For a long time, bullying was seen as a rite of passage. It built character and was purported to toughen kids up. A stereotypical belief that a victim has asked for it or done something to provoke the aggressor was prevalent. Children were also led to believe that they’re being bullied because they deserved it, often internalizing this emotion in the process. Society has changed and is constantly evolving. Bullying is no longer an expected or normalized behavior, and it should not be...

Why "Don't cry, be brave" Can Backfire You may hear parents tell their children not to cry during stressful moments in the visit. Parents are often embarrassed that their child is upset, and feel pressure to get them to stop crying. In those instances, you can label and validate a child's emotions and let the parents know that it is OK for all feelings to be expressed in your office. You can say, "It's OK if you cry, I cry when I am scared too. You can sit on your mommy's lap and I will tell...

By Zhawin Gonzalez (compiled by Chloe Yang), 9/30/20, positiveexperience.org/blog HOPE knows that all families, communities, and cultures have inherent strengths. In recent webinars with The Montana Institute , we’ve learned real world examples of this from co-presenters at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) . Zhawin Gonzalez, or Wasegabo, is the MIWRC Education and Resource Coordinator. In this blog post, Zhawin shares his insight on the long tradition of positive...

COVID-19 is a devilishly versatile disease, attacking all manner of body systems and doing all manner of damage—to the lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidneys. Though it doesn’t attack the mind directly, the pandemic the virus has caused has been devastating to mental health, and in many cases, the most vulnerable group is women. In a new study conducted by CARE , a non-profit international aid organization, investigators have found that while almost nobody is spared from the anxiety, worry...

Experiencing Abuse during the First Presidential Debate

By Nicole Feldman, University of California Irvine, September 18, 2020 Experiencing multiple stressors triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic – such as unemployment – and COVID-19-related media consumption are directly linked to rising acute stress and depressive symptoms across the U.S., according to a groundbreaking University of California, Irvine study. The report appears in Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “The pandemic is not hitting...