change therapy

my brain is still only functioning at 42.718% capacity (as opposed to the usual 60 7/8th) so i don’t find myself to be able to say much. what little brain power i had went to work today and another fabulous mental health chat on twitter. but i feel guilty for not blogging enough [...]

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my first video for wordless wednesday. this is one made by my friend carol during a lovely women’s weekend we both attended at cascadia retreats in roberts creek on british columbia’s sunshine coast. by luck, we chanced upon an up helly aa celebration which, i found out, is europe’s biggest fire festival.
that’s my [...]

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this week is eating disorders week.  to start it off, here is a song one of my twitter contacts wrote for someone who was struggling with this difficult, often life threatening disorder (the fourth song, “you are not alone”)
and the lyrics:
you are not alone
music & lyrics by bob gray © october 22, 2003
there [...]

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you don’t have to spend a lot of time leafing through therese borchard’s beyond blue: surviving depression and anxiety and making the most of bad genes to find some mention of suicide. here, for example
i understand why people who haven’t experienced severe depression believe that a mother who commits suicide is extremely selfish and totally careless [...]

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here is something a friend of mine wrote. i’m reprinting it because, well, i’m not a big fan of the olympics here. (yet? maybe i’ll change my mind? there’s a few days yet to go …)
right now the city is in the midst of preparations, and deep collective angst, for the [...]

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therese borchard, who wrote the fabulous book beyond blue, has a dream about mental health.  i think dr. martin luther king would be totally okay with her being inspired by his famous words.
i have a dream that one day i won’t hold my breath every time i tell a person that i suffer from bipolar [...]

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images by curiouslee and m. eriksson

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my vancouver blogger friend jonathan narvey has a discussion about the current allegations that the canadian military looked the other way when people they had detained in afghanistan were transferred to afghani prisons where the canadian military knew, or should have known, that the detainees would be tortured. please see jonathan’s article and various [...]

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remembrance day has always been an ambiguous day for me. good memories : an hour in the rain under a gazillion umbrellas, proudly listening to my daughter singing a song with the girl guides at a remembrance day celebration; or a lovely morning 17 years ago when my then-boyfriend, now-husband were walking up and [...]

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as you know, i am a proud member of the canadian mental health association. i am even prouder to announce that a participant advisory committee, that is, individuals who are using the services of the CMHA vancouver/burnaby branch, is hosting an event for people living with mental illness and those affected by it [...]

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last week, the british columbia government (the one that pumps millions and millions of dollars into the 2-week olympics next year) made cuts “changes” to the budgets of about 90 (ninety!) health agencies in the vancouver coastal health region alone. the changes cuts will mean no harm to services, says minister kevin falcon.
it’s hard [...]

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once again, blog action day and the october buddhist carnival fall on the same date. let me present to you, then, a few colourful strands from that corner of the blogosphere where buddhism and climate change intersect.
icebergs are buddhist monks
we always start that buddhist carnival with a poem. here is an excerpt from [...]

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i’m thankful for
the smell of the blanket my daughter likes to use on the sofa
the dimples in my older grandson’s cheeks
the sweet little voice of my younger grandson
the particular shade of purple of the asters on my front yard
i like thinking about the specifics, somehow it gives my gratitude more texture and colour.
the way my [...]

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today marks the end of mental illness awareness week. here are some bloggers who wrote about it, and a poem

a rant against mental illness awareness week and the desire to decrease stigma around mental illness
about childhood schizophrenia, by a blogger who wants to set yo head straight
this week appears to be supported [...]

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october 15 is blog action day.
blog action day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. the aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.
the goal
first and last, the purpose of blog action day is to create a discussion. bloggers are asked to [...]

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