Opiod Tapering and Risks Associated
"Life Is A Series of Dogs" - George Carlin
Fun Podcast Listen on Car Sales
8.15.2021
7.24.2021
July 24, 2021
In my continuing follow-up on the Larry Nassar crimes, I am updating with new disclosures. My interest in this tragic case (s), what I might suggest is the crime of the century, given the number of eyeballs and ears that were complicit, in the name of prestige and ego for the US Gymnastics team, continues because of its systemic - not failure, but - willingness to not stop the conveyor belt of child victims. I hope we can learn from it.Listen to one victim's story and the FBI's negligent response.
Read Rachel's Washington Post Op Ed
Feb 2020
As I have been following the Nassar criminal story since its discovery, continuing with latest arrest. Keep those convictions coming, please.
LANSING, Mich. – A jury on Friday convicted a former Michigan State University gymnastics coach of lying to police when she denied that two teen athletes told her of sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar in 1997, nearly 20 years before he was charged.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-02-14/michigan-state-gymnastics-coach-convicted-larry-nassar-sexual-abuse
My prior 11/12/18 Post
LANSING, Mich. – A jury on Friday convicted a former Michigan State University gymnastics coach of lying to police when she denied that two teen athletes told her of sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar in 1997, nearly 20 years before he was charged.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-02-14/michigan-state-gymnastics-coach-convicted-larry-nassar-sexual-abuse
My prior 11/12/18 Post
In my on-going interest with the Larry Nassar serial sexual molestation case, I am posting a recent and thorough story here. (see below for link to prior blog post on this subject)
Like others, I have been horrified to hear of the systemic failure, multiple agencies that facilitated Nassar a conveyor belt of young females. There are lessons to be learned here.
Six takeaways: 1) Victims usually know their perpetrator 2) Victims usually love their perpetrator 3) Family members of the victim often defend the perpetrator 4) Persons in authority roles are often blindly trusted, even in the face of reason to distrust 5) Abuse usually takes place in plain sight 6)Victims usually feel guilty for reporting, often forever
- ...In sports medicine the caliber of athlete one treats is taken to be correlated with curative power. Hospitals pay millions of dollars for the privilege of treating sports teams; UC–San Diego Health, for example, pays $1 million to treat the Padres.
- Nassar’s accumulation of more than 37,000 images suggests an unusual level of deviance even among pedophiles. According to a sentencing memorandum issued by federal prosecutors for the Western District of Michigan, these images form a particularly “graphic” and “hard-core” collection, including children as young as infants and images of children being raped by adults.
- It did not sound normal, for instance, that every week after practice, Jane had driven her daughter to a white three-bedroom house with green shutters, next to many identical houses in a development on a quiet street in Holt, Michigan, and taken her to see a man in the basement of that house. It didn’t seem normal that he never billed for these visits or that he always had hot chocolate waiting.
- It has by the fall of 2018 become commonplace to describe the 499 known victims of Larry Nassar as “breaking their silence,” though in fact they were never, as a group, particularly silent. Over the course of at least 20 years of consistent abuse, women and girls reported to every proximate authority. They told their parents. They told gymnastics coaches, running coaches, softball coaches. They told Michigan State University police and Meridian Township police. They told physicians and psychologists. They told university administrators. They told, repeatedly, USA Gymnastics. They told one another. Athletes were interviewed, reports were written up, charges recommended. The story of Larry Nassar is not a story of silence. The story of Larry Nassar is that of an edifice of trust so resilient, so impermeable to common sense, that it endured for decades against the allegations of so many women.
- If this is a story of institutional failure, it is also a story of astonishing individual ingenuity. Larry Nassar was good at this. His continued success depended on deceiving parents, fellow doctors, elite coaches, Olympic gatekeepers, athletes, and, with some regularity, law enforcement.
It has by the fall of 2018 become commonplace to describe the 499 known victims of Larry Nassar as “breaking their silence,” though in fact they were never, as a group, particularly silent. Over the course of at least 20 years of consistent abuse, women and girls reported to every proximate authority. They told their parents. They told gymnastics coaches, running coaches, softball coaches. They told Michigan State University police and Meridian Township police. They told physicians and psychologists. They told university administrators. They told, repeatedly, USA Gymnastics. They told one another. Athletes were interviewed, reports were written up, charges recommended. The story of Larry Nassar is not a story of silence. The story of Larry Nassar is that of an edifice of trust so resilient, so impermeable to common sense, that it endured for decades against the allegations of so many women.
And this on NPR, Gaslighting, November 12, 2018:
"Instead of denying anything, he admits it; he says he did touch her breasts and vagina, but says it wasn't sexual. It was medical." This is Larry's playbook. He hammers his credentials and bombards the investigator with complicated medical terms about his techniques.
My Prior Blog Post on Larry Nassar, Jan 14, 2018
7.21.2021
 |
Therapist to Therapist Bill of Rights When Working With Gender Dysphoric Children
Parents and family members have a right to be cautious.
Language matters. Use specific terms and avoid minimizing language, e.g., "top" or "bottom" surgery, versus double mastectomy/phalloplasty.
Avoid minimizing this phase of development by referring to it as "a journey" or "getting to know oneself."
Clarify large umbrella terms; what exactly are we discussing? Is this a person who has begun or completed sex reassignment, with chemical or surgical intervention, or a person who has changed their pronouns, attire, or social identification.
Clinical work and treatment plans should withstand the examination of colleagues.
A sound therapist can present a non-defensive position on their work with a child.
Thorough mental health screening of a child is a collaborative process. All practitioners should work in concert for the health and safety of the child/patient.
Be specific and avoid lumping "trans people." Instead, discuss children separately from adults.
Screen for Asperger's Spectrum Disorder and eating disorders, commonly comorbid and often masked by identity focus.
Mental health screening can be a serious reality check for the patient and family system.
An affirmative approach is incomplete and not a stand-alone evidence based therapy.
Always support this fragile population with comprehensive compassion of their suffering.
The serious and long-lasting consequences must be discussed frequently.
Some children will ultimately continue in their desire to fully transition.
Beginning puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery is a big step. Starting "earlier and younger" is anti-therapeutic and brings risks.
There is no science behind the often-quoted suicide rates of children not "permitted" to begin medicalisation.
This undertaking is free from religious or political agenda.
Gender Dysphoria is in the DSM; as of now, it is a psychiatric disorder.
Any CEU's that present on this topic should find themselves open to deep questioning.
If your professional group will not wholly present the complexity, instead choosing an "affirmative" only approach, let them know of your professional concerns. After all, we are child-advocates.
It is perfectly healthy to explore gender identity.
The more passionately you feel about working with this wonderful population, the more important it is to see the whole picture. And to continue to learn better treatment outcomes.
After deep investigation, some people will ultimately transition.
Safety first.
July 2021
I am continuing to add links and research that will further contribute to the discussion of transitioning adolescents (specifically, via chemicals and surgery) as I believe the lack of evidence-based therapy is doing harm. Ideally, a clearing house of knowledge, observation, first-hand accounts and research must be organized in an easy location.
Focusing attention to the recent mega public discussion on child and adolescent gender reassignment, specifically, the transgender population, here are provocative, and I would suggest, intriguing points of view that are delicate and controversial, yet necessary.
As of now, the professional front line helpers do not follow a standardized protocol in facilitating these families. Our children deserve an educated professional - and the brave conversation. My professional ask is that the mental health field establish additional licensure (perhaps a hybrid of medicine and psychology), on-going supervision of attending clinicians, and a psychological screening allowing a therapist to clinically treat and support this vulnerable and specialized population. No credentialing exists to date so each therapist is left to their own bias, best guess, and warm feelings of acceptance.
That may not be enough. Read, Listen, Watch for more below.
Focusing attention to the recent mega public discussion on child and adolescent gender reassignment, specifically, the transgender population, here are provocative, and I would suggest, intriguing points of view that are delicate and controversial, yet necessary.
As of now, the professional front line helpers do not follow a standardized protocol in facilitating these families. Our children deserve an educated professional - and the brave conversation. My professional ask is that the mental health field establish additional licensure (perhaps a hybrid of medicine and psychology), on-going supervision of attending clinicians, and a psychological screening allowing a therapist to clinically treat and support this vulnerable and specialized population. No credentialing exists to date so each therapist is left to their own bias, best guess, and warm feelings of acceptance.
That may not be enough. Read, Listen, Watch for more below.
4.27.2021
4.24.2021
 |
Focusing attention to the recent mega public discussion on child and adolescent gender reassignment, specifically, the transgender population, here are provocative, and I would suggest, intriguing points of view that are delicate and controversial, yet necessary.
As of now, the professional front line helpers do not follow a standardized protocol in facilitating these families. Our children deserve an educated professional - and the brave conversation. My professional ask is that the mental health field establish additional licensure (perhaps a hybrid of medicine and psychology), on-going supervision of attending clinicians, and a psychological screening allowing a therapist to clinically treat and support this vulnerable and specialized population. No credentialing exists to date so each therapist is left to their own bias, best guess, and warm feelings of acceptance.
That may not be enough. Read, Listen, Watch for more below.
Focusing attention to the recent mega public discussion on child and adolescent gender reassignment, specifically, the transgender population, here are provocative, and I would suggest, intriguing points of view that are delicate and controversial, yet necessary.
As of now, the professional front line helpers do not follow a standardized protocol in facilitating these families. Our children deserve an educated professional - and the brave conversation. My professional ask is that the mental health field establish additional licensure (perhaps a hybrid of medicine and psychology), on-going supervision of attending clinicians, and a psychological screening allowing a therapist to clinically treat and support this vulnerable and specialized population. No credentialing exists to date so each therapist is left to their own bias, best guess, and warm feelings of acceptance.
That may not be enough. Read, Listen, Watch for more below.
3.21.2021
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)