Mental Health

https://gifsartidote.life/2020/10/20/mental-health/

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/how-a-former-cocaine-smuggler-became-one-of-the-countrys-most-sought-after-voices-in-prison-reform

“Look into [prisoner’s] childhood,” he tells me. “It’s probably really obvious how they got to where they are, and nobody’s ever given them any training around how to self-manage or self-regulate,” says Maull. “If you focus on that instead of focusing on punishing, demonizing or shaming people, which is what we do, you’re going to get much different results.”

My thoughts:
We all carry unseen battlefields. Trauma isn't a life sentence of bad choices; it's a nervous system trapped in survival mode, waiting for the next blow. Whether navigating a war zone, a broken home, or homelessness, an unhealed mind cannot thrive. Teaching self-regulation gives people the keys to their own prisons. It replaces shame with sovereignty, turning chaos into peace from the inside out.
This, is why teaching self-regulating techniques is important. As well as co-regulating with others when one has the capacity and energy to do so.

#article #prison #prisonreform #buddhism #meditation #mindfulness #childhoodtrauma
#mentalhealth

gif’s artidote | episode 12 | fighting your self in the pursuit of love

https://gifsartidote.life/2026/06/01/gifs-artidote-episode-12-fighting-your-self-in-the-pursuit-of-love/

American Childhood Trauma

Congressional Picnic at the White House
Washington D.C.

Who takes a young child to an event like this? This is no place for child. Hopefully, any adolescent girls in attendance were given proper protective supervision. 😱

*** Source – Original Uncropped Colour Photo: #DonaldTrump greets guests during the #CongressionalPicnic at the #WhiteHouse – Photographer #Eric Lee #Reuters

#Monochrome #BlackandWhite #AmericanChildhood #ChildhoodTrauma #AmericanNews #AmericanPolitics #EpsteinFiles

Moving to a new instance is a sly excuse to write an #introduction post (I never did one before).

I'm Drew. I'm male, late 50s, child-free, #AntiTheist, former #musician, escaped Brit, living in 🇵🇭 for the last few years. I'm #neurodivergent with quite severe #CPTSD. You can ask me about it, I'm trying to get better at discussing it. I can also be capricious, inconsistent and hypocritical, because I'm human.

I'm married, I work in #tech and I love animals and nature. My wife and I bought a neglected fruit farm to have a peaceful place to live and now we're accidental hobby farmers.

I may write about: #DogsOfMastodon #WebDev #Linux #RaspberryPi #Apple #NoAI #FuckAI #BanAI #Privacy #InfoSec #Enshittification #Autism #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #ADHD #ChildhoodTrauma #MentalHealth #Stroke #PTSD #ChronicPain #Arthritis #Trains #Railways #ModelRailway #NGauge #DCC #JMRI #Philippines #SilentSunday #Bookstodon #Music #DIY #FarmLife #GoatsOfMastodon #OldMaps #AnimeArt #StudioGhibli

I have a one-page personal site at https://drewtowler.me which expands on all this.

I see an awful lot of Starlink-hate on here. I happily use #Starlink - it allowed us to buy the land we really wanted and build our house in a peaceful place up in the hills where there's no fibre or 4G. It's a tad pricey but is way more reliable than all the shitty local telcos, and our quality of life is far more important than worrying about the fact that it's owned by a wanker. Criticising me for this decision would be a waste of energy.

If you follow me but post about politics without tagging it I won't follow back. I try to keep my feed positive and obviously that means no politics.

The Journey of a Glass Child: Embracing Uniqueness

https://dreamspacestudio.net/the-journey-of-a-glass-child-embracing-uniqueness/

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, which is always a difficult day for me as someone who was abused in multiple ways by my birth giver, who I have been No Contact with for several years now. I didn’t want to share this yesterday, because people with good experiences deserve their day… but the “holiday” just makes me think of the storybook I wrote and illustrated as a way to heal and reach other trauma survivors of all ages.

https://ko-fi.com/s/a100cf0ae0

The book is about a kitten who went through the bad things I went through, but it has a happy ending; the kitty ends up finding new chosen family that gives them the love they always deserves.

All sales go towards helping me and my loved ones achieve that happy ending, and I really hope folks will consider checking it out! It’s available in ebook format (linked) as well as audiobook format, which is in my Ko-Fi shop alongside the ebook. The audiobook was narrated by myself & produced by @magicalgrrrl, my amazing partner.

Thank you for reading! I hope if you get the book for yourself, that it provides some sort of comfort, healing, familiarity, and/or insight.

#ptsd #cptsd #MothersDay #ChildhoodTrauma #indieAuthor #IndieArtist #QueerArtist #DisabledArtist #TransArtist #traumaSurvivor #TraumaHealing #BuyIntoArt #kofi #art #storybook #illustrator #lgbtqia #lgbtq #crowdfund #neurodivergent #kofiArtist #crowdfunding #poverty