There's a joke between me and a many of my friends, that I have a sign that says Tell Me on my shoulder. Almost every time I go out, a human unbeknownst to me lays their problems in my lap. This phenomenon runs in our family, so I am not surprised about these heart pouring moments when they occur, but as the frequency of my impromptu counseling sessions has increased, I have had a few more moments of pause to consider it.
Aside from all the corporate hashtag posturing and media pandering, there is an empathy drought in these here parts, and by that, I mean all around us. People are constantly scrambling to be seen as the most woke, the most repentant for past and current sins, the most period. In the midst of all this posing we have millions of people literally drowning in a vortex of human conditional doom.
The talking heads are always squawking about the mental health epidemic. We as a community, a universal collective of a species are perpetually talking, whining, and fundraising off of the current state of human existence, yet what are we actually doing?
I spend a good chunk of my day counseling broken people. We are all broken, yet within us resides the capacity to think about that brokenness, identify what it is, and find the tools to lift us out of that state. I am not anyone special. Every single one of us is special in that we are all meat sacks. We all pass through water so to speak. We have so much more in common that we think, believe, or want to admit, and by golly we are all letting each other down by trying to be the most extra all of the time.
Instead of playing the blame-game, I want to be part of the solution-scheme. Just the other day I found out that we only have 36 mental health counselors in North Idaho. THIRTY-SIX! We have hundreds of thousands of people here. I bet we have a lot more than 36 doctors, yet each and every one of those human souls also have a brain, are capable of thinking about thinking, and are broken on some level.
We all could use some coaching, this Kat included. I lost hope in the medical establishment long ago when it came to overall wellness. Instead, I spent a decade and a half, through trial and error, searching for how to fix what's broken in me. Here's the secret, you can't. Once you realize that all you can control is your thoughts, the inner realm that uniquely, perfectly makes up you, then you can progress. Not everyone needs a doctorate level mental health worker to deal with their brand of brokenness, sometimes they just need a coach. Why aren't we training more coaches?
I mean, we shut down the entire world last year. The toll of mental maleficence touches every community, why isn't that an emergency? If we poured our time, resources, and selves into combating mental illness across the entire spectrum along with building resilience and mental training in our community, wouldn't that be a greater use of our time and treasury than trying to band aid the misery dam that has resulted from trying to tackle the rot instead of the cause?
If we want a better simulation to traverse through we have to get some skin in the game. I found a psychologist who will train me to be a certified mental health coach. I refuse to be part of the medical cartel, yet I can't stand by and watch people drown either. And lest you think I am ragging on the good people out there who do help, I'm not, it's just at my core I believe the establishment as a whole is part of the problem and I refuse to work within it.
Complaining about a problem won't make it better. Bureaucrats throwing your coercively collected tax dollars at it won't make it better. Humans diving in and caring will make it better, and my friends, the pool is just huge.
I can picture you as a mental health coach! Go for it! Right now my daughter is on many waiting lists over in the next state, including one for a counselor. Seems as if they are only allowed to see so many patients a day, due to Covid restrictions, so they have fallen behind. Ironically, the Covid situation has increased the need for counselors. face palm
Oh wow, and of course the so-called restrictions to help actually causes harm in another way. Sad.
Hope she gets an appn soon, I went to college to be a counselor, but had to graduate early and not finish that training because a Miss Izzy came along lol, they are almost grown so I will just continue on what I started, there is so much need for it.
Your post is reblogged and upvoted by me. It is a good post. Thank you @generikat
Thank you @optimusre :)