People ask me all the time, “How can I help?” and I’ve started being honest.
If you want to help writers that you like, sharing our posts, tweeting our posts, talking about our blogs and books, purchasing our books, leaving reviews, commenting on blog posts, following us on social media; all of these help us in ways that you can’t imagine.
They amplify our voices in a manner that goes beyond what we can do alone. So if you like what we’re saying, share it.
As for Rethink Trauma, a lot of the same applies. We’re trying to get the word out that mental illness doesn’t have to be scary. It doesn’t have to have a stigma. Trauma-related disorders are real things and they come from lots of different types of trauma. Mental illness isn’t just for the homeless or the eccentric or for that one weird cousin. It affects everyone.
The point of Rethink Trauma is to start a conversation, and that only works if people start talking to each other. This stuff doesn’t have to be weird. I’ve already told you my sleeping, eating, and bathing habits so if it is weird, how much weirder could it get?
We need to stop “liking” and start doing.
We need to step up for each other. What do you care about?
Animals? Civil Rights? Orphans? Widows? Modern Day Slavery? Domestic Abuse? Drug Addiction? Homelessness? The Hungry? Those in Prison? Illiteracy? Education? Small Business? The Environment? Eating Disorders? Alcoholism? Blood Diamonds? Fair Wages? Migrant Workers? Disaster Relief? Clean Water?
It starts with one question:
What in the world, do I care about?
And it takes flight with the question that changes everything:
What can I do to help?
What can I do to help?
What can I do to help?
What can I do to help?
Share. Share yourself. Share knowledge. Share your time. Share your resources. See the end game and run towards it.
Those who are fighting against slavery aren’t imagining a world with less people enslaved. They are imagining a world where no one is in slavery.
People digging wells are imagining a world where everyone has access to clean water.
Those working with endangered animals are imagining a world where those animals can thrive in the wild and not have to be preserved in zoos and refuges.
I do this because I want a world where mental illness doesn’t have a stigma, people don’t use words like crazy, and there is hope and healing readily available to every person who needs it.
What do I do to help?
I write, I talk about uncomfortable things, I seek out resources to help others who are struggling, and I do the work in my own healing so I can say that there is hope on the other side.
Some mental illness can be cured. Mine, will most likely just be managed. But that’s not my end game. I want a world where there is a cure, where there is wholeness, where there is abundant life.
I know that for me, I find that in the knowledge and Truth of Christ. Because in Him, nothing is beyond repair. The Cross says that nothing is irredeemable; nothing is so far gone or broken that it cannot be saved.
I want you to ask yourself what you care about.
Then I want you to ask:
“What can I do to help?”
*If you are interested in helping foster kids, stop by Rethink Trauma on Facebook and place an order for a tee shirt. Each shirt will provide a duffel bag for a kid in the system who deserves something better than a trash bag to carry his or her life in. HINT: It’s all of them.*
Kitten photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/jfa/22124068/”>John Ashburne</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
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