Domestic Psychology

I do not think it means what you think it means

// April 1st, 2009 // 6 Comments » // child welfare, health, mental health, politics

stimulus: something that rouses or incites to activity: as a: incentive b: stimulant 1 c: an agent (as an environmental change) that directly influences the activity of a living organism or one of its parts (as by exciting a sensory organ or evoking muscular contraction or glandular secretion)

Children’s Services -16.40%
Division of Mental Retardation -52.92%
Economic and Community Development -22.84%
Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities -13.10%

Literacy classes, job skill training, workshops and almost anything that provides education is stimulating. Bringing new companies to the state and helping small businesses get started is stimulating. Free wi-fi is stimulating. Using it for less than what you already had is NOT stimulating. If you are using money to slow down the hemorrhaging, you should call it bandage money.

Putting services for the neediest citizens on the chopping block is going to result in a surge of homelessness, over-burdened and under-financed hospitals and a tremendous spike in crime. Tennesseans are going to have to put aside differences and work together like never before.

help me understand

// March 31st, 2009 // 3 Comments » // child welfare, health, mental health, politics, school, TN

I am not an accountant. Reading the TN budget for 2009-2010 is about as pleasant as watching for the return of a swallowed Playmobile toy. I understand clearly that we are cutting or eliminating:
family resource centers, school safety grants, school health positions and funding, the child health and development (CHAD) program, the healthy start program, programs focusing on delinquency and truancy prevention, the relative caregiver program, alcohol and drug counseling for students, respite services, mental health and suicide risk screening program for youth and the peer power program.

The state of TN is going to: Eliminate homeless, consumer family support, employment, recovery and housing evidence-based services for persons diagnosed with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). Reduce mental health crisis diversion and continuum of care services. Reduce mental health services to children and other special populations.

What I don’t understand is that it looks like many of the affected services and programs will get funding from the one time only, federal stimulus money. That must be a misunderstanding on my part. How is spending the money on what we have now going to stimulate the economy in our state? If all the programs vanish at the end of the surplus money, aren’t we guaranteeing failure of the stimulus plan? Surely the state of TN isn’t going to set up children and families to suffer just to prove a political point.

Saturday morning view

// March 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // flickr, TN, travel

ice cream does not equal murder

// March 27th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // life, parenting, people, politics, TN

Several times a year and in multiple environments, I have to pull out the tired, old dinosaur statistic that murder rates go up when ice cream sales go up. Eventually, everyone will recognize that statistics are not enough. The “most single parents live in poverty” statistic ignores the fact that people with severe mental or physical health issues are far more likely to be single. Families come in all shapes and sizes. There is no “ideal” family.

If TN politicians really want to “help” children, they should not allow custody war parents to have personal lawyers. They should instead have a lawyer for each and every child and create an individualized custodial plan (ICP instead of IEP) that serves the best interest of the child. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to two or more people fighting over a human being.

FWIW – I do not recommend spending the morning researching pending legislation, especially if you are looking it up by sponsor. Waaaay too much pandering to extremists instead of helping all people. Why doesn’t HB0822 include discrimination against gender or sexual orientation? Oh, wait . . . a quick scan of the other bills answers that question. How exactly is he representing ME?

how I spend every Sunday

// March 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, TN, travel

Community Schools

// March 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // child welfare, me, school

Knox County NEEDS to have someone or a group of someones attending the Coalition for Community Schools Learning Lab. IF that person could be me, the event would be live blogged. IF an agency or group sponsored me, I would wear a t-shirt with their logo to the event. I am an education and mental health advocate because I care, but I am also just a volunteer. I CAN be bought.

my Friday & Sunday drive

// February 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, me, TN, travel

I love this drive. The drive up the Interstate is hectic and the journey through the small town is painfully slow, but from that moment on, the drive just makes me happy. It is calm, quiet and beautiful. I drive past pastures filled with cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, buffalo and camels. Based on the road debris, there is a skunk farm with poor security somewhere near the other farms. The skunks don’t lessen the peace that I feel on this journey. There are beautiful homes and abandoned trailers. I occasionally lower my eyebrows at the giant trucks filled with trees going to the mills, but I just can’t get stuck worrying about anything when I am surrounded by the mountains. I live in a quiet city with a downtown community that seethes with disgust for people who live in the suburbs (or anything they label as the West part of town). I couldn’t stand to live downtown. I would suffocate on the street. I love my quiet neighborhood of tiny homes and big hearted people, but someday . . . maybe . . . if I’m very lucky . . . I can live in the mountains. If not, well, you know where to throw my ashes.

criminalizing cigarettes

// January 12th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // life, parenting, people, politics, teenagers, TN

I don’t smoke, so I don’t feel the personal assault that the many, many smokers in Tennessee are going to feel about the proposal to make it illegal to smoke in a car if children are in the car with you. It seems like a basic common sense choice not to smoke around children and not a criminal offense. On the other hand, earlier this week I sat in the afternoon carpool waiting for my own child and watched as someone else’s teen walked up to the car that his mother was driving. The boy who couldn’t have been more than 17, tossed his backpack in the car, pulled out a cigarette and began smoking before he was even seated in the car. His mother didn’t look very happy, but she certainly wasn’t trying to stop him either. I didn’t feel very tolerant and made a hasty and probably unfair judgment about that teen. It’s their family’s choice and I need to work on being more tolerant. In a perfect world, adults would not smoke around children and non-smokers. This isn’t a perfect world. Smoking is legal for adults and until it isn’t, smokers need to be left alone to make their choices to smoke on or in their own property, whether home, boat or auto. I truly question if the focus of anti-smoking efforts shouldn’t be on preventing new smokers instead of punishing the existing smokers.

just a bit of ash

// December 29th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // health, local, people

We have a friend who talked about the damage mining does to the ecosystem long before the Kingston spill. We’ve been pestering this friend to say something in the aftermath of this giant mess. The friend decided to take water samples and photographs before giving an opinion. Our friend needs more evidence than “looks yucky” to hypothesize about something. Sadly, we couldn’t get the scientific explanation we were hoping for, since our friend was prevented from getting near the site. Our friend wasn’t just told to stay away, they were physically detained and interrogated. After being labeled an “ecoterrorist” our friend was finally allowed to leave without water samples or photographs.

If the area is safe, why aren’t people allowed to take photographs? Why are they refusing to allow scientific experts to sample and test the water? If the area is too dangerous for anyone except HazMat cleanup crews, why isn’t the mess being cleaned up with any kind of expediency? What damage can an ecoterrorist do to a toxic waste spill? Are they afraid someone might, I don’t know, clean it up?

Dear TN legislators,

// November 17th, 2008 // 10 Comments » // people, politics, TN

If your number one priority for the coming year is going to be making sure that women have to cross state lines for abortions, I just KNOW that you will also be making sure that there are laws and financial resources to do the following:
1. Make sure that ALL women have prenatal care.
2. Make sure that ALL women have long-term alcohol/drug addiction treatment.
3. Make sure that ALL women have food, clothing and shelter.
4. Make sure that ALL women are safe from abuse and crime, especially rape and incest.
5. Make effective birth control available to ALL sexually active women.

ALL women doesn’t allow the exclusion of anyone because of race, age, income, religion, sexual orientation or place of birth. In addition to caring for all women before, during and after a pregnancy, I am absolutely certain that you will also be making sure that there are laws and financial resources to do the following:
1. Make sure that EVERY child is fed, clothed and provided shelter.
2. Make sure that EVERY child has medical care.
3. Make sure that EVERY child is safe from abuse and crime.
4. Make sure that EVERY child is provided a public education.
3. Make sure that EVERY child has a home where they are loved and wanted.

EVERY child doesn’t allow the exclusion of anyone because of gender, race, age, income, religion, sexual orientation or place of birth. Of course, it shouldn’t need to be said that there will be employment available in TN for the parents of every child and eventually, for those children. I am relieved that our state has the financial resources to do all of these things simultaneously. I just need to convince all of my unemployed neighbors and friends that they are wrong about the what the priorities of this state should be right now. If you are going to make abortion illegal in TN, be sure you first make it unnecessary.

From a woman and a mother,
Cathy