February 10th, 2021
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Twenty-twenty (2020) was a really long year. As one Twitter user posted, “Just don’t ask, ‘What else can happen?’ 2020 takes it as a challenge.” In the past 12 months, we have had wildfires, a world-wide pandemic, racial justice protests and counter-protests, a difficult election year, and murder hornets (!). And, even though we are well into a new year, we are not even close to out of it. Last year feels like it has never ended. People are done. People want the pandemic to be over but it is not. They want the election year divisiveness to be over but [More]
Tags: trauma, pandemic, 2020, 2021, racial justice protests, election, wildfires
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May 28th, 2019
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
One of the worst parts about struggling with mental illness is the loneliness. You feel like you’re the only person on the planet to suffer with these symptoms or stressors. You feel like you’re abnormal, inherently wrong, or “other.” So, when someone truly listens to you, cares, and says “me, too,” it can be transformative. People who have felt alone their entire lives can find connection and purpose, said Peter Starkey, executive director of the Monadnock Area Peer Support Agency (MPS) in Keene, New Hampshire. MPS is one of 10 agencies of this type across the state. Staff was involved [More]
Tags: trauma, mental illness, New Hampshire, depression, anxiety, empathy, MPS, Peer Support Agency, learning environment, bipolar disorder, hearing voices, identity, survivors of suicide, jail support group
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January 7th, 2019
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Realizing that more must be done to reach out to children who have witnessed traumatic events, representatives from several agencies joined in Manchester NH to craft a unique outreach program. Launched two years ago, ACERT, or the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, has experienced some amazing results. Several times each week, a member of the Manchester Police Department, a crisis service advocate from the Manchester YWCA and a community health worker from the Manchester Community Health Center (MCHC) head out to knock on doors of homes where children were exposed to trauma. The plan, said program founding partner Lara Quiroga, [More]
Tags: children, trauma, sexual assault, New Hampshire, suicide, drug use, traumatic events, ACERT, domestic incidents, overdose
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June 13th, 2018
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
As I sat listening to a discussion on the topic of writing hard stories at the recent Newburyport literary festival, I thought of my colleagues in psychology and wished you could hear the message the panel came to deliver. Perhaps some of you were in the audience and heard what the presenters had to say, but for those of you who had better things to do on a springtime Saturday, this one is for you. Psychologists, like writers, are all about the story. When we listen to our patients telling us about the challenges in their lives, we are listening [More]
Tags: psychologists, trauma, patients, listening, stories, reflection, truth, facts, hard stories, art, writing
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February 7th, 2018
By Catherine Robertson Souter
When a television producer first asked Jessica Griffin, PsyD, if she would consider taking an on-air consultant role on an upcoming reality show, she scoffed at the idea. An associate professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at UMass Medical School and executive director of UMASS Medical School’s Child Trauma Training Center with a private clinical practice in the Worcester area, Griffin did not see herself as the reality-show type. Still, with some prodding from Hollywood and much discussion with colleagues, friends and family, Griffin decided to jump in. She first served as a consulting psychologist on the show, “Seven Year Switch,” [More]
Tags: Jessica Griffin PsyD, Linked Kids, Married at First Sight, Lifetime, Catherine Robertson Souter, trauma, traumatization, resilience, psychological training, communication skills
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