“Something is wrong with me. I’m just not happy, and I’m so stressed out. I’ve stopped hanging out with friends, I’m overwhelmed at my job, and my partner and I are always fighting…

Everyone else seems to have it together. Why can’t I manage?”

As a counsellor and a mental health worker, this is something I hear from people on a regular basis.

People want to know if there’s something wrong with
them, if they have a ‘fatal flaw’ that’s keeping them from the perfection they perceive everyone else has obtained. 

After years of hearing this question, I’ve decided to start a blog.

I’m a registered social worker in the province of Manitoba. One of the things social workers focus on, which is different than other professions, is an idea called “person in context.” In counselling, this means that individuals are affected by their biology, their community, and by society. In this blog, I want to examine the stuff we’re all dealing with, and what we, as individuals, can and cannot do about our problems. I want to explore methods of survival in a society that does not currently support the mental health and relationships of its members.  I want to look at the role we each play in changing our society into a healthier place for everyone.

Finding out whose “monkeys” (aka baggage, aka problems) belong to whom, is what this blog is about. 

In future posts, I’ll be digging into subjects such as:How to Stay Together after Having Children; Being Grateful for Your Addiction; My Journey with Homophobia; Is it Really Depression?; When Anxiety IS the Healthy Response; My Shitty Body; …and more.

In each post, I’ll talk about books I’ve read that I, and others, have found helpful, provide resources I’ve found or developed in my practice, and share some of my own story.