We feature an expert in the mental health and substance use disorder field to answer questions. This issue we talk to Rachel Kennedy of Rachel Kennedy Mediation about using mediation as a tool in recovery. What is mediation? Broadly, mediation is a way to resolve conflict, often after harm has already occurred. There are many …
Category: Healing
Yes, It’s Time to Change Our Definition of Masculinity
What does it mean to be a man? You look tough, act like you know it all, never back down from a fight, drive the right car, keep your woman in line, make lotsa money, and be good in bed and expect your kids to be winners and be good at everything they do, and …
Delayed Grief
There are a multitude of reasons why people suppress their grief. At the time of death, we don’t have the skills to process complex emotions, we lack healthy role models for grieving, or we see ourselves as the strong one in the family, so we’re stoic. We may have an acute or chronic medical illness …
Currents of Change
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. —Alan Watts I live seven blocks from the edge of a bluff that was left standing by a larger, older, and mightier Mississippi River than now flows along its banks. These sandstone bluffs continue …
Why Can’t We All Get Along With Each Other?
Most of us pick fights with others to cover up the wars we have with ourselves.—Anonymous Our country and the world really are in trouble. These days there are almost daily shootings in the news. School board meetings, public health discussions and state budget debates, and inexplicable road rage incidents occur daily and can be …
Surviving Suicide
Part of human existence, and having the ability to reason, is seeking answers to the question, Why? As a child, when we become aware of our surroundings and start to learn the way of things, we begin to ask why questions. We are curious, we want to know how things work, why they are the …
Healing Through the Canvas
When my dad passed away I had no idea what to do with that level of grief and sadness. I had never experienced anything like that before. Although I had experienced the death of grandparents and a cousin, I had never lost anyone that close to me. My heart hurt. My dad wasn’t just a …
Traditional Healing for Native American Communities
Traditional healing is a relatively new program based on well-established “tried and tested” methods. The nature of traditional healing is based upon knowledge and sacred ceremonies passed through the generations, carefully taught, and intrinsically linked to the respect of the communities. The Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Traditional Healing for Native Communities program, which is …
Ask the Expert: Heather Jeffrey of Acres for Life
We feature an expert in the mental health and substance use disorder field to answer questions. This issue we talk to Heather Jeffrey of Acres for Life, a stable that offers equine therapy for those in addiction and other mental health issues. Q: What is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)? Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is an experiential …
Where Is Your Hope?
The Phoenix · Where Is Your Hope? Is your hope these days in a vaccine? A new political or economic vision? More public attention to ending racism or climate warming? Whatever we look to outside of ourselves is always transient. A more reliable basis for hope comes from within our own hearts and minds. What …