Folks, this is what I bring to light when I teach mental health and general practice clinicians. I ask them to try to fight the conspiracy of denial that is so prevalent and so inscrutable – because it is born out of empathy and love. The conspiracy is a need to believe that our youth (or anyone else) are somehow protected from the pain of trauma simply because we cannot tolerate the helplessness we feel when we do not have any definitive answers for them. We try to make it tolerable or better and often times make it worse in

This morning I looked at Irene’s picture on the kitchen window sill and said to her, “Irene, I’m not going to give the Tupperware back.” The small 4 inch square container holds tuna for out sweet kitty, Missy. Each morning I see Irene’s sweet face smiling back at me from the kitchen window ledge. Each morning I take her container out of the fridge. Each morning I feed Missy from that Tupperware container. Each morning I am thankful for the 20 year friendship that surpassed the deepest friendship one could imagine. Irene was what is now commonly referred to as

I’ve been hearing all the things I “should” do to promote my book and my new upcoming publications. Everybody seems to have their own ideas about how I should find the top marketer, a stellar agent, a glitzy webmaster, a renowned videographer, a world-wide distributor, etc. Unfortunately all of these wonderful suggestions cost money…our money (my husband’s and mine). We have no funders. We have no patrons. It’s just us. So we have been paying for book editing, proofreading, printing and publishing out of our everyday budget and it is causing great strain. I was stopped dead desperate to decide

I asked and a room full of counselors proudly indicated they all knew cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). All of them knew how to resuscitate someone who had quit breathing and whose heart had quit beating. They all knew how to save a life.  I then asked them if they knew how to save a life before they learned CPR.  “No”, was their response. Next, a pall overtook the room when I asked if anyone knew how to save the life of someone who was suicidal. Faintly from the back of the room I heard one hesitant voice, “Call 9-1-1 and send

The following interchange exemplifies what I mean by expressing yourself to individuals in your life who know intimately what you know or how, at times, you may feel because they may have felt likewise. They can gently remind you of principles you actually know to be true but have perhaps lost somewhere in your efforts to effect change in the world. This woman and I are both crusaders for suicide prevention. Both of us work with the military. Both of us are therapists and educators. Both of us are God-directed. Both of us have been tested by limitations placed on