Tag: Mental health

Down Syndrome: A New Perspective

Eleven weeks ago I gave birth to my second daughter, Hope.  As we began to adjust to life as a family of four, it became clear to me that each of our girls is unique.  Not only are they unique from each other, they are unique from their father & me as well.  Harper, my …

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Mandatory Autism Awareness and Response Training for Law Enforcement

I am one of millions of people whose life has been touched by somebody with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  I work with individuals who have autism, both children and adults, mostly in their homes and out in the community.  On a regular basis when I am with my clients, we are stared at, and …

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Protecting the Mentally Ill in Prison

Imagine you’ve just been sentenced to prison. For a month, a year, 10 years, it doesn’t matter. What do you think would be going through your head? What the conditions will be like? Will you be safe from other inmates? How will you handle being confined? Can you survive without your friends and family on …

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How US Cities Sweep the Homeless Under the Rug

Recently I wrote a piece on Brazil’s forced eviction and razing of slums in preparation for the upcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. Brazil’s efforts were an attempt at glossing over poverty in a major emerging economy that is about to be in the spotlight for the whole world.  It’s easy to pass …

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Stigma and Health

Last fall, I wrote a proposal advocating for the creation of a suicide prevention program at my university for my scientific and technical writing class. While researching for my proposal, I came across the concept of stigma and how stigma negatively affects help seeking behaviors  in college student populations. Once again, as I am researching …

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TIPS Project: When Attitudes Affect Actions

In the United States, schizophrenia is something that we fear. Ignore. Avoid. When we think of schizophrenia, our first thought jumps to an image of Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Time and time again, the media portrays individuals with schizophrenia as crazy, violent, and dangerous. But it doesn’t have to be …

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Too Many Choices

I remember being a kid and going to the mall with my mom to pick a birthday gift. Did I want the new Madden game or the new Fifa game? The Barry Sanders jersey or the Chauncey Billups one? I remember agonizing over this decision, worrying that I’d make one I’d regret at a later …

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Becoming Limitless

I recently watched Neil Burger’s movie Limitless. It started by depicting the main character Eddie Morra as an intelligent writer who struggled in finding inspiration to finish his novel and could not find an appropriate balance between his work and his relationship. This depressing beginning reminded me that so many people, for various reasons, squander …

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Killing Genius

Over the past several weeks, I have gotten addicted to chess. I can’t get enough. I got my chess set that had been stashed away for years in my closet so I could play my Dad, played people online, and even stayed up until the early hours of the morning watching videos and commentary of …

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Heroic ‘Fin

Last Monday, after 3 months of labor disputes, the NFL lockout finally ended. Football nuts around the country (myself included) rejoiced. The threat of losing our favorite, most highly rated sport for an entire season was finally gone. We still have our best excuse to be unproductive on Sundays. Football is back, baby. I am …

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