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It’s been a pretty hectic week for most of my American readers. A major national holiday and Black Friday, all in one week. Back to back, no less!
The only thing that could rival that excitement would be a brand new Saturday Sanity, right? (Well, it was worth a shot.)
As you read this, I’m most likely putting up Christmas decorations. And that is more exciting to me than any of it!
This week at Mental Health Notes, things were sad. People watched as a fellow human being committed suicide live, the numbers of children being dropped off at …read more

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Wow, what a week it has been, my friends. The weather here has been sunny and in the upper 60s/lower 70s (which Chopper loved), I found a ridiculously inexpensive and surprisingly potent scented oil while wandering aimlessly around Wal-Mart (mmm, Christmasy cinnamon), and I finally found the name of the song on one of the new Blackberry commercials (it’s “Live the Proof” by Jim Boggia, if anyone’s interested. It’s great. Seriously.).
And, of course, we Americans elected our leader for the next four years. Something I (but not Chopper) found even more exciting than the rest of …read more

Saturday’s just don’t have the same magic they had when I was a kid. Saturday’s used to mean no school. Sleeping in. Hanging out with friends until all hours of the night. Going to the pool, or the mall, or some other such fun place.
Now, Saturdays mean catching up on work. Getting a quick call in with a friend. Doing chores I didn’t have time to do during the week. Going grocery shopping, doing laundry, or some other such mundane task.
It’s sad when you have to plan a lazy Saturday, yes?
In any event, enjoy this week’s Saturday Sanity. And the …read more

I can’t believe I just discovered this.
And, in all honesty, I didn’t discover it. My mother, who’s obsessed with freebies, discovered it.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) offers tons of mental health publications, brochures, posters, notepads, and cards for you to order – for free.
I know, I was ecstatic, too.
And why I say “tons,” I mean tons. From anti-stigma posters to advocacy magnets to useful notepads to informational brochures, SAMHSA has it covered.
These are excellent items for everyone – mental health consumers and their loved ones, mental health advocates, and mental health professionals – so visit their …read more

In addition to May being Mental Health Awareness Month (or, simply Mental Health Month, depending on where you read about it), the week of May 4-10 is Children’s Mental Health Week and it kicked off with a bang yesterday (May 4) with Childhood Depression Awareness Day.
To help you better understand children’s mental health, or – if you already have a pretty good handle on your child’s mental health – to help you stay current with the goings-on and resources for children’s mental health, I’ve compiled a list of useful Web sites, pages, and articles for you.
You can thank Liberty for …read more