Opinion & Entertainment
Emotional Recovery Starts Long Before Disaster Hits
Director of Behavioral Health - Hamilton Hospital Heritage Senior Adult Program, Olney, Texas
THE REFUGE
“ Then he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, ‘Arise, eat.” 1 Kings 19:5 (NASBS)
Understanding Trauma Responses and How to Manage Them
Rural American communities often pride themselves on resilience and self-reliance. However, this led to a growing crisis of the stigma of mental health. Small communities experience anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and trauma just a little more than the rest of the country. However, those living in small towns and farming communities often face additional barriers that make seeking help more difficult. Eliminating the stigma of mental health in rural America is not simply a matter of compassion. It is an issue of public health.
Feeling Younger Than My Grey Hair Shows
As a 57-year-old man standing before my bathroom mirror, I see silver strands of hair, cracks around my face and clothes that hang loose because of muscles I no longer seem to need at my age. The face looking back at me, eyes heavy from years of memories of good times and bad times. I often just stare back at the stranger in the mirror, I no longer recognize the man staring back at me. What the reflection doesn’t show is that there still lives a young man behind eyes that seemed to be failing me more each year as time rolls on; the person inside me is still full of energy, ambition, and the sense that life is still unfolding.