the orphaned emotions, sensations, and impulses are able to be held within a shared field of resource. It is as if the little one, left behind at the moment of traumatic impact, is peeking his or her sweet little heart and head out into the interactive field and wondering, Is it safe yet? Can I return home? Can I play again? They come surging into the relational field, not to harm or take us down, but for reunion, to receive what was needed at the time, but for whatever reason was not available. They will never give up and, like love, are relentless in that way. While we are wired to co-regulate with another, let us be open to the nature of this other, which is oriented in the mystery and may nearer than we have come to imagine hidden inside the colors, forests, and unexpected pathways. As the veil parts just a bit, we may discover that its more creative, more intelligent, more (bitter)sweet and achy and majestic than we ever expected. Photo by Sasin Tipchai

Look for the accessibility icons on each event page, if you have questions about any limitations or considerations that might affect your ability to participate... in an event. As always, please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns. Big thanks to Amber Williams-King for the design work!

Its a pizza, which is also a feelings wheel, which is also a pizza. # Culturally, we dont make a lot of space for kids to have and express complex emotions.... Even the language we use about emotions in the presence of children tends to be extra simplified (happy, sad, bad, etc) As kids grow, though, one way we adults can help kids grow up healthy and #mentallystrong is by helping them develop the ability to check in with themselves, notice what they are feeling, and express those feelings appropriately. Helping kids develop a vocabulary to describe emotions may help them communicate their emotions better, and kids who can communicate their emotions to peers and adults, actually give those people the information they need to care well for them- which helps kids feel safe, connected, and equipped to grow into kind empathic individuals. Download this pizza #emotionwheel + an interactive game I made with it via https://lindsaybraman.com/emotion-wheel-for-kids/, or get a throw pillow, poster, or mug through https://society6.com/lindsaybraman?sort=new. Patrons got access to this free download last week, join my team at https://lindsaybraman.com/patreon #pizzafeelings #mentalhealthart #emotionalregulation #mentalhealth

This is my definition of healing: Healing happens when your deeply internal self exploration work is routinely met and supported by the corrective experience of a deeply attuned relationship. I like this definition because it offers both nuance and possibility. It acknowledges the ways healing is both uniquely individual and necessarily relational. Since were a relational species (we need eachother in order to survive), I find it necessary and important to include ...the ways a safe relationship changes us. More specifically, experiencing a safe and attuned relationship helps cement and reinforce the internal work weve learned, applied, experienced, and felt. Being able to feel safe in relationships, for me, is the true test of the strength of our inner work. The question of can we heal alone? is less a question of either/or (or whether or not its possible) and more of a both/and scenario. Humans have always had a deep need to be seen, heard, loved, and cared for. These core needs all occur in relationships and speaks to our social-emotional need to be connected and a part of something. When we become too locked into how to do our inner work, we sometimes miss opportunities to experience the relational experiences in front of us. Focusing too much on the self sometimes causes us to forget about the relational aspects of life and living. As well, I am not comfortable with the expectation for people to do this work alone and I think it unfairly places the blame on the individual to do the work. You cannot heal from the effects of systemic trauma, caused by poverty, racism, homophobia, etc., by yourself. Not only is this an unfair burden but it releases and absolves us from acknowledging the ways in which environment, systems, and relationships, and not our individual shortcomings, create our well-being. So, finally, I ask: Does your deeply private and internal work withstand the critical test of vulnerability or rupture in a relationship? See more

https://www.gailweiner.com//ultra-independence-is-a-trauma

It's a pizza, which is also a feelings wheel, which is also a pizza. # Culturally, we dont make a lot of space for kids to have and express complex emotions.... Even the language we use about emotions in the presence of children tends to be extra simplified (happy, sad, bad, etc) As kids grow, though, one way we adults can help kids grow up healthy and #mentallystrong is by helping them develop the ability to check in with themselves, notice what they are feeling, and express those feelings appropriately. Helping kids develop a vocabulary to describe emotions may help them communicate their emotions better, and kids who can communicate their emotions to peers and adults, actually give those people the information they need to care well for them- which helps kids feel safe, connected, and equipped to grow into kind empathic individuals. Download this pizza #emotionwheel + an interactive game I made with it via https://lindsaybraman.com/emotion-wheel-for-kids/, or get a throw pillow, poster, or mug through https://society6.com/lindsaybraman?sort=new. Patrons got access to this free download last week, join my team at https://lindsaybraman.com/patreon #pizzafeelings #mentalhealthart #emotionalregulation #mentalhealth

via Creating Wellbeing Melbourne

Content note: Mention of suic*de . . . .... . . . . "Suicidal thoughts happen more often than you might expect for those with depression and/or a trauma history. Thats because, from a trauma-informed point of view, you may have a part (or portion) of you that sees suicide as the only way out. One part sees it as the only possible means of relief and escape from the emotional pain." See more

This is one of the most comprehensive diagrams Ive seen with regards to our nervous system states and our internal, felt and embodied experience. A great resource for those looking to understand safety (and safety-seeking) and the ways our internal family systems think, feel, and behave in ways that help us, hurt us, protect us and connect us.

I dont trust folks who want me to feel calm before I feel safe. I've spent much of my life appearing calm, pleasing and appeasing, and feeling powerless. When ...well-meaning folks encouraged me to talk deep breaths with long slow exhales, I dutifully went along as best I could even when it was difficult to breathe. The calm they promised almost never arrived, and the experience often reinforced what I already knew I could survive their good intentions like everything else, by going along and doing what was expected even though it didn't feel safe. What looked like calm was actually dissociation. We humans require some level of safety before our nervous systems allow us to be at ease. A long exhale is a beautiful thing when there's enough safety to sink into the experience of calm. Without safety, however, trying to feel calm is putting the cart before the horse. I never felt truly at ease until I discovered the calm after a primal roar, the quite strength after harnessing my aggression, and the safety that only ensues from moving into and through fight/flight physiology. I don't think I've ever successfully taken a deep breath that resulted in me feeling calm before I felt safe. However, I've come to appreciate how my lungs naturally expand after escaping to safety and the spontaneous sigh of relief that flows easy after neutralizing a threat. Perhaps there is a shortcut, and we can breathe our way to safety. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough or doing it correctly. In my experience, my nervous system didn't need slow easy breaths, it needed to feel strong in order to feel safe, and those breaths were quick and forceful inhales and exhales. It's hard to describe, but there's an earned sense of safety that comes from doing what needed to be done and saying what needed to be said. Before achieving this sense of safety, deep breaths felt forced. From a place of safety, they come more naturally as a result of trusting my ability to defend and protect myself. Each person's journey is unique and there are many ways to be human. I'm offering my experience as an alternative to what, for me at least, was an unhelpful focus that prioritized calm over safety. I'm always grateful to learn from your experience and I appreciate your thoughts and insights. -Brian #Trauma #ReligiousTrauma #RoomToThrive

Our senses help us understand, explore and experience our environment. This goes beyond the 5 senses and also includes our vestibular sense (sensing movement or processing motion and stability), our proprioceptive sense (locating our body in space), and our interoceptive sense (knowing what is going on inside your body). Sensory seeking behaviours help us create additional sensory stimuli in order to activate our arousal systems. Sensory experiences can be pleasurable or ...regulating and so we might seek out additional sensory input from our environments in order to feel more calm, more focused, more regulated, more soothed or more at ease. Sensory-seekers often make a habit out of exploring their environment or scanning for opportunities to regulate through our felt or sensory pathways. In low-stimulus environments, it might be harder for us to focus, remain calm or soothed, or even feel safe. This might explain why, for some, low-stimulus environments can be intolerable or make people feel bored or unmotivated. Conversely, we also engage in sensory avoidance when the sensory input is too overwhelming. Sensory avoidance happens when we become overloaded with sensory input or exhausted by the pace at which we intake sensory information. Sensory-seeking behaviours are normal and, as humans, seeking sensation is how we experience the world around us. This becomes challenging when we experience shame for engaging in behaviours (especially body-focused, repetitive ones) that are seen as less prosocial or less healthy. My general rule is that sensory-seeking should help us feel good and help us access pleasure, stability and safety. For those wondering: youll also notice that Sensory Experiences is a route I identify in the new therapeutic model I developed called Routes of Safety. Seeking sensations through sensory experiences is a common way we can restore a felt sense of safety. See more

I dont trust folks who want me to feel calm before I feel safe. Ive spent much of my life appearing calm, pleasing and appeasing, and feeling powerless. When ...well-meaning folks encouraged me to talk deep breaths with long slow exhales, I dutifully went along as best I could even when it was difficult to breathe. The calm they promised almost never arrived, and the experience often reinforced what I already knew I could survive their good intentions like everything else, by going along and doing what was expected even though it didnt feel safe. What looked like calm was actually dissociation. We humans require some level of safety before our nervous systems allow us to be at ease. A long exhale is a beautiful thing when theres enough safety to sink into the experience of calm. Without safety, however, trying to feel calm is putting the cart before the horse. I never felt truly at ease until I discovered the calm after a primal roar, the quite strength after harnessing my aggression, and the safety that only ensues from moving into and through fight/flight physiology. I dont think Ive ever successfully taken a deep breath that resulted in me feeling calm before I felt safe. However, Ive come to appreciate how my lungs naturally expand after escaping to safety and the spontaneous sigh of relief that flows easy after neutralizing a threat. Perhaps there is a shortcut, and we can breathe our way to safety. Maybe I wasnt trying hard enough or doing it correctly. In my experience, my nervous system didnt need slow easy breaths, it needed to feel strong in order to feel safe, and those breaths were quick and forceful inhales and exhales. Its hard to describe, but theres an earned sense of safety that comes from doing what needed to be done and saying what needed to be said. Before achieving this sense of safety, deep breaths felt forced. From a place of safety, they come more naturally as a result of trusting my ability to defend and protect myself. Each persons journey is unique and there are many ways to be human. Im offering my experience as an alternative to what, for me at least, was an unhelpful focus that prioritized calm over safety. Im always grateful to learn from your experience and I appreciate your thoughts and insights. -Brian #Trauma #ReligiousTrauma #RoomToThrive

Responding to bids for connection.

Im wondering if we can make a distinction between boundary setting and boundary building. It feels important to break it down and acknowledge the factors that make boundary setting difficult. Setting a boundary might be more accessible to us if we have the skills, a semblance of safety, and the capacity to do so. Boundary setting, or the act of firmly stating or accessing your needs, might be difficult for you to do if the skills, safety, and capacity are not present. As... well, the act of setting a boundary might feel too absolute or too far out of reach for you. In circumstances where thats the case, I propose we reframe the idea of boundary setting to one of boundary building. Building boundaries turns the action of setting a boundary into an ongoing process. This might allow us to better acknowledge the ways boundaries should involve an active and ongoing process of mutuality. This means that boundary building might be the precursor or prerequisite for boundary setting as it allows us to safely tune into our needs and recognize the absence of skill or capacity to enact a more concrete boundary. Boundary building might look like: Tuning into your body to recognize what it feels like to begin enacting a boundary (such as saying no) Naming the feelings that boundary setting produces Expanding your window of tolerance using trauma-informed movements breathwork or mindfulness practices that help support nervous system integration Working on self-keeping and self-protective strategies, perhaps by working with rage and anger to foster a felt sense of firmness and assertiveness Working to resource your nervous system (perhaps through a neutral anchor such as the breath or self-compassionate thoughts) with the goal of increasing tolerance for discomfort Increasing your access to your innate fight response by overriding your natural tendency to flee (flight response) or shut down (freeze response) in response to stress Cultivating an awareness of the freeze or startle response that keeps you frozen or stuck in patterns of immobility See more

Pervasive feelings of anxiety, cant relax, people arent safe, constant dread of bad things happening or being found out, poor self-image, attraction to unavailable people, busy-ness, etc. - some signs of early emotional neglect/complex ptsd.

Graphic credit: #movementmatters

*** Edits: I have just uploaded the new slides with language that reflects the term "race evasion" rather than the more commonly used, but ableist term, "colorb...lindness." Please research disability justice and ableism if you want to understand why this shift is important. Big thanks to Kari Kokka bringing this to my attention and for Subini Annamma for working with me on language. Access matters!*** Yesterday, I wrote a post that garnered a lot of attention regarding the role of white educators in trauma informed ed. I've also witnessed a series of very concerning race evasive discussions in a large trauma informed ed teacher group, many of whom were in disagreement with the simple phrase "Black lives matter." A sweet friend of mine, , worked with me to develop that post into a teaching set of graphics for sharing and education. Hugest hugs to you! Those of yal who know me, know how much I'm invested and believe in Trauma informed education. So this is in no way a take down of the urgency or necessity of trauma informed education as a whole. Rather, this is a call to increase the rigor, stamina and promise of trauma informed work by including racial trauma as part of the definition, and allowing that to reset the whole frame. There's lots of good stuff out there regarding trauma, somatics and race, so I hope this simply adds to the toolkit that teachers can use to push the trauma conversations at their schools to move past race evasion into anti-racism and anti-oppression as core tenets of trauma work. Be sure to check out the reading list on the last page for a deeper dive into this lens with more established authors than myself. Open to feedback always. Download and share away. Some folks have asked how to support me: please like and share my page! This is my life's work and I am a proudly self employed, liberated, invisibly disabled Black womxn and mother trying to thrive in cutthroat capitalism. That means I pay for everything myself or depend on probono support. You can support more content by sending your financial support to candice-rose-5 at Venmo! Many Blessings, Candice Rose

Will be checking this out!

AHHHHHH!!!! Its finally here. I am so happy to finally announce my brand new podcast: This Isnt Therapy.... This isnt therapy... but its a conversation about it! Join us as we talk about all the topics & themes that people might go to therapy to explore or change. We will chat about the topics that come up in therapy and maybe even give you a glimpse of what therapy could be like for you! Simon and I have been planning this project for a while now. We both believe in the power of stories and how they can bring people together to spark new ideas or inspire change. You can get to know more about Simon and his work over on his page: www.instagram.com/directedbysimon Check out our amazing artwork and then watch or listen to the trailer! As well, be sure to check out our amazing friend and artist Darryl Mabey who designed the artwork. wwww.instagram.com/mabeyitsart Podcast website: https://thisisnttherapy.transistor.fm Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com//podcast/this-isnt/id1528399646 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gvAhpRsaI8lDip7B1Jpi9 Or listen wherever you get your podcasts! Closed captioning links for each episode are available in the show notes.

Coregulation is a biological imperative. It is how our nervous systems seek safety. Coregulation is the prerequisite to self-regulation and we must first master this before we can successfully do it on our own. Coregulation offers us a felt experience of safety by giving us a safer opportunity for connection. Coregulation, an important component of our development, doesnt happen to the same degree for everyone. When coregulation doesnt happen, we sometim...es override, disregard, or miss out on our natural need for closeness by relying on our own resources to help us feel safe. In doing so, we teach our nervous systems that relationships (with people, pets, a hobby, or nature) are not reliable sources of coregulation and attunement. Our mind and body learn that the safest option for helping us to become more regulated and connected is do it by ourselves. This results in a nervous system trained to not trust in the safety of connection and relationships. The good news is that a person does not have to help you repair this attachment trauma. Relationships come in all forms and it is wrong of us to neglect the ways that our relationships with something outside of ourselves helps us to become more whole. What do you do when the intensity of your experience overwhelms your ability to take in offers of connection and coregulation? How frequently are you able to observe the discomfort you feel in relationship and bring yourself into a social and connected state with someone else? In what ways does connection feel dangerous and to what extent do you outsource your healing and growth to others? To what extent do you place the responsibility of your healing and growth solely upon your own shoulders? At what point did you learn to confide in nobody and when did you learn that its wrong for you to rely on others to help you along? How can we combat the narrative that healing has to be a solo mission and still allow people to make decisions in their own best interest?

It's here y'all! The official trailer. On September 1st, Netflix will introduce Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices. Each episode features a childrens book ab...out the Black experience written by a Black author and read aloud by a Black celebrity. That includes my brother @therealcalebmclaughlin reading the multi award winning CROWN: An Ode To the Fresh Cut. Salute #BookmarksNetflix #NetflixFamily #StrongBlackLead @gordoncjamesfineart @denenemillnerbooks @agatepublishing #SerendipityLit #MarleyDias #CalebMcLaughlin See more

Chronic and compulsive caretaking might be a trauma response youve adopted in order to avoid conflict, accountability or hard-to-face emotions. Emotional caretaking might stem from having to anticipate the emotional needs of others or from having to extinguish your own immediate feelings in order to prevent later discomfort or conflict. Chronic and compulsive caretaking can involve a hypersensitivity to our own feelings and therefore a keen awareness of the emotional... needs of others or it can involve ignoring our own feelings so we can better focus on the needs of others. Perhaps youve been made to prevent, fix, or rescue people from their feelings in order to help them regulate or avoid big reactions to stress, anger, or fear. Perhaps you continually avoided their big reactions by stopping the big feelings in their track. Perhaps youve been made to take care of the emotional state of others and youve learned to do so to prevent big fights or blow-ups. Perhaps you may have been responsible for managing the emotions of others growing up and so youve learned to fear or avoid the big feelings of others in adulthood. Perhaps youve learned that helping others feels better or is more manageable than helping yourself. Perhaps youve learned that avoiding feelings altogether is a better alternative than feeling or facing them. Perhaps youve been made to fix or find a solution for big feelings and so you take it as your responsibility to rush in and fix or take care of peoples emotions and reactions. How often do you rush in to prevent people from feeling their big feelings? How often do you take responsibility for the emotional state of others? In what situations or circumstances might you feel the need to manage the emotional states of others? @ Toronto, Ontario See more

Its here yall! The official trailer. On September 1st, Netflix will introduce Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices. Each episode features a childrens book ab...out the Black experience written by a Black author and read aloud by a Black celebrity. That includes my brother @therealcalebmclaughlin reading the multi award winning CROWN: An Ode To the Fresh Cut. Salute #BookmarksNetflix #NetflixFamily #StrongBlackLead @gordoncjamesfineart @denenemillnerbooks @agatepublishing #SerendipityLit #MarleyDias #CalebMcLaughlin See more

A back-to-basics, back-to-school reminder for parents, caregivers, and teachers.

News from around the world: Trauma linked to cognitive decline in adults. "...suffering trauma does not automatically mean an individual will suffer greater cog...nitive impairment in later life. The impact of trauma varies and some people are more resilient or receive treatment that can mitigate the effects." See more

This one got me. Image by: Lyrical Zen

And anytime were doing something that is more about influencing what others think of us than it is about authentically expressing ourselves...we end up out of ...integrity with ourselves. Being out of integrity has pretty serious consequences for our happiness, and for our relationships. Heres what happens when we arent being authentic: We dont actually fool anyone.

Benefits of pretend play . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . #Psychologist #AvondaleHeights #Highpoint #Keilor #Psychology #PlayTherapy #Wellbeing #Wellness #Emotion #Counseling #Therapy #Parenting #MentalHealth #RUOK #Anxiety #Depression #SelfCare #MentalHealthAwareness #DevelopmentalPsychology #SocialSkills #Autism #ADHD #MentalHealthProfessional #NDIS See more

Some of this sounds close to me today...like I want to eat an apple fritter for dinner (seriously). Thanks Milissa for sharing this.

Howard Zinn said, To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but a...lso of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we dont have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." See more