Whatever you do, please don’t stop reading. Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read banned books. Read books by marginalized authors. Read about experiences that differ from your own. Just. Keep. Reading.

If we want to make the dream of a multi-racial, gender-diverse democracy a reality, then we need to fight back all attempts to dismantle our country's free press. Take action to demand ABC stop enabling authoritarian censorship and reinstate Jimmy Kimmel now. app.sosha.ai/s/vJhY1kOg

Today is one of those hard days for me so for my mental health I did some art projects, and one of the things that I did is fill out a tiny little book locket with little marker drawings of a rainbow and stars. I think it's cute and sweet and it makes me feel good.

I hope that you can create some softness in your day today for you - laughter with a friend; a hug with a friend; time to just relax and let your body relax and breathe; read a book; or do something that brings you a little bit of calm or a little bit of creativity;

I don't think our society values enough or sees the importance of both safe touch and being heard with compassion and empathy. They don't take away trauma, they may not fix problems, but they can help us in healing and they can help us feel connected to others and know that we matter.

I hope you have some safe people in your life who you can be all of you with, and where you receive compassion and empathy. #mentalhealth #encouragement

Self-care can look like not doomscrolling, like stopping looking at social media for a while. I don't think that we are built to take in that much bad news all the time, especially when there is a lot happening in the world that's hard, and we all already have our own trauma and our own issues

I hope you find some laughter today, even if it feels like you can't. I hope laughter surprises you. I hope that you have laughter and a feeling of safety, security, and comfort. I hope that you can do something creative, maybe some art, do something that takes your focus

To me the love and the connections we have with other people are some of the most important things - the things that help remind us that we matter and we belong and we are cared about and that life has meaning - love, connections with other people.

I was never told that I was loved growing up. Of course I was never shown love; I was only shown hate and abuse, but I was never told that I was loved, and that's such a healing and important thing to have happen. I make sure that I always tell the people that I love that I love them.

I hope that when things are hard you're able to reach out to people who you care about, tell them what's going on. They care, they want to know. It's not being a burden; it is connecting with other people, it's asking for support and reassurance, maybe, but you would want to do the same for them

I hope that you feel seen and heard by people in your life, that you know that you matter and you belong, and that you deserve to receive and experience compassion, empathy, and love - including from yourself. #encouragement #traumahealing #mentalhealth

I hope that you can see all the beauty inside you, the strength the courage, the love inside you that other people see in you and that they experience from you. I hope you can see that in you, too. #encouragement

I try to remind myself when I'm feeling really hopeless, despairing, or anxious that we don't know how it's going to turn out yet, whatever it is that I am worried about; we don't know & it could turn out to be so much better than we can even imagine or hope for, or it can just turn out to be good.

If you've been really anxious or stressed lately it can help to get out in nature & intentionally notice what's around you, be in the present, slow down, read a book, make a craft or art with your hands & be creative. It can help connect us back to the moment, the present, & our life #mentalhealth

We know that Sean "Diddy" Combs is a serial abuser. We saw the video evidence. We believe the brave survivors who testified. We support those who couldn't step forward. Send a note to thank the courageous women and men who took great risks to reveal who Combs really is. app.sosha.ai/s/YgVUihF5

I hope that you're able to take in positives that other people give you, especially when they feel real and genuine. Often when we have been bullied or we've been abused or we had critical parents we put up walls against positives that other people are giving us;

I hope you know that you matter; even if you feel like you don't, you matter. You matter, and you have touched other people's lives, probably animals' lives as well, and you matter. You deserve to be treated kindly and gently and with compassion, including by yourself,

This little rabbit reminded me that there is beauty and hope in the world. I hope something reminds you of that, too. #mentalhealth #encouragement

I hope you can see hope, that you can see hope in other people around you, in the world, that you can see that there are people who care and want to make a positive healing difference, and there are people in your life who care about you. I hope you can see hope.

I hope that you have some comfort today - comfort that someone else gives you, comfort that you give yourself, a hug or hugging a stuffie, being heard in a real way with compassion and empathy, escaping into a good book, doing an art or a craft project with your hands

You deserve to find connections with other people that feel good on a soul level, feel like an equal back and forth where you have safety, compassion, love. You deserve to have that, & to keep looking until until you find a few people in your life who give you that. #encouragement

You deserve to be your most authentic self, to be true to who you are, to follow your dreams, your hopes, to connect with other people, to take up space in this world in the ways that feel good to you. You deserve that. #encouragement #mentalhealth #traumahealing

Want to win an ebook copy of my lesbian YA psychic suspense VISIONS? Head on over to iheartsapphfic.com/2025/06/03/g... where you can enter to win a ton of lesbian novels! In VISIONS, Kate can see visions of others in danger--but only when she has an asthma attack, which could kill her.

When we have anxiety, fear, or things are hard it is so easy to do what if? what if? about things going wrong. A friend of mine said to me once "What if they go right? What if everything works out? What if you get what you need?" I've been trying to hold on to that because

I hope that you talk to yourself kindly and compassionately, but also in an encouraging, positive way. I think the way that we talk to ourselves matters; it affects our mood, our behaviour, and how we are in the world. I used to only talk to myself with hate because I was taught that by my abusers,

I hope even on your hardest days you remember that you matter, you are valued, and you are connected to other people - other animals, too, if you have animals in your life. You are connected to them, people care about you, and you matter. #encouragement #mentalhealth #traumahealing

When things are hard, when they're really rough, it's hard to believe or even remember that they will get better again. I just went through that yesterday, a few days before, where it was so rough, there was so much pain and despair and depression I was really struggling to get through;

Dissociative Identity. There are days when I can't see hope or beauty or be able to say a positive about myself or see a positive about myself - but often on those days my inner kids, the child parts of me - I live with DID - they are able to shift into that for me.

I hope that you are able to talk about the things that you need to talk about with someone who truly hears you and hears you with compassion and empathy. I hope that you feel heard and seen and believed, and appreciated, too, and that you know that you're not alone.

Positive distraction, using things that engage our mind and help us to not be in some of the trauma or the deep emotion that's hard, is a technique that you can use when things feel too hard, & you don't feel like you have enough support, and you don't feel like you can deal with one more thing.

I hope that you're able to get out into nature just for a little while today, or if you're not able to, to listen to the sound of water or birds or rain or whatever it is that helps you feel connected to nature or the world.

It's okay to take time for yourself. It's okay to take time for your healing. It's okay to take time to figure out what you need for you, to find what gives you joy, or helps you feel more connected to other people or to yourself or to your own truth.

I hope that you are gentle and patient with yourself, especially around your old wounds and the places that feel vulnerable inside, that you give yourself grace, that you are as gentle with yourself as you can be, and compassionate and loving the way you would be with a dear friend.

I hope you know that you matter, that you deserve compassion, kindness, & love - including from yourself. You deserve to be treated gently by others & by yourself. I hope you're able to reach out to others, to talk to them in a real way about the things that you go through,

It's okay to talk about the things that bother you or are hard with the people you love. When we are heard it can help make it lighter, and people who love you and want to help lighten the burden. #mentalhealth #traumahealing

Sometimes just spending time in nature can lighten or shift you mood. I hope you get to spend some time outside and see the beauty around you. #mentalhealth

I hope you always believe survivors, hear survivors when they speak out. It can be so painful & scary to speak out, & when we do it takes so much courage to speak out in a society that devalues survivor voices, that tries to silence & suppress us. I'm talking about all survivors;

I hope that you're able to notice a bit of beauty in the world today - in nature, or in the way someone is - compassion & kindness. Those things can help lift our spirits & remind us of the goodness in the world. I hope you can see that today, feel like that's around you.

I hope that when things feel too hard you reach out to someone who cares. It could be your therapist, your chosen family, a friend or neighbour, a social worker, whoever it is who you feel you can talk to & they can hear you with compassion. I hope you reach out.

If you care about democracy in Canada & keeping fascism out of Canada please use your right to vote. Advance voting polls opened today in Canada; I got myself out there & I used smartvoting.ca to figure out the party to vote for to keep Conservatives out

Sometimes when I'm feeling down or things just feel a little too hard my inner kids remind me to play or to be silly. Even just a few moments of silliness or play can help lighten my spirits just a little bit. I hope you play today or be silly or hug a tree

The more vocal hate is in the world, the more we need to stand up to it. Sometimes that means standing up to the people who are spewing the hate - if we can, if we are safe. But sometimes that means standing with people where the hate is directed at them, telling them that we are in their corner

Canadians! Want some fantastic, fre* anti-Trump, anti-Maga stickers? You can order them from GreenPeace Canada. There is a QR code on the stickers that takes folks to DontTrumpCanada.ca, also by GreenPeace. I love the activism! www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/ge...

I am so proud of each of us for the ways that we resist oppression, all the ways that we do it. But sometimes when we're still being abused or tortured, sometimes that resistance is just surviving and hoping that things get better, hoping for another day and holding on until we get safe.

This may be of interest: on creative works about child sexual abuse & the cultural ramifications of creative works (& we'd appreciate a repost) @cherylrainfield.bsky.social @childabusesurvivor.net @featsofstrength.bsky.social @gdcribbs.bsky.social

Even when it feels like there is no hope there often is; we just can't see it. Sometimes just holding onto the idea that there is hope or a general hope that things will get better can help us keep getting through. Sometimes we need something more concrete,

I hope you are as gentle, compassionate, & loving with yourself as you are with someone you dearly love. You deserve to be treated that way. I hope you don't push yourself past your limits, that you can recognize when you need to be gentle with yourself on a mental, emotional, or physical level,

Today is Trans Day of Visibility and we always need more books that help reflect our experiences. So I hope that you will check out Tash Mcadam's No One Left But You which has really strong trans representation and is a trans-led murder mystery for teens. It has such a powerful, authentic voice,

I found, through the Atlantic article and the link they gave to search the database, that 5 of my books (SCARS, STAINED, HUNTED, VISIONS, & PARALLEL VISIONS) were likely used by Meta, without my consent, to train their AI. I feel so exploited-again...