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.

We took all four boys to the dentist for their six-month checkup. c came out and told me the orthodontist would like to talk to me. I knew I would have to spend more money. She informed me that Xuân needed a palatal expander. Since we already paid for Đao’s expander and braces and Đan’s braces, I expected we will have to do for Xuân and Vương as well. I didn’t even think or hesitate to drop $1,000 to start the palatal expander for Xuân. I just gave them my credit card. Yes, I am guilty as charged for my extensive parenting style. I would have thought it over if I were to drop a grant on myself, but for my kids, it’s all good.

I invested in a future font called Thow, designed by Dương Trần. My hope is to include in my book a recommendation for a typeface designed by a Vietnamese designer. We’ll see how far Dương Trần will go with this typeface.

Last night, I watched the Virginia Senate debate between Tim Kaine and Hung Cao. I didn’t know anything about Hung Cao and I was curious about my fellow Vietnamese American who is running for U.S. Senate. With his military service and immigration background, I thought he would be straightforward and compassionate.

I was disappointed with Cao’s performance. He dodged every question. The moderators had to repeat the question every time he gave his answer and he still didn’t give a straight answer. Like Trump, Cao kept coming back to immigration no matter what topic was being discussed at the moment. When Cao tried to avoid the questions so many times, he started to make some bizarre cannibal shit. That was the moment I realized that Cao was not talking to Virginia voters. He was talking directly to Trump.

Just like JD Vance, Hung Cao cannot be trusted to represent the people of Virginia. He is a Trump’s bitch. He was willing to look stupid on the debate stage just to please Trump. It’s a damn shame for a Vietnamese-American candidate who brings nothing new but the same old Trump agenda to Virginia. What a Caoward!

In the age of digital distraction, reading Yoko Ogawa’s Mina’s Matchbox takes patience. The novel plays with the characters and you are invited to be part of their daily lives. Even though the family is wealthy, they don’t do anything spectacular, except for the young girl who rides to school on a hippo because of her health. The story is quiet yet mysterious. I tried my best not to pick up my phone while reading and hoping for something dramatic to happen. If you want to get away from the digital chaos and want to relax, this is a perfect read. Stephen Snyder has done an excellent job on the translation. If you have never read Ogawa’s works, I highly recommend The Memory Police, which was also translated by Snyder.

Last week, we took some time off to take the kids to the beach. Despite the cold water, the strong wind, and the crashing waves, we had a great time together. It was nice to have the time just for our little family. Nevertheless, we had very little down time with the four active boys.

As the boys are growing and demanding their own time, I don’t know how many more times we can spend together. I want to use my time on earth to make memories. As I am aging, I don’t know when my time will be up. It might sound cynical, but we don’t know when we will be running out of time.

As we spent our time on the beach, we also attended my mother-in-law’s sister’s funeral. She lived a wonderful life and spent her time last with her loved ones before she left. If I were to have as much time as her on earth, I would have about 43 years left. Given how unhealthy I have become and how stressful I always carried with me, I don’t think I have that much time left.

As I am getting older and seeing people leaving this earth, I often think about my own time. A close friend of mine drowned in his teenage time. A heart attack robbed the time of another close friend of mine when he was in his 30s. My parents, aunts, and uncles have lost their time to illnesses.

As time passed me by, I realized that I had wasted so much of my time. I spent too much time worrying about things that might happen such as losing the ability to feed my family, raising my kids wrong, drifting away from the love of my life, and fading into darkness.

Nowadays, I just want to treasure the present time that I have. I can’t spend too much time worrying about things that I don’t have control over. I can’t even control my own time. Only time will tell.

In last night’s VP debate, JD Vance proved to be a skillful communicator. He performanced well in the first half in hammering Kamala Harris on the economy, even though it was the Biden Administration. In contrast, Tim Walz was a bit nervous. He should have given a straight answer on his trip to China. He got the date wrong. So what? It was 35 years ago. Move on.

In the second half, Walz came out swinging on abortion and democracy. He cornered Vance on the 2020 election result and Vance gave a “damning non-answer.” Vance pivoted and revealed his dishonesty. He knew damn well that he could not cross the Trump line.

Vance succeed in the VP debate where Trump had failed in the presidential debate. Vance out-performed Trump on Trump’s own policies. Too bad, Vance is not on the top of the ticket. He is still running as Trump’s Vice Puppet—not Vice President.

Vance demonstrated his debating skills, but has also proved further that he is not trustworthy. He knew what to say to advance his political career even if he had to lie to himself and to the American people. Even Trump knows this guy is not to be trusted. Vance will betray him to get to the top. Let’s wait and see.

Paul Caron writes on the TaxProf Blog:

George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School will have incurred more than $38 million in losses over five years by the end of its 2025 fiscal year, according to budget projections shared with the wider university’s board of visitors at a meeting Thursday.

Here’s the breakdown:

The annual losses the school has posted have increased nearly every year, from $3.8 million in 2020, to $3.3 million, $4.3 million, $5.8 million and $7.8 million in the years following. In its 2025 fiscal year, the law school is projected to lose $13.2 million.

I don’t know anything about the school financial situation, but I am not surprised either.

Andrew Solomon writes for The New Yorker:

Social media acts on the same neurological pleasure circuitry as is involved in addiction to nicotine, alcohol, or cocaine. Predictable rewards do not trigger this system nearly as effectively as unpredictable ones; slot-machine manufacturers know this, and so do social-media companies. “Teens are insatiable when it comes to ‘feel good’ dopamine effects,” a Meta document cited in the attorneys general’s complaint noted. Instagram “has a pretty good hold on the serendipitous aspect of discovery…. Every time one of our teen users finds something unexpected their brains deliver them a dopamine hit.” Judith Edersheim, a co-director of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, at Harvard, likens the effect to putting children in a twenty-four-hour casino and giving them chocolate-flavored bourbon. “The relentlessness, the intrusion, it’s all very intentional,” she told me. “No other addictive device has ever been so pervasive.”

Social-media platforms harness our innate tendency to compare ourselves with others. Publication of the number of likes, views, and followers a user garners has made social-media platforms arenas for competition. Appearance-enhancing filters may make viewers feel inadequate, and even teen-agers who use them may not register that others are doing the same. Leah Somerville, who runs the Affective Neuroscience and Development Lab, at Harvard, has demonstrated that a thirteen-year-old is likelier to take extreme risks to obtain peer approval than a twenty-six-year-old, in part because the limbic system of the adolescent brain is more activated, the prefrontal cortex is less developed, and communication between the two areas is weaker.

A heartbreaking, frightening read for parents. Being a father of four kids, I live in fear everyday about children digital addictions.

After several failed attempts to upgrade Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04.1 early this month, I was doing some research to migrate off DigitalOcean. My first choice for this WordPress-powered blog was WP Engine. After the controversy between WordPress and WP Engine unfolded, I was debating between WordPress.com and Pressable, both owned by Automattic. I still haven’t made up my mind.

I still don’t know where to move my PHP sites, which I put them all in one DigitalOcean’s Droplet. I don’t want to go back to shared hosting plans. I need a managed cloud hosting solution. I haven’t dug far enough. I was doing research on running my own server in my house, but that seems like a terrible idea. So I scrapped that.

I still don’t know what to do with the hosting for all of my sites, especially in the long run when I will no longer alive. I guess they should all evaporate with me. I shouldn’t even be thinking that far.

Today I tried to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS again. Of course, I created snapshots before I did. To my surprise, the upgrade worked for both Droplets. It was a huge relief. I am going to stay with DigitalOcean for a bit longer. Maintaining Ubuntu keeps me up-to-date with backend development.

Running two Droplets costs me $35 a month. They are more than what I wanted to pay. I was thinking off combining all my sites into one Droplet, but I am not sure if that’s a good idea.