Young caregiver and experts talk about the challenges of being a youth caregiver By Yesenia Barrios Abigail Gafter was 12 years old when she started taking care of her great uncle. He was obese, had substance use disorder, and depression. “It’s almost like being a parent with a newborn going ‘okay, where do I have...
Category: Therapy Thursday
‘When it comes to creating change, it’s not a sprint–it’s a marathon’
By Yesenia Barrios, Urban Health Media Project Victoria Waltz was 17 years old when she attempted suicide by overdosing on Vicodin. It wasn’t until she woke up in the hospital and doctors said they feared for her safety that she realized she had depression. Waltz, raised in a Black Christian family that didn’t believe in...
Foster children at high risk for a multitude of mental health problems
By Yesenia Barrios Lisa Cohen had to start over 13 times. As a foster kid she needed to find new friends at each new school at each home where she was placed. One time, after being forced to leave a foster home she loved, she woke up in her new home with cuts in her...
Correctional facilities: The Band-Aid to mental health
By Yesenia Barrios Shawanna Vaughn had no choice. She was born in a prison hospital to an incarcerated mother. She endured a tough childhood, only to land back in prison at 17, and continue the harmful cycle. “Nobody got to prison without adverse childhood experiences which turned into adult traumas,” said Vaughn, founder of Silent...
Social media: A complex challenge for youth and parents to protect mental health
By Yesenia Barrios Using social media– specifically apps like Instagram and Snapchat--requires tricky negotiation for young people to engage socially while avoiding its potentially intense toxic impact. “Their brains are not fully formed, not fully myelinated—they’re more at risk for the addictive aspect of these devices and these apps, and (teens) have less protective factors,”...
‘Enough is enough — I am going to die’
Therapy Thursday panelists talk about the multiple obstacles victims face to leave an abusive relationship By Yesenia Barrios From the outside, it looked like Roblyn Lewter had a good marriage with a wonderful man. But for years, what no one knew was that she endured violence by his hands, fearing for her life. Finally, she...
Opioid Addiction: Like a “Silverback Gorilla on Your Back”
Talking Recovery, Stigma on Therapy Thursday By Hermes Falcon Paul Moore, like others with substance use disorder, didn’t set out to become addicted to opioids. And like many, he started off experimenting with less addictive drugs. But living with depression led Moore to seek stronger drugs in order to “feel something,” he said. Eventually, cocaine...
Refuting the stigma behind antidepressants and mental illness
Pam Rentz Urban Health Media Project While great strides have been made toward normalizing the concept of “self care” and incorporating mental health care into daily routines, the use of antidepressants and other mental health medications remains clouded by stigma. Melissa Sporn, a clinical psychologist in McLean, Virginia, and Aqsa Siddique, a third-year student at...