Collective Crisis of Collapse

How are you doing these days? 

If you, like me, are reeling from world events and especially those from south of the border, you may be feeling grief, fear, disorientation, anger, and a whole host of other emotions. It's a lot to process.

For more than a year now, I've been trying to find my own therapist with whom I can explore the very existential questions and conundrums that are being raised in these times. And, yet, I have been met with a blank stare and the wholly incurious question of “What do you mean when you say 'what's happening in the world'”? As though I am the only one who is seeing what I am seeing and reacting the way I am reacting. As though I live in a bubble, on an island of my own perceptions.

But, of course, what is happening is happening to all of us. All over the world. We are having a collective experience of systems collapse; not an individual one. Regardless of how impactful world events are on you personally, know that people in and outside of your circle are suffering because of it. They may not be saying anything because they are under the mistaken belief that not coping well indicates a weakness of will within themselves.

After kissing too many therapist frogs, I finally realized that our modern system of mental health is not prepared for this collective crisis of collapse. 

I recently read an article in which the author stated, “I want you to run far and fast if your therapist isn't continually pointing out the dehumanizing systems we're all living within that are designed to cause depression, oppression, isolation, violence, and suicidality.” 

I couldn't agree more. What's required, perhaps now more than ever, is a communal-centred focus on mental and spiritual health. The recent rise in anxiety, depression, addictions, suicidality and all the other ills of a sick society need to be seen through the lens of humanity as a whole, and not as an anomalistic quality by which the individual is afflicted. 

And that is definitely the philosophy of my counselling practice. One of the great advantages to working with as many people as I do is that I get a bird's eye view of relationships, of past wounding events, of the myriad ways in which we suffer and heal. And, what I have learned from this is we are not alone in either the suffering nor the healing. In fact, we have way more in common with each other than not.

If you (or someone you know) need a place to talk about how world events are affecting you, I promise to listen, to commiserate, and to help you see that we are actually in this together.