I volunteered answering calls for CrisisTextLine for over 300 hours several years ago. It's not an easy thing to do. But if you are interested, please go here: Web Link And if you are interested in looking through the massive amount of data CTL has been compiling, see here: Web Link

If you know someone going through emotional struggles, please take the time to listen to them. And in addition to their words, "listen" to what they are NOT saying and to their body language. If you are not comfortable dealing with this, please have them reach out to 988 to talk on the phone, 741741 to text, or talk with someone trained to deal with such things. I am a resource as well.

I am pleased that this service is being used and hopefully helping those who need help.

But I do feel that by the time someone calls they are already in crisis mode. I would like to see more being done to prevent this by doing a better job preparing our young people better for the real world with going back to some old fashioned values. Family life with both parents and even grandparents being able to spend time with kids, eating together at dinner time, having family outings and family board game nights are important to home life. Weekly non-challenging activities such as youth clubs and hang out places where kids can enjoy being kids instead of always being driven to the next quality activity. Kids only getting trophies if they are warranted, and that sometimes they will not get one. Learning that they might not get on the team, not invited to the cool party, failing to get an A on an assignment, not getting a gold star for every piece of homework, artwork, or just turning up. Life lessons prepare kids for disappointment and mistakes. These lessons should be learned in grade school, not in teen years. If they were learned when they were young, the emotions needed to deal with these disappointments will be there for when they are needed in teens and twenties.

We are simply not preparing kids for real world life. This has to change too.

Is there a glitch in the matrix? I am agreeing with Bystander two articles in a row. Maybe it's the apocalypse. Good mental health starts at home.