“Helped people help people”
This collection of blog posts focuses on mental health and mental health awareness, offering my personal stories, practical tips, and resources to support emotional well-being. From navigating anxiety and depression to breaking the stigma around mental illness, these posts aim to foster understanding, connection, and resilience. Whether you’re seeking encouragement, education, or tools for self-care, you’ll find relatable and empowering content centered on mental health support and advocacy.
MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH 2025
The Power of Connection – Why Social Wellness Matters After Disability
After a life-altering disability, social wellness often suffers, leading to feelings of isolation. Friendships may change, requiring individuals to communicate new needs. Loneliness poses health risks, emphasizing the importance of connection. Support groups can help build community and confidence. Maintaining relationships is crucial for long-term health and happiness.
The Hedonic Treadmill
Happiness is often fleeting, with individuals returning to a baseline emotional state regardless of life events, a concept called the hedonic treadmill. Studies show that both joyous milestones and significant setbacks lead to temporary emotional spikes, underlining our resilience. Embracing gratitude and meaningful experiences can enhance lasting well-being.
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH 2025
Depression After Disability
The journey after a spinal cord injury involves more than physical recovery; it requires rebuilding self-identity and coping with emotional challenges like depression. Therapy, especially Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, provides essential tools for managing negative thoughts and emotions. Open discussions about mental health can foster community support and reduce stigma, emphasizing that seeking help is vital.
A Personal Journey Through the Dimensions of Wellness
Wellness encompasses more than just physical health; it includes emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, and occupational dimensions. After a spinal cord injury, I redefined each aspect of my wellness. By seeking support, pursuing education, and embracing community, I learned to adapt, heal, and find purpose in a transformed life.
Grief Revisited
This post explores the connection between mental health, disability, and grief. It emphasizes that grief stems not just from loss but also from life changes like disability. Using established models, it addresses the non-linear process of grieving and adaptation, highlighting the importance of self-compassion and community support in navigating these experiences.
POSTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH
Barbed Wire Sickness and the Psychology of Disability
Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” highlights his pioneering concept of Logotherapy, emphasizing the human pursuit of purpose even amidst suffering. The book draws parallels between “barbed wire sickness,” linked to wartime trauma, and the experiences of individuals with disabilities, illustrating how isolation affects mental health and underscoring the resilience derived from meaning.
Be Kind To Your Mind
In 2017, struggling with depression, a veteran sought help from a behavioral health team at the VA. Through guided meditation, counseling, and therapy, he regained mental and physical strength, fostering a positive relationship with his therapist. Now advocating for mental health, he emphasizes the importance of therapy and self-care in healing.
Goal Setting and Staying Motivated
If there is one thing that I hope you take away from my journey, it is that there is always something to strive for. Complacency can seem easy to embrace, especially after such a life changing injury. It would be too easy for me to sit around and mope about how I’ll never be strong…
Exposure and Confidence
The author reflects on their personal growth and newfound appreciation for accessible venues. Comparing experiences from last summer to this one, they highlight improvements in accessibility at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium, emphasizing helpful staff and accommodating facilities. This transformative journey boosts their confidence for future outings, celebrating community support in enjoying shared experiences.
Good Grief: Working Through It
5 Stages of Grief Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. First I want to express that everyone grieves differently. The order for the stages of grief are not linear. Stages can appear in a random order, some stages can be skipped, and some can be revisited altogether (Kübler-Ross, 2025). Going through any sort of loss,…
Finding Balance
The author reflects on their experience of transitioning from aluminum to wooden baseball bats, using this metaphorically to discuss life’s challenges after becoming paralyzed. They explore the internal conflict between accepting limitations and maintaining motivation to improve. Balancing these perspectives is crucial for personal growth and mental well-being as they seek their “sweet spot.”
Counting Blessings
Everyday is a gift and there are blessings everywhere. I had to learn that the hard way. I took for granted a lot of aspects of my pre-paralyzed life. The ability to walk, talk, move, breathe. You never stop to think about these simple commodities. Well, that’s all I can think about now. I am…
Perspective
I’ll start this one out by talking about small injury I had in my sophomore year in high school. I had just made the junior varsity baseball team and we were getting ready for a stadium game that we played once a year. About a month prior I had sprained my ankle and tore two…
Forgiveness
This is easily the hardest topic for me to talk about. This also makes it the easiest because it is so necessary. What exactly is forgiveness? Is it simply saying “I forgive you” after someone says “sorry” and moving on? Is it making the mental decision to drop something that is negatively effecting you? Is…