 Mental health is HUGE and having resources available is extremely important. One of those resources is Someone2talk2 (Joel Geleynse) who offers personal counselling, life therapy motivational coaching, goal attainment strategies, fitness and wellness coaching, athletic/sport performance coaching, LGBTQ advocacy and counselling, counselling for relationships and counselling for entertainment professionals. Check out our Q&A below:
What inspired you to do what you do? Someone2talk2 is one way of making counselling and psychological hygiene more accessible and seeks to over come some of the stigma surrounding 'getting help'. Too many people are seeking the wisdom and insight gained from a therapeutic kind of conversation but wait until their crisis reaches emergency status to take the step to see a professional counsellor or psychotherapist. Starting Someone2talk2 is my way of becoming an accessible kind of resource I would have needed when I was younger by offering affordable and confidential access over Skype, texting, messenging, or in person. Why is it important for people to find someone to talk to? Being gay in a rural community in the 1990's I had nobody I felt I could talk to about what became my biggest secret. Keeping the secret was like wearing a mask (the way many of us do) that alienated a very deep part of me from myself and that I kept hidden from others. Now in the digital age, a therapeutic connection can be made so much easier with Someone2talk2 though a smartphone. Becoming aware of one's hurdles and private suffering, speaking to a counsellor is an opportunity to live authentically and find the courage to be yourself, no apologies necessary. Netflix's new original series 13 Reasons Why has recently sparked a lot of controversy due to how it handles suicide, rape and other issues as well as it's message to viewers who are struggling. How do you feel about it? I have read many analyses about the show that I agree with, particularly that it can easily be perceived by younger viewers as a glorification of very maladaptive and dark realities like suicide and revenge. In this case, the narrative about teenage suicide and post-mortem revenge is presented in a Hollywood-style drama featuring attractive characters who have to face their complicity in the narrator's suicide. Younger viewers may lack critical thinking skills to distinguish between the dramatic power of the mystery's compelling elements and suicidal ideation, or seeing suicide as a sweet vengeance where one is immortalized and forever has the last word. The topics the show tackles are excellent ones to be conversing about, but from a perspective that is highly sensitive to the potential impact on vulnerable teen viewers, I think it risks portraying suicide and revenge as means to power and attention, which some troubled teens may deduce is worth the cost of their life. Instead of reinforcing the message that suicide evens the scores and rights certain wrongs (no matter how despicable eg. rape) I think the key point is that suicide is absolutely ineffective means to achieve any of the ends a person might have. If one wants to bring justice to avenge past perpetrators, or one deeply craves school-wide attention, suicide is not the way to attain that, and in my opinion, 13 Reasons Why is far too ambiguous on that message. |