A truth for you all to know about me: I Google everything. It might be the millennial in me or maybe something else, but if I don’t have an answer, I immediately search for it. This is why for National Depression Screening Day, I Googled depression. Google and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) …
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Let’s get real for a few seconds here. I love social media. I’m on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest all the time. And I’m not in the minority here. Millions of people are with me and on other sites I don’t use. Literally millions. So it can be a tad, okay extremely, alarming to see …
Earlier this year, our very own Jennifer Nolley was the winner of a Golden Halo award from Children’s Trust Roanoke Valleyfor her outstanding work as a counselor. Her award-winning expertise was called upon this week do discuss how to keep kids informed during a tough news cycle. In the interview with WDBJ7®, Jennifer says, "[for] elementary school …
Throughout September, Family Service and our fellow mental health organizations across the Roanoke Valley focus on Suicide Prevention and Awareness. Part of the reason Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is in September is because incidents ofsuicide actually increase in the fall and also in the spring–as seasons change and life changes pace from the leisure of …
Sitting at our family’s fourth generation dining room table, my brother and I talked. More like I talked. I thought he listened. My grandmother gave me the table for my first real house, the one I shared with my first husband. My marriage ended and I moved home to live in my parents’ basement. So …
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I’m taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I’ll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%. @madalynrose The Tweet capturing attention of mental health professionals and mental health warriors this summer was an email sent from a boss to her team about taking a couple of days off to …
Following the events in Charlottesville last weekend, I needed some time and space to reflect. I have read a lot. I have watched way too many news broadcasts. And I have listened as colleagues and friends talked and cried. Every day at Family Service of Roanoke Valley, we work to heal and inspire children, youth, …
Continue reading “Standing in the light after Charlottesville”
“Hi Tyler! Can we do a check in now?” Woebot has been asking me that question every single day in Facebook’s Messenger app since June. For those unfamiliar with Woebot, it is an automated conversational agent that is “trained” in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and describes itself as a life coach and philosopher. So to …
Warning of what lies ahead: spoilers for To the Bone and Feed. More importantly *Trigger warnings* for eating disorders and anorexia. Netflix’s To the Bone, directed by Marti Noxon and starring Lily Collins, has probably popped up all over your social media streams lately. It’s the story of Eli’s (Collins) struggle with body image and …
Continue reading “Imperfectly Trendy: Eating Disorders in the Media”
Black people are not a monolith, but we are expected to be. When we do not overcome hard times or seek help, the outcome can be detrimental. Drugs and alcohol, while not healthy ways to manage are sometimes the only accessible way to cope resulting in backlash, judgement, exclusion, disappointment, and so forth from the …
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