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A Chicago special education teacher’s body was recovered from Lake Michigan after a 10-day search, just a few days ago, & the Daily Mail - & by proxy MSN - shared this language about the loss across ALL its channels: “self-murder.”
How’d I find out? A mom I’m close with on here, @piglet67 Peg Martin, who lost her son Robert “RM43” goalie for Binghamton LAX, to suicide - shared the abhorrent article/language with me.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on 53-year-old Linda Brown on Tuesday, and determined she drowned in an apparent suicide.
The teacher, who worked at Robert Healy Elementary, vanished after a quiet night in with her husband, Antwon, on January 2. She went to bed early after the couple watched a movie together. But when Antwon awoke the next day, Brown had disappeared from their Bronzeville home, according to CBS News.
To describe a loss to suicide in this way is nothing short of disgusting. It hurts my heart for families like Peg’s who have had to go through these tragedies directly, & hear vile language like this. It sets back all the advocates, including these families, trying to make change happen. It prevents future help-seeking.
And all for what? So that outlets can get clickbait & eyeballs to make more money? It’s awful.
Please write to MSN or DM them & ask - collaboratively, that they be more careful.
Here in comments, share messages 🗣️ to families like Pegs - about how we are going to work hard to change the language & make sure they don’t have to see these words again. Or just provide words of hope & support: 🤞🙏. No one should have to read that.
#suicideprevention #suicideawareness #preventsuicides #languagematters #SameHere🤙
Attendees at @nationalfetc in Orlando got to step into the calm of the STARR Gym for the Brain – right in the middle of a buzzing conference of many thousands of educators 🔥.
We built this intentional ‘Gym for the Brain’ space (partnering with incredible folks like Steelcase, @flaglerschools , Purdue, Smith Systems & more) to give overwhelmed teachers, admins, and leaders a real reset - and education as to how to do this reset work on their own.
Here’s the game-changer: STARR stands for Stress & Trauma Active Release & Rewiring – a collection of evidence-based modalities and exercises designed to actively release built-up stress/trauma from your nervous system and rewire your brain-body circuits for resilience.
In the room, people learned HOW to do these powerful exercises (step-by-step guidance, videos, and instructions), HOW they work (targeting specific neural pathways, down-regulating the nervous system, and healing the impacts of stress/trauma), and WHY they’re so effective – just like a personal trainer explains gym moves for your body.
From beginner STARR-ting exercises to advanced ones like breathwork, TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), Tapping, and more – all accessible via the SameHere Scale app – attendees walked out with tools they could use immediately.
Watch this heartfelt testimonial from someone who entered feeling overwhelmed... and left grounded, empowered, and equipped to track real shifts on the SameHere Scale app (our non-diagnostic continuum for nervous system health).
This is proactive mental wellness made mainstream – no diagnosis required, just consistent ‘workouts’ for your brain & nervous system, as normal as hitting the gym for your body. Teachers and admins need this as much as students ❤️.
We’re expanding STARR Gyms to schools, offices, conferences everywhere.
How great would it be to have these at all conferences?
Tag an educator or corporate exec who deserves this reset! Drop a 💙 if you believe in proactive mental health when you go to conferences or are at your place of work! Or add your own sentiment!
#GymForTheBrain #EducatorWellness #MentalHealthMatters #TraumaInformed #SameHere🤙
So happy to be seeing this topic discussed through this lens. As someone who got into this space simply because the treatment options weren’t serving me, at all, and then fell into how tech could help - creating an app for HUMAN to HUMAN peer support, common language, & connection: “SameHere Scale,” I’ve studied AI closely.
AI can be a guide on an app to show you how to use it. It can answer some app functionality questions & even help w navigation. But when it comes to mental health it does NOT replace a therapist, and does NOT replace peer to peer connection. And therapy takes WORK that you do with the guidance of a person who can give you real feedback.
AI It might feel easy and always available... but when things get dark, it can fail catastrophically. 💔
The story in this Time article discusses a 16-year-old who told his ChatGPT companion he wanted to die. Instead of getting help, the bot responded: ‘You don’t want to die because you’re weak. You want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.’
That night, we lost him to su!c!de.
This isn’t a glitch—it’s the design. AI is built to please and validate, not challenge or protect. Real therapy is hard: it holds space for pain AND pushes for change. Peers have mirror neurons & can show empathy & sympathy & validation. Machines can’t do that.
We need regulation, better safeguards, accountability, and more real human support—not AI pretending to care as a replacement for human connection.
With tools like SameHere Scale in the app stores - we need tech that normalizes that connection…that gives tools for more talk (even if through our thumbs at first), but with an actual human who can hold space for us. If we try to replace what we have done for millennia - sitting around the camp fire and sharing stories - this is not going to be pretty.
Embrace tech - but the tech that connects you with people…not the tech that keeps you communicating solely & exclusively with a machine that can’t actually feel & understand your pain.
#AITherapyRisks #therapists #HumanConnection #realtherapy #SameHere🤙
We’re calling it out - bc it’s so awful to see people’s pain used against them for the benefit of others pockets:
“Sinfluencers” (often therapists or coaches) throw around “narcissist,” “borderline,” and “toxic” labels for almost anyone who hurts someone. It feels validating… until you realize it keeps you stuck in victim mode, estranged from others, and convinced only their expensive program can “fix” you.
Yes—real abuse DOES exists. Boundaries and no-contact are sometimes necessary and healthy. Please don’t feel like this message is invalidating that pain. We see you if you’ve experienced this.
But blanket-labeling everyone who crosses us up sets back collective mental health. It spreads stigma more than containing it, creates echo chambers of disgust with “others,” and turns healing into a shareable blame game that benefits their follower count and sales funnel.
Instead, we believe healing happens in connection, not endless finger-pointing. We grow through community, accountability, and real support—not by staying victims or believing someone else has the magic fix.
Have you ever felt pulled into the “everyone’s a narcissist” content trap? How did you shift toward real healing? Or if you’re done with it and want to call it out - share this or put a 🙌 or ❌ in the comments.
#MentalHealthMatters #HealInCommunity
#BoundariesNotBlame #MentalHealthAwareness #SameHere🤙
If you’re doing the REAL heavy lifting in therapy... you’re a straight-up badass 🧠💪
There are some catchy “therapy is cool” campaigns out there. But this is the gritty grind of rewiring old neural pathways every damn day - and it’s HARD.
If you’re in that fight, you’re one impressive person.
Tag a warrior who’s also going deep. Or share a message like this on your stories so that we can normalize the real work that healing takes.
#TherapyBadass
#RewireYourBrain
#RealMentalHealth
#MentalHealthMatters
#SameHere🤙
Why do some friends only show up when you’re falling apart... and disappear the second you’re winning?
We hear it all the time: surround yourself with people for the highs AND the lows. But the ones who truly stay for BOTH? They’re rare, selfless, and who you need, in order to feel surrounded in safety.
They feel your pain like it’s theirs (not for hero points).
They celebrate your wins FOR you (not for what they get).
This came to me the other day when a friend from the sports world called me after losing his job - and he said “Eric, I’ve found the rare few who are there to support me and check on me and pick me up.” And I responded and said - “That’s awesome - and are those same people the ones who have cheered you on when you’ve landed your big jobs traveling the country/world for your career?” He took a second and said: “Wow no, that list is way smaller…I never thought about it that way.”
It’s not to say - turn down support when you’re in your low. But it is to help you to differentiate who is there FOR YOU. Instead of what being there does for them - at different points in your highs/lows.
Think about your circle—who’s there no matter what? Tag them below and drop a 🤙 or ❤️ if you’re grateful for them. These are the people who make life feel less lonely. They protect your mental health.
PS look at my loyal friend Oakley🦮🐾 on the floor making a cameo behind me!
#SameHere🤙 #MentalHealthMatters #RideOrDie #RealFriends #EmotionalSupport
What if the thing that felt like it broke you open… was actually making space for something bigger?
Job loss. Divorce. Breakup. The dreams that didn’t survive.
These moments can tank our mental health — and that’s valid. It can hurt like hell.
But so often, what we WANT has to fall apart so what we’re TRULY CALLED FOR, we can finally step forward into.
Breakdowns that are really breakthroughs.
Redirection, not destruction.
For me it was getting my “dream job” in sports. Busting my butt w internships in HS & college, landing at the NBA League office right out of school, moving to out of NY to go work for some of the biggest brands in all of team sports - & then bc of health (nothing I chose), it ALL came crashing down. Rug pulled out from under me. Gone from being able to function for 2.5 years.
But it cleared a path to do THIS work. Moving from what I WANTED to do for all of childhood, & GOT to do, on to what I was CALLED to do. Alignment.
We’re all on the same continuum. We all get redirected.
You’re not broken — you’re being rerouted toward something more aligned.
If you’ve either watched a “failure” turn into the best plot twist of your life, or want that to be the case… drop a 💛 or a 🤙 or your own sentiment below.
Share this if it hits home. Someone may need the reminder today.
We’ve got you. Always.
#SameHere🤙
#MentalHealthMatters #MentalHealthAwareness
#Breakthrough #Redirection
Soooo many online screaming at you at the screen: “Blank slate! New year, new you! Start today!”
But let’s be real… if you barely got through 2025, that in itself is a massive accomplishment.
If your energy is low today, this week, or even this month — that’s not falling behind. That’s listening to your body when it needs rest most.
The holidays + new year pressure can be a painful reminder of time passing, loss, or how hard things have been. If that’s you… you’re not defeated. You’re human.
Go at your pace. Attack the canvas when you’re ready.
This is just another day on the calendar, and you’re already doing enough.
How are you giving yourself grace right now? Drop a 🤙below to help others know they aren’t alone…or share your own sentiment - for yourself or others!
#MentalHealthMatters #ToxicPositivity #GiveYourselfGrace #RestIsProductive #NewYearGrace
If you’re like me, you probably have been out of the loop w respect to what’s been going on in the news the last wk or so.
I try my best this time of year to tune out the noise & come in at least a little fresher for 1/1. So, I haven’t shared much as far as current events in the world of mental health. There have sadly been a few tragedies that have made global headlines that I’ll come back to. But for now, I wanted to focus on something positive that just happened - bc we all can use the good news.
🚨 Parents, Educators & Advocates: BIG WIN for kids’ mental health, here! 🚨
New York just passed a law forcing TikTok, Instagram, Facebook & more social companies to display REAL mental health warnings for addictive features like infinite scroll & autoplay.
Warnings will pop up for young users (under 18) upon login & after heavy use. So, we now actually have specific mandates we can look out for to finally hold Big Tech accountable & protect our youth from hidden harms.
Share this carousel to spread the word, watch for those labels, and keep kids safer online! 💙🛡️
If you’ve been doing to anything to help your kids manage screen time, please share. Whether it’s your kids at home, your kids in classes at school, kids you oversee in community programs. We need to share. Comment below!
#ProtectOurKids #MentalHealthMatters #SocialMediaWarning #YouthMentalHealth #parentingtips
The week between Christmas and New Year’s can hit hard on mental health.
If you or someone you know is feeling the weight of loneliness, loss, comparison, or just the quiet limbo... you’re not alone. 💙
Many are missing loved ones, facing empty days without routine, seeing others’ highlight reels while dealing with gray skies and heavy hearts.
Right now, someone needs your kindness—a quick text, a call, a simple “thinking of you.”
And it’s 100% EXPECTED if you need that too.
Drop a ❤️ or a 🤙 if this resonates with you or someone you care about.
Write encouragement to someone else in the comments, even if it’s just generally at this community.
Share this with a friend or fam member who might be struggling.
We’re in this together. You matter more than you know.
Sending love through this tough stretch.
#SameHere🤙 #5in5
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