Dear graduating seniors of Richardson High School, On this momentous day of your graduation I want to take a moment to share some thoughts, some words of encouragement on the tremendous adventure you have ahead of you, and offer a few words of advice that have stuck with me over the years. Mostly, however, I […]
This weekend we had a great time supporting NAMI Dallas and Jennifer Gray! Jennifer hosted the Don’t Quit half marathon in support of mental illness and suicide prevention. To learn more about Jennifer and her work check out her Facebook page. Thank you Diana, Nicole, Karen, Bethzua, Daniella, Beth, Clemence, Jillian, David and Lucy for […]
Spoiler Alert: This post reveals important plot elements of the miniseries 13 Reasons Why. When I decided to write a piece on the miniseries 13 Reasons Now, I had a chance to discuss it with some kids from our group. As with any complicated topic, the reactions are varied. Some of us enjoyed it – […]
So, if you’ve spoken with me over the last few years you may have heard my super power joke. This is the joke where I recount all of the wonderful effects of sudden and severe trauma: sleeplessness, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, memory loss…wait, did I say that one already? OK, never mind. The joke concludes […]
Thank you to parents of confirmation candidates and the faith formation staff at St. Joseph – especially Katie Smith, Ojas Inamdar, and Christie Gutierrez Quintanilla. In the Western Church, candidates for the sacrament of confirmation are usually young teens. Preparation consists in part in giving them the tools to live out and defend their faith […]
Apollo STEAM Academy has made some very impressive changes at the beginning of this year. First, as a matter of school policy, all cell phone use is now prohibited during school hours. Why is this a good idea? First smart phone use in general and social media in particular is a huge source of distraction and […]
This afternoon we had the pleasure of speaking with the staff and administrators of Apollo STEAM Academy about social media and mental health. To everybody present today, thank you! So many of you are already friends and it is so great to have the opportunity to make new friends. You guys are doing great — the policies […]
Wonderful news this week from the IRS. The good news is that the Sadie Walker Foundation has been formally classified as a tax-exempt 501c(3) private foundation. Thank you for everyone who has helped us get this far. In terms of our activities, there’s been quite a few. We recently presented on Teens and Social Media […]
Last week we had a chance to sit down with Jobin Panicker from WFAA and offer some of our reflections on the how families and communities deal with grief after a suicide. You can see the story here. It’s not an easy subject. Suicide leaves a wound in families, in schools, and in communities. My first observation […]
