strategies

Rec – Mental Health Resources

Standard

First and foremost, if you are in immediate danger to yourself or others, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

After my best friend, this was the second number in my speed dial directly after my diagnosis. My doctor told me that the medicine would help, but first, I would feel better about suicide and to be sure to have that number handy. Depression is a scary place, but it is much less scary in the light, and diagnosed and treated than hidden away or hiding from it.

Second, I think that these resources can be used successfully by all varieties of mental illness and mental health issues. We are all individuals and react differently to different stimulus. Try it, and if you don’t like it, try something else. You will find the support you need.

Some of the other resources/strategies I’ve found helpful:

1. I found wandering into church a good place to sit and contemplate. You don’t have to be a Christian to do this by the way. I knew, but it was confirmed the first several times I went during an off-hour that no one will bother you. No one will interrupt your contemplation, meditation, prayer. No one will ask you to leave and no one will ask you why you are there. It gave me a place to go when I had nowhere to go just to be, and to think.

2. Be alone in a crowd. I’ve recommended Starbucks before, and for a $2 cup of coffee you can sit and sip as long as you like in most places.

3. My Resource List (link here and on the left). There are phone numbers for depression hotlines, suicide prevention, grief support, and I hope to add more websites. Please comment with those that have helped you, and I can add them to my list. Currently, it’s exclusive to the US, but if my readers are from elsewhere in the world and want to share their resources, I will be glad to add them.

4. I get a lot out of writing therapy. It’s not necessarily a diary or journal, but all kinds of writing makes me feel alive. Is there something that you love to do? Try it again.

5. Later on this afternoon, I’ll be posting a Coping Skills Toolbox that I found online. This is an excellent resource and a positive thing you can do to help for those rough patches.

 

Good luck and my best to all of you.

 

Rec

Standard

Today’s recs were going to be LGBT resources. With National Coming Out Day on Saturday, I thought that might be helpful, but in reading Jesus: A Pilgrimage and in re-watching the tenth season premiere of Supernatural, unbidden, I thought of what helps me through the sullen moments of my depression, and realized that I wanted to offer some of my go-to places.

My top three, not including supportive friends (I just received a card from my godmother that was the perfect sentiment at the perfect time, and later on today, I’m planning a phone call to my best friend):

1. I will read the day’s Scripture readings. For non-religious people, I would recommend Robert Fulghum‘s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and his other books. Another book that doesn’t rely on a particular religion is John Harricharan‘s Under the Tamarind Tree – A Secret Journey Into Our Souls: Inspirational Quotes About Life, A Reminder of the Inner Magic. I would randomly pick a page and read it. This book works very well for that kind of inspirational reading.

2. Starbucks or Cracker Barrel. You can get away with sitting there for a long time for very little money. In the case of Cracker Barrel, I have found that their lack of wi-fi and abundance of white noise lets me get a lot of writing done with very little distraction as well as abundant refills of fountain drinks. If you frequent Starbucks, register your card. You can’t beat their perks and freebies if you’re there a lot.

3. It will sound strange, but for me, I watch Supernatural on Netflix. Or TNT. I don’t know when I realized it, but I find it very therapeutic. I think that after ten  years of shows, almost two hundred episodes, being exposed to their personal lives and the good side of fandom, I find it very comforting. It’s well written so knowing the ending doesn’t diminish from the enjoyment of watching it more than once.

Find the thing that makes you feel comfort. It doesn’t have to make you feel good, but you don’t want it to make you feel bad. It gets me through when I know I don’t want to do anything, but I also don’t want to sit like a lump. The background noise of the show is comforting.

For me also, listening to BBC America is also comforting me. It’s those British accents. It doesn’t matter what the show is; in fact, that’s how I started watching The Hour and Orphan Black.

 

Share your go-to strategies in the comments; they might help another reader!