Nurses with Substance Use Disorder and Peer Support
Kristin’s Story I have been a nurse since 1991. There was never anything else I wanted to do. But in 2004, I lost nearly everything when I was caught diverting drugs from the hospital I worked for. It started with a prescription after a surgical procedure in 1997. Life was stressful and those pills made […]
A Black mother’s cry for help!
A Black mother’s cry for help! One day when working as a community intervention specialist, I remember being called to meet a 25-year-old Black male who was in need of emergency housing. What I later found during our initial meeting was that he had recently returned home from his first year at college on a […]
Reducing stigma and mental health challenges
Thank you for pausing to read this blog. As to paraphrase the announcements on airplanes, you have choices when it comes to reading material and I appreciate that you are reading what I have written. Please do not be disappointed with any recommendations or solutions, as I can only share what has worked in my experience. […]
A Call to Action: The Intersection of Race and Mental Health Symposium
This blog is a reflection and to provide highlights of, “A Call-to-Action Symposium: The Intersection of Race and Mental Health” which took place on April 19, 2022, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and virtually. The symposium was the culmination of four virtual quarterly coalition meetings offered by WISE in 2021 on the topic. Those […]
Substance Abuse and Generational Trauma
As we begin to recover from the pandemic, we are not ready to exhale and breathe a sigh of relief that this pain and suffering from this worldwide event is over. When we examine the far-reaching implications to our collective mental health, one can’t help but to think about our personal traumas and how we […]
The Brain Behind Behavior
I was asked to consider writing this blog post just a few months into my new career here at Rogers and I had to ask myself; Why me? Is it because of my Disability? Is it because of any particular skill, knowledge, or my experience and I realize this is the stigma? What is a […]
A Matter of Color
White all Right, Black Get Back While dark skin denotes acceptance and a sense of belonging on the African continent, light skin raises questions of authenticity and a conflicted sense of identity. A division of individuals based on the difference of appearance began with slavery and colonialism and has led to discrimination and violence. It […]
The Effects of Racism and Trauma on Black and Brown Students’ Mental Health
This blog is an outlet for individuals to discuss and to provide possible solutions for mental health issues in our community. The topic of Black and Brown students’ race- based traumatic events continues to erode the consciousness and mental health of our students. As a former school administrator in a school district of predominately Black […]
Our Mental Health Matters Too!
Mental health issues are prevalent in Black and Brown Americans, however, the historical dehumanization, oppression, trauma, and violence against Black and Brown people continue to fuel the ongoing mental health crisis. Black and Brown communities are more inclined to say that mental illness is associated with shame, embarrassment, and a sign of “weakness.”
The Science Behind Mental Health
Mental health is full of misconceptions, the most common of which is that mental illness is rare when, in fact, about 1 in 2 people will experience a mental illness in their lifetime according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC. Another is that living with a mental illness in a […]
