Archive

It was the spring of 2009. I was preparing to graduate from college with my undergraduate degree when I received a phone call from my 19-year-old brother, Bobby. Looking back, I realize that phone call would mark the first notch...

August 23, 2011, is a day that I will never forget. It was the day my brother took his life by suicide. After battling depression for several years, it seemed to consume him on that Tuesday and we lost him...

My husband had his first panic attack in his late 40s when he was driving – alone – through a rural area on his way to a business meeting. He stopped at a rest area to get gas and a...

Aetna Behavioral Health is taking Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) everywhere the company has a reach – including behavioral health providers within its network, its internal employees and staff and the communities it serves. “It’s so important to bring MHFA...

If you ask Shelley Leaphart-Williams what drives her seven-year run as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, she’ll answer with one simple word: hope. In the United States, someone dies by suicide every 12.3 minutes, according to the  American Foundation...

Science has confirmed that addiction is a chronic brain disease that can happen to anyone. Despite this, there is still popular belief that addiction is the result of weak character or moral failing. We say that addiction should be looked...

Our oldest child, Jamie, died of a fentanyl overdose two years ago at the age of 27. We miss him every day and often reminisce and recall many fond memories of his life. As a toddler, he was incredibly spirited...

Men and women in the military are trained to protect themselves, their comrades and our country. In combat zones, service members live in a constant state of hyper-arousal, also known as “fight or flight.” There is no time for them...

When I was a child, I lost my grandfather, a WWII veteran, to suicide and my dad, a Vietnam veteran, to a substance use disorder. But our family was silent because of the stigma and shame surrounding it. As a...

Growing up, everyone I knew wanted to be a police officer, doctor or firefighter. Me? I wanted to be a psychologist. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and have experience providing case management services for people living with...

 Have you ever asked a firefighter, “What is the worst call you has ever been on?” Don’t! Your well-meaning question is like asking them to flip through the mental files of incidents they are trying to heal from. And as...

Some days John McCormack feels like he can take on the world. But then he hears a baby cry or a siren wail, “and my heart starts pounding and I experience a gut-wrenching feeling,” he said. John is a paramedic...