By Joe Borders,
Marriage and Family Therapist
In Roseville and Sacramento
July 7, 2022
SacWellness Newsletter #13
– July 2022-
Hello!
Welcome to the SacWellness newsletter for July 2022!
I’ve always sent these newsletters out via email, but I thought this time I would try publishing on the site too and see how that works out ^_^.
In this edition:
- SacWellness News
- 4 years of SacWellness
- New structure for groups on the site
- Important News
- 988 national mental health crisis and suicide hotline going live soon
- Things Going On In Session
- People have really been struggling with the Roe v. Wade decision.
- Many teens and young adults are grieving the loss of Youtuber Technoblade.
- Monthly Mental Health Awareness Dates
- Mental Health Blog Articles of the Month
- Classifieds for therapists
SacWellness News
4 Years of SacWellness
This last June marked the the 4 year anniversary of SacWellness being launched to the public!
It’s been a lot of work and the site has evolved into much more than I originally imagined. I started out planning to make a “simple” therapist directory for Sacramento and surrounding areas. That simple something has grown into a massive site that now serves as a go to resource for all things mental health in the greater Sacramento area.
To date I’ve spent well over 5,000 hours working on the site.
This year I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that as a therapist with a full time private practice, I cannot create and run this thing as if I were a giant company like all the other therapist directories that exist out there.
It’s just me here.
My goals for the next year revolve around getting a better handle on what that means exactly.
Currently I’m embracing an approach of valuing SacWellness as something that feeds a need in me to create, and a way for me to stay connected with the therapeutic community. I have cut back my caseload slightly to allow for dedicated SacWellness time every week so I can work on the site in a way that is enjoyable and doesn’t feel stressful.
In the end, its not all about money.
We often get caught up in producing for monetary profit. I would love to make bank, and continue to hope that the site will grow into something that makes money, but at its core, what drives me about SacWellness is my need to create, increase mental health access, and connect with my community.
I am not a corporation or even an organization of any kind, I am just me. In this new year I accept my limitations and relinquish the pursuit of emulating the websites and business models of giant corporations. I fully embrace SacWellness as something that brings me pleasure, meaning, and connection in life, and I will continue to work to build it into the best local mental health resource that I can.
If you would like to help, please post a link to SacWellness somewhere on your website so it can reach more people. You can find all the resources the site contains here:
Mental Health Resources In The Greater Sacramento Area
Thank you for all your support!
A cake my mom made for me when I launched SacWellness in 2018
New Groups Format On SacWellness
After a couple of years of experimenting with how best to include groups on SacWellness, I’ve decided to change things around a bit. You can now list all groups on the Classifieds For Therapists section of the site and this will be linked to both the classifieds for therapists section and the groups button on the home page, where potential clients will be looking for groups. This makes group listings a lot easier to set up, and should be beneficial to all because groups change so often. As with the rest of the classifieds for therapists section of the site, this it is free to post an ad here.
You can now find therapy groups running in the area here:
https://sacwellness.com/advert-category/groups/
Please share any groups you might be running ^_^
Important News
The national mental health and suicide prevention hotline will be going live on July 18th!
Check out this post with information from Sacramento Valley Psychological Association President Dr. Corrine McIntosh Sako, PsyD.
988 – National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Line Going Live July 18th!
Things Coming Up In Session
The part of the newsletter where I talk about common themes that have been coming up in sessions this month.
Roe v. Wade
This has been such a hard time. Every client I’ve talked to over the last couple of weeks has been struggling with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. I’ve been checking in with everyone about depression, fear, anxiety, and anger around all of this. This major event negatively effects all of us in some way and I’ve just been unable to say anything about it here or on social media. It’s just too big. I can hardly find the words to say.
The two big thoughts that come to mind as I write this:
This affects us all in some way, but it mostly affects those with uteruses. Those whose right to bodily autonomy has been stripped from them. Please don’t forget that this includes women and men and people of all genders.
As a gender therapist, I’ve gotten a particular view of the impacts of this situation. The American right wing is increasingly taking up the issue of gender identity as a focus and means of othering. This is leaving some people feeling genuinely scared. Trans men are men, but many of them still have uteruses and are understandably fearful in a world where there are people who outwardly hate them, would wish them harm, and then would prevent and/or punish them for seeking an abortion. Most people I’ve talked with are angry, but I know that anger will soon become fear and anxiety.
Its a scary, hard time, and I’m tired of talking about healthy coping skills in the face of such ugliness.
The second thought is one that has been shared by so many of my clients who are cis-men or who don’t have a uterus. I want to be as supportive as I can, and really voice my opposition to this horrible decision, but in times like this, it feels like my hurt and struggles around this must pale in comparison to those who’ve had their rights to bodily autonomy revoked. Everything I have to say feels like its minimizing it in some way.
I’ve been talking with clients about being open to and making room for their own grieving process. To give themselves time to process this, to fight, rage, and do everything they can when presented an opportunity to have an impact, but to shelve it and find calm and peace as much as possible when those opportunities are not available. I feel like the doctor talking with a cancer patient about how optimism and positivity can really help improve treatment outcomes. I’m speaking truth….but to people who are hurting and in some cases not ready or able to hear and let it in.
In light of this last sentiment, with humbleness, recognizing that I personally have not had my rights to bodily autonomy stripped away, and just not feeling like any words are enough. The following is what I posted on social media and shared with a few clients the day Ruth Bader Ginsberg died.
….I also fully realize that in some ways this is an ironic video to post after someone recently did a scathing analysis of the Lord Of The Rings movies and found that it utterly, miserably fails the Bechdel test ….or kind of barely passes it? with only a second or two of time showing women talking with each other about something not involving men….this is the world we live in.
Technoblade
If you have any clients who are teens, young adults, or who enjoy Mine Craft, they were likely touched in some way by the Youtuber Technoblade. Technoblade was a well known youtuber who created Mine Craft related videos for years. After a long battle with cancer, he died last week at the age of 23. This has been so hard for so many and I’ve had many teen clients feel alone in their grief and unable to process this with parents and other adults who don’t understand how a person someone has never met can have such an impact. All week clients have been sharing how they came to know Technoblade and how he was significant in their lives.
If you see teens or young adults in your practice, or have a teen/young adult who you love, check in with them about this. It makes a world of difference to be seen, heard, and to get to talk about it.
After some time away from his Youtube Channel, Technoblade’s dad posted this video this week:
Thank you for continuing to be a part of the SacWellness story ^_^
Monthly Awareness Dates
Month
Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
Day
International Self Care Day (Jul. 24)
World Day Against Trafficking Persons (Jul. 30)
Find more mental health awareness dates in our yearly calendar:
https://sacwellness.com/
This Issue’s Mental Health Articles
Scam Alert! – TinyUrl Sent Over Text Asking You To Verify Your Listing
Two Teen Boys Talk Directly To Parents About Their Emotions And Thoughts Of Suicide
The Drama Triangle: The Story Of The Damsel, Hero, And Villain
If you’re interested in writing an article for SacWellness please contact me to talk about it or check out this link:
https://sacwellness.com/being-
Classifieds For Therapists
In addition to being a therapist directory, SacWellness is also home to a classifeids for therapists, where you can advertise to local mental health professionals for free ^_^
There are currently 35 active ads in the classifieds for therapists.
Visit the SacWellness Classifieds For Therapists to read them or click on of the links below to visit a specific section.
