Hello Cyprus, Malaysia, India, and Ukraine...welcome to the blog...if you haven't read the Part I already please do so...now, cutting to the chase...after this disclaimer...
This post is only personal opinion and experience and is not professional medical advice...if you feel you want or need to, please access appropriate help, eg, via the Lifeline phone service 131 114.
Again I am essentially only re-iterating many other people's work and opinions and the general public discourse around these issues, in that I agree with the idea that respectful and frank discussion of these issues, of any issue, is a positive to be encouraged, if still to be carefully managed.
I briefly re-iterate the points in the previous post, and refer readers to the program on ABC TV last week re Self Harm, and particularly the issues of 'underground' social media websites dedicated to displaying self harm 'selfies', offering advice on hiding self harm injuries, even advice on different ways to self harm, etc, and to varying degrees are either deliberately or effectively encouraging self harm.
This 'social media' influence is another whole level of complication of the modern era, and I believe another reason to bring these issues into the mainstream Health discussion...without being flippant, the more you popularise something, the less attraction it has as a 'taboo' that potentially attracts as a display of rebellion against the status quo...and I believe this could be part of a good strategy for addressing the social media sub-cultures that develop around these issues...
For example, it is a joke mired in reality that 'to make your kids hate something, make it cool with the parents'...slightly tangential but a genuine example is the case of the Billabong Surf Company who have recently suffered massive losses, and part of the explanation has specifically been that they have lost market focus and therefore share, because kids don't associate well with what they see their parents now wearing...even if those parents have been wearing it since 'back in the day'...
I don't think discussion alone is the answer, or that we will ever be entirely successful in stopping self harm or suicide, (or child abuse for that matter), but if simply speaking openly and respectfully about these issues has a positive effect, and it does, then that is what we should do.
And further, I believe/agree it is correct to say that the stigma often attached to these issues is reduced by acknowledgement and discussion, and that when the 'stigma' and 'taboo' is reduced then people are more likely to discuss, and that reduces the likeliness to act, so the incidents are ultimately reduced...and it becomes an upward cycle...
I hope I've made the point that there are many individual experiences that can affect someones behaviours and/or mental health, etc, and that whilst issues of Child Abuse or Drug Use or Self Harm or Suicide are often interlinked, they often also exist in isolation...and whatever the links, there is no conclusive template that can be applied to collectively address and resolve any of these issues.
For example, there are widely expressed concerns around Australia about multiple external pressures on the Primary Producers Sector, eg, high Australian dollar and/or government policy, that combined with the usual stressors, eg, climate and weather, local demand, personal health, etc, are pushing farmers to suicide at 'record levels'.
And I believe/agree that there is one way to really address the issues whatever they are, for whoever is suffering, and that is to acknowledge and discuss these struggles and stressors and how they are affecting us, and we do see this increasingly as communities move to help themselves with local support groups and other initiatives.
I agree with the broader and increasing concensus that having a World Suicide Prevention Day and associated events like the 'Out Of The Shadows, Into The Light' breakfast held last weekend in Mt Gambier, and speaking openly and respectfully, are the best strategies for combating the increased incidents of suicide across our society...and that the same strategy can work with other issues like Self Harm.
These connections and cross-influence are generally well acknowledged,
researched, and documented, and yet somehow we still manage to make the
same mistakes and therefore continue to create the same problems...and sometimes talking about stuff simply isn't enough...for example the Child Abuse Royal Commission.
The case currently receiving full attention, that of paedophile Scout leader Steven Larkins, is an exact illustration of what the Scouts and other groups/organisations/Chuches have done for decades and continue to do despite claims of cultural change...the sort of systemic failures that saw him appointed CEO of an Aboriginal Child Care (Foster Care) service even after he was repeatedly identified as 'a problem'...
And when whistleblower Scout Leader Armand Hoitink publicly aired his concerns (with authorities, etc) he was censured by the Scouts for going to police...and Mr Hoitinks and many others opinion is that the Scouts were far more concerned with the welfare of the organisation, more concerned with reputation, than they were about the safety and welfare of the children...(and some victims so traumatised that they can't even attend the Commission personally...)
This is exactly what has happened with the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up following the removal of paedophile teacher Glyn Dorling, who the Lutherans were already moving around their system and protecting when they knowingly put our 7 year old children in his classroom.
The Lutherans either wanted our children to be abused, or didn't care...and when forced to act, did so in denial and self preservation, attacking parents, and locking it all down internally with definitively illegal 'Confidentiality Clauses' amongst staff, etc, with an abject disregard for the welfare of the children and families involved.
For what it's worth, I genuinely hope to be wrong about the Royal Commission, and that it does achieve 'great things'...but I have no genuine faith that we as society are headed for or even capable of this change...what I see unfolding is more of the same...more chest beating and hair pulling and wailing about the injustice and the suffering, etc, but how many Catholic bishops or Lutheran hierarchy, etc, are going to end up in jail where they belong.
I sincerely hope that the Commission achieves massive and positive change, but my cynicism, borne of a decade of personal experience, deny me any real belief...let's hope they do far more than 'talk'...
Again, I believe that we need to develop a culture of discussion, and one of 'strength not stigma' in making personal acceptance of one's problems and acknowledgement of the need for assistance, support, etc, to be what it genuinely already is, a show of strength to be embraced, not a weakness to be hidden.
And again I can only apologise for the somewhat disjointed nature of these two posts, they have been very heavy going...but hopefully in combination, they make some sense to you the reader.
Tomorrow: Rail Lands Letter and Other Stuff
Tonight Council votes on the plan to rip up the rails, etc, that they have already acknowledged they will likely be liable to replace should rail transport return to that corridor...and this is my letter, delivered this arvo requesting they don't.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
No comments:
Post a Comment