Mental illnesses are common 1 in 5 adults in any given year. If you can recognize the signs and symptoms and provide the appropriate responses, you can save lives. The Mental Health First Aid training will give you the early intervention tool to help someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge. I completed the Adult Mental Health First Aid training and highly recommend it, especially the in-person portion.

I am keeping an eye Rivian electric car. Its stock price is $10. It was almost at $130 back in 2021. It seems like a good time to buy. I am sure Rivian will be around for a while. I just need to find the fund to invest.

Today marks my thirteenth year working at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Thirteen years is a long time, but I am still here and still holding on to the title: Director of Design and Web Services.

My role hasn’t changed much this past year. My main responsibilities are still our websites. The new site for the law school has been underdevelopment for more than a year. It will launch soon—hopefully. I don’t design or code anymore. I give advice and feedback. Someone else is doing the coding. I am cool with that.

Flexibility is the other aspect I am enjoying. It gives a balance between work and life. The benefit is the reason I am sticking around. I get to spend more time with my family through the PTO I had accumulated over the years. My kids are still my priority. I hope they will love me back because I know damn well my job won’t.

Nevertheless, I can’t complain about my job. I still have the freedom and the flexibility within my perimeter. When you are not your own boss, you have to follow orders. I am fine with that. I just need to do my job. When I leave my passion and pride outside of my work, I do a better job.

I don’t need to show off my work. I don’t need to put my name on a design. I don’t get bogged down when my work is gone. I don’t need to protect my legacy. I just need to make money to feed my family.

That’s where I am at with my career. I am just going to ride it out. I am taking it one day at a time. I don’t think about the future. I just go with the flow. I will adapt when I have to. For now, I am thankful for the opportunity to continue to work at George Mason university’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

Trump was too much of a wimp to debate Harris; therefore, Fox had to do it for him. Harris came to be interviewed, but she ended up debating a white guy who constantly interrupted her and talked over her. She came prepared and showed him who was in charge.

It is crystal clear in his response to a 56-year-old construction worker that Trump doesn’t give a fuck about the working class.

After more than 20 years on hiatus, I started trading again yesterday. I didn’t have much cash in my account; therefore, I wanted to invest in penny stocks. My wife told me to buy Tevogen (TVGN) and I did. We could have made 100% today, but I wanted to keep it for the long term. If I were to lose, it’s not that much.

I got into trading right after I graduated from college. I couldn’t find a job and day trading seemed like an easy way to make some quick money. I opened a account with the small saving that I had. As a day trader, I made from $50 to $200 a day, which were enough for me. One morning, I lost over $3,000 because I didn’t sell what I had.

When I landed a full-time job, I stopped trading. I hardly checked my account. My account was with Scottrade. TD Ameritrade acquired Scottrade a few years ago and now merged into Charles Schwab.

I had learned an invaluable lesson in day trading; therefore, I am being really careful about our investment. I am willing to lose an amount that I won’t regret. Obviously I won’t get rich either.

My wife was following NuZee (NUZE) and it is over 800% today. How crazy is that? We missed the boat this morning. Oh well! She is a smart woman so I will follow her.

Jelly Roll has a big, beautiful voice. He drowns his soul in his music instead of drugs and alcohol. He writes about his addictions and recoveries in Beautifully Broken. His lyrics are honest and he delivered them from his heart. In “Winning Streak,” he reveals, “The broken man in the mirror, can’t look at me ’cause he’s guilty / And I swear that the last couple months, that motherfucker tried to kill me.” I enjoy the album throughout, but I wish the productions aren’t so polished. The acoustic settings would have matched better his his raw vocals. “Heart of Stone” in particular is way too refined for his confession: “Dear Lord, can you help me? I’ve fallen out of grace / I’m crawlin’ back to Heaven from this hell on earth I made / My blood has gotten heavy, there’s metal in my veins / It’s runnin’ like the river, filled with all of my mistakes.”

Eren Orbey writes for the New Yorker:

Cora was five, Dawson was three, and Callan was eight months old. Pat loves to talk about them and dreads having to explain what happened. On January 24, 2023, he stepped out of the house in Duxbury to pick up children’s medicine and a takeout dinner order. When he returned, less than an hour later, Lindsay lay semiconscious in the back yard, having cut her neck and wrists and thrown herself from their bedroom window. She’d left the children strangled in the basement. Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead that night; Callan was airlifted to a hospital, where he died a few days later. “I have three kids,” Pat sometimes still says, out of habit, before adding, “They are deceased.”

Mental health is a serious issue in America. I am enrolling in the Mental Health First Aid Training to learn about the signs and symptoms.

Mental Health First Aid is an early intervention tool for mental health support.

The MHFA Action Plan:

• Assess for risk of suicide or harm.
• Listen nonjudgmentally.
• Give reassurance and information.
• Encourage appropriate professional help.
• Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

What is Your Role as a First Aider?

Mental Health First Aiders…

• Do not diagnose or treat themselves or others.
• Observe changes in behaviors.
• Offer a nonjudgmental, listening ear.
• Respect the individual’s privacy.
• Serve as a vital link to early intervention.

Scope of a First Aider

• First Aiders do not diagnose.
• First Aiders do not treat.
• First Aiders serve as a vital link between a person experiencing a challenge and appropriate professional support.

What is Mental Health?

Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual:

• Realizes their own abilities.
• Can cope with normal stresses of life.
• Can work productively and fruitfully.
• Contributes to their community.

What is a Mental Health Challenge?

A mental health challenge is when:

• There is a major change in a person’s thinking, feeling, or acting.
• The change interferes with the person’s ability to live their life.
• The interference does not go away quickly and lasts longer than typical emotions or reactions would be expected to.

What is a Mental Disorder?

Mental Disorder is a diagnosable disorder that:

• Affects a person’s thinking, emotional state, and behavior
• Disrupts the person’s ability to: work, carry out daily activities, and engage in satisfying relationships

What are Substance Use Disorders?

Patterns of using alcohol or another substance that results in impairment in daily life or noticeable distress.

Repeated use of and dependence on the substance will lead to a pattern of compulsive use, drug tolerance and, if discontinued, withdrawal symptoms.

Some Facts

• Approximately 1 in 5 American adults are diagnosed with a mental disorder in a single year.
• Almost half of all American adults will experience a mental health challenge at some point over the course of their lifetime.
• 19.1% of American adults with any mental disorder in the past year
• 4.6% of American adults with severe mental disorder in the past year

Mental Disorders that Commonly Occur in the United States

• Anxiety is a feeling of worry caused by perceived threats in the environment.
• Bipolar disorder i s an illness characterized by extreme swings in mood, energy, and activity level.
• Eating disorders are serious illnesses tied to irregular eating habits, severe stress, or concerns about body image, and characterized by too much or too little food intake.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder is a disorder that can occur after a person has experienced a traumatic event
• Psychosis is a condition in which a person has lost some contact with reality.
• Substance disorder is a “pattern of using alcohol or other substance that results in impairment in daily life or noticable distress” (APA, 2013)

Recognizing Signs: How a Person May Behave

• Early signs: an emerging pattern of showing up late for or cancelling personal and professional commitments.
• Worsening signs: withdrawing from family and friends, absenteeism or “presenteeism,” odd or erratic behavior.
• Crisis signs: threatening to hurt or kill themselves or others, acting recklessly or engaging in risky behavior, drug or alcohol misuse.

Recognizing Signs: How a Person May Appear

• Early signs: Tired looking, disheveled clothing, appearing more unkempt than usual for the individual.
• Worsening signs:declining personal hygiene, highly agitated, withdrawal from others.
• Crisis signs: excessive vomiting, difficulty breathing, overdosing on drugs or alcohol.

Recognizing Symptoms: How a Person May Feel

• Early symptoms: no longer enjoying work, activities, or hobbies, sadness, worry.
• Worsening symptoms: increasing sadness, increasing worry, hopelessness, rage, despair.
• Crisis symptoms: dramatic changes in mood, feeling trapped, like there is no way out.

Recognizing Symptoms: How a Person May Think

• Early symptoms: difficulty concentrating or focusing at home, school, or work; indecisiveness.
• Worsening symptoms: increasing self- blame or self-criticism, distorted body image, racing thoughts or mind going blank.
• Crisis symptoms: thoughts of self-harm, hopelessness, delusional thinking, hallucinations.

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