Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, and for many children that means a long, exciting night of costumes and candy. For a child who feels sounds and lights at a higher volume, the same night can bring a doorbell that plays a scream and a mask that itches ten minutes in. You can plan…
By Dr. Robin Jones Attending the National Federation of Families Conference was an inspiring experience that struck a deeply personal chord for me. Sitting in the front row of our very own Flawless Foundation presentation, “Families as Essential Partners in Mental Health Care: From Blame to Partnership,” presented by Janine Francolini, and John Puls, turned…
By Dr. Robin Jones There is something truly powerful about a community coming together for a shared mission. Last week, our Flawless team laced up our sneakers, headed out to John Prince Park, and joined hundreds of passionate advocates for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Annual Walk. Mental health awareness is a cause…
You walk into a Halloween store with your child and find it on the back wall: a straitjacket splattered with fake blood, in a bag labeled “Psycho Patient.” If you love someone living with a mental health condition, that bag can land like a punch. You have more company than you might think. Mental health…
This week marks International OCD Awareness Week. To honor it, we’re spotlighting an artist we’ve admired for years. Jeff Sparr co-founded PeaceLove, a nonprofit that helps people find peace of mind through expressive arts. He also lives with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). He counts creativity among the most important tools he uses to care for…
Logan Lynn had been home for four days when he joined us for a Flawless Talk. He had come off a whirlwind tour of advance community screenings for The Pain and The Power, staying after each one to talk with audiences. The tour left him tired but that morning he felt ready to work again.…
During the first full week of October, you’ll see mental health organizations post for Mental Illness Awareness Week. In May, the same accounts post for Mental Health Awareness Month. The names sound nearly identical. Swap “health” for “illness,” though, and you move from the mental health all of us have to the people living with…
October 1 is International Day of Older Persons. The United Nations set the date in 1990 to honor older adults and the lives they’ve built, and you can mark it with something as small as a phone call. Researchers have linked social connection in later life to lower rates of depression and better memory. Your…
