Thank you for writing this article. As a first responder myself, I’ve been there. Many of us are fighting to end the stigma and provide much needed support for our colleagues. I’m fortunate to work for an organization that prioritizes mental health, but there are many that are not so fortunate. Kaitlin was an incredible person and I’m so happy her memory is being honored in such a beautiful way.
So much here. Such a painful tear to their hearts, the loss of a child in this way. And what the presentation of self might look like when the interior holds something else. Perhaps that’s strength, the managing of these two selves. It’s beautiful here, to read about someone, a family, who finds the solace in a community that was out there just for them-and maybe here is a story of how there is a universal out there for each of us too— as parent, sibling, etc—perhaps in different forms. For some it’s books that hold us, for others that one friend, a therapist, a group like HELP…and that if there isn’t any of that, that we can, somehow, create it.
Thanks always for your work Michael and for bringing us these moving stories of the real life of real lives.
Thank you Mike; I had no idea.
Thank you for writing this article. As a first responder myself, I’ve been there. Many of us are fighting to end the stigma and provide much needed support for our colleagues. I’m fortunate to work for an organization that prioritizes mental health, but there are many that are not so fortunate. Kaitlin was an incredible person and I’m so happy her memory is being honored in such a beautiful way.
So much here. Such a painful tear to their hearts, the loss of a child in this way. And what the presentation of self might look like when the interior holds something else. Perhaps that’s strength, the managing of these two selves. It’s beautiful here, to read about someone, a family, who finds the solace in a community that was out there just for them-and maybe here is a story of how there is a universal out there for each of us too— as parent, sibling, etc—perhaps in different forms. For some it’s books that hold us, for others that one friend, a therapist, a group like HELP…and that if there isn’t any of that, that we can, somehow, create it.
Thanks always for your work Michael and for bringing us these moving stories of the real life of real lives.