Jeff Levy, LCSW
Mental Health, Relationships, Trauma, Identity
1/12/2019 0 Comments I Can't Keep Going Like ThisJeff Levy, LCSW (originally posted on Branching Out: The Live Oak Blog, April 2015) One of the premises underlying the work we do is our desire to help. Implicit in the idea of helping is improving concrete life conditions or increasing the experience of happiness or peace in someone’s internal landscape. Helping means feeling better. If that is one of the most basic premises underlying the work we do, how do we respond when someone expresses a desire not to live?
Of course there are variables we consider: the age of the person, their life experiences, their health, and their supports. Often then, our questions become more specific about thoughts of suicide, fantasies about suicide, plans for suicide, access to drugs, weapons or other materials, and the lethality of one’s plans. Sometimes we think about creating a safety plan or contracting for safety. And if suicide feels imminent, we may go so far as to make a 911 emergency call.
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1/6/2019 0 Comments Good GriefJeff Levy, LCSW (originally posted on Branching Out: The Live Oak Blog, May 2014) In reviewing these past several months of blog posts, I realized that I have mentioned both my mother and father a number of times, often referring to their old age or their deaths, which occurred nine and seven years ago respectively. I began to think more about how present they are in my life, despite their physical absence.
I think about them often and talk about them with my partner and friends. Still, even after years have past, there are times when I speak of them and I notice my throat close slightly and my eyes blink in a way that I hope is not too noticeable to others. I’m much better able to remember funny stories, habits, and events. But still, there is grief. Sometimes I can predict it like when I look at old pictures, but other times it creeps in unexpectedly. 1/6/2019 0 Comments The New NormalJeff Levy, LCSW (originally posted on Branching Out: The Live Oak Blog, January 2014) After a crisis, illness, or other difficult life events, many people reach out to me to talk about their experience. One of the first questions I am often asked is: “When will life get back to normal again”?
We all have that desire to return to what is familiar; to once again find the rhythms of our lives “before”. We look at returning to that “normal” as a sign that we have recovered and can return to life as it was. We can release the breath we have been holding. Everything will be ok. Normal. |
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February 2019
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