"It's a little heavy. But I want you to know this is important to me"
May 13, 2021 8:47 AM Subscribe
San Francisco Giants outfielder Drew Robinson's remarkable second act [ESPN] [CW: All links above & below include graphic discussion of a suicide attempt; if you need help, ThereIsHelp]
Drew Robinson hits his first home run of the season
'This is just where I belong': Drew Robinson's return to baseball after suicide attempt [ESPN]
Giants’ Drew Robinson crushes home run year after losing his right eye [Grauniad]
E60 Revisits ‘Alive: The Drew Robinson Story’ [ESPN]
Giants' Drew Robinson Opens Up About Mental Health After Suicide Attempt [BleacherReport]
'A lot of us are f***ed up': Reliever Ryan Buchter opens up about mental health in baseball [yahoo!sports]
Drew Robinson hits his first home run of the season
'This is just where I belong': Drew Robinson's return to baseball after suicide attempt [ESPN]
Giants’ Drew Robinson crushes home run year after losing his right eye [Grauniad]
E60 Revisits ‘Alive: The Drew Robinson Story’ [ESPN]
Giants' Drew Robinson Opens Up About Mental Health After Suicide Attempt [BleacherReport]
'A lot of us are f***ed up': Reliever Ryan Buchter opens up about mental health in baseball [yahoo!sports]
(Dang, I expected more comments in this thread.)
I have seen a number of folks I know discussing mental health lately, and I am taking it as a sign of wider openness, and not primarily as a sign of greater incidence. I am pleased that people feel they can discuss what's going on in their head, since it encourages others who are also wrestling with something.
Keep it up, tend your flame, support everyone.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:43 AM on May 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
I have seen a number of folks I know discussing mental health lately, and I am taking it as a sign of wider openness, and not primarily as a sign of greater incidence. I am pleased that people feel they can discuss what's going on in their head, since it encourages others who are also wrestling with something.
Keep it up, tend your flame, support everyone.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:43 AM on May 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm a middle school ELA teacher in a title 1 school in Florida. This year, our governor(!) decreed that mental health was now important, and commanded public schools to create a mental health course for all grade levels. In my district, ELA teachers were tasked with serving the lessons.
The lessons were as good as they could possibly have been, considering. Our district literacy supervisor was in charge, and she is a great and compassionate human being. Almost all the outreach and informational material was, of course, not from here. A lot was from UK, some was from Canada, and the rest was from giant blue states with tax bases and an attempt at blanket health care.
I love my kids, and I want the best for them. However, every day I served the lessons, I felt a painful level of dissonance that I was telling my kids to ask for help and to urge others to ask for help, when help is literally not available for people like them. My students are generally low income, mostly Black or Latino/a, many are 1st or 2nd generation Americans, or recent legal residents, or undocumented. Many are coming from countries where imprisonment in a mental hospital is still an effective way to silence dissidents (as it was/is here). I feared I was getting them into conflicts with their parents, who know best for them in a way that a middle class white lady never will.
To add to the dissonance, I am the only white person in my family. Two of my family members have attempted suicide this year. Their closest family members are deeply conflicted about how to help them, because therapy is for white people*, and being safe in a mental hospital is for white people, and not getting shot by cops when you call 911 is for white people. And a couple of my students attempted suicide as well, including one who found out the hard way that the school district protocol for a suicide threat from an elearner was to send police to their house.
I don't have answers. I served these lessons as intentionally and lovingly as I could. But I have grave reservations about whether my kids or their families (or of course my family) would be safe or respected in any mental health (or any health) infrastructure.
Oh, how is all this germane to the OP? I used this article, as well as the Players Tribune post by Kevin Love, and the tweet from Demar Derozan to supplement some of my lessons. I think stuff like this is the way the culture changes. But it's a huge ask to want anybody who isn't greatly empowered by money and public stature to trust in a system that on the evidence wants its inconvenient people to just die.
*I'm well aware that there are Black and brown therapists -- I have one and so do some family members. The fact remains that our mental health/health structures are deeply rooted in capitalist white supremacy, and you have to keep that bookmarked in your mind as you take in any services. Can we survive it and live with it?
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:44 PM on May 13, 2021 [13 favorites]
The lessons were as good as they could possibly have been, considering. Our district literacy supervisor was in charge, and she is a great and compassionate human being. Almost all the outreach and informational material was, of course, not from here. A lot was from UK, some was from Canada, and the rest was from giant blue states with tax bases and an attempt at blanket health care.
I love my kids, and I want the best for them. However, every day I served the lessons, I felt a painful level of dissonance that I was telling my kids to ask for help and to urge others to ask for help, when help is literally not available for people like them. My students are generally low income, mostly Black or Latino/a, many are 1st or 2nd generation Americans, or recent legal residents, or undocumented. Many are coming from countries where imprisonment in a mental hospital is still an effective way to silence dissidents (as it was/is here). I feared I was getting them into conflicts with their parents, who know best for them in a way that a middle class white lady never will.
To add to the dissonance, I am the only white person in my family. Two of my family members have attempted suicide this year. Their closest family members are deeply conflicted about how to help them, because therapy is for white people*, and being safe in a mental hospital is for white people, and not getting shot by cops when you call 911 is for white people. And a couple of my students attempted suicide as well, including one who found out the hard way that the school district protocol for a suicide threat from an elearner was to send police to their house.
I don't have answers. I served these lessons as intentionally and lovingly as I could. But I have grave reservations about whether my kids or their families (or of course my family) would be safe or respected in any mental health (or any health) infrastructure.
Oh, how is all this germane to the OP? I used this article, as well as the Players Tribune post by Kevin Love, and the tweet from Demar Derozan to supplement some of my lessons. I think stuff like this is the way the culture changes. But it's a huge ask to want anybody who isn't greatly empowered by money and public stature to trust in a system that on the evidence wants its inconvenient people to just die.
*I'm well aware that there are Black and brown therapists -- I have one and so do some family members. The fact remains that our mental health/health structures are deeply rooted in capitalist white supremacy, and you have to keep that bookmarked in your mind as you take in any services. Can we survive it and live with it?
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:44 PM on May 13, 2021 [13 favorites]
i read his story in the news, a few months back. it is heartbreaking, and he is so brave. i am glad he is able to be forthright about it, and that the Giants have been supportive.
i do hope this is a sign of culture change. last year was so difficult, for so many people, i think that perhaps Robinson's experience might find greater empathy and understanding from those who learn of it; maybe it will give those who are struggling the courage to seek help. and yes, may that truly be help, rather than institutionalized violence and oppression.
posted by lapolla at 7:22 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
i do hope this is a sign of culture change. last year was so difficult, for so many people, i think that perhaps Robinson's experience might find greater empathy and understanding from those who learn of it; maybe it will give those who are struggling the courage to seek help. and yes, may that truly be help, rather than institutionalized violence and oppression.
posted by lapolla at 7:22 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
« Older What If Everything We Know About Gymnastics Is... | Sleater Blue Filter Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by wenestvedt at 8:54 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]