Mental health breakdown

Ok, hat was a bit of a deceptive headline, but then again as I am selling Mary's book these days (available exclusively here!) I need to up my marketing game. It's not that I'm having a breakdown, but rather that I will break down the mental health activity I've seen in the recent days.

Yesterday I twice offhand made reference to my own mental health adventure from three decades ago, first when leading an AA meeting (on the occasion of 30 years of sobriety), then again on a Zoom call with a handful of friends spread across the USA and Europe. After the first instance, a client reached out to me after the call and told me that her adoptive son had had an acute but scary anxiety attack at dinner before and asked if I could talk to him about my experience. We had talked quite a bit about this son over the last couple of years and I had spent time with him in June in a different context, so it wasn't entirely out of the blue. So now I am having lunch with him in an hour (she is buying).

Then after my noon call, a friend reached out and talked to me for 30 minutes or so about challenges he was facing. I was starving so I had to go eat. This was after Friday, when I found myself cast as a marriage counselor for a client couple where there are real money-related problems in the marriage. That one got a little testy.

All of this is outside of my training but in areas where I can provide limited professional guidance but pretty decent wisdom. And also connections to other clients who are mental health professionals.

But it all takes away from my ability to rest and recharge and fulfill my professional obligations to clients. But I guess it gives me material to fulfill my ethical duties before you, my hungry readers.