Well, I avoided it for a while but I finally brought myself to read through the “child training” manual written by Keith Johnson, former pastor of the church now called Mile Two.
Trigger warning: predictably it is incredibly distressing and problematic.
The entire method centres around coercive control to produce meek and obedient children who will never question an adult (this is slightly besides the point, but this is absolutely the perfect recipe to groom children for sexual predators)
Remember: only the devil gives options.
Susanna Wesley (according to Wikipedia, the ‘mother of Methodism’) is praised for apparently disciplining her children “until their will was broken.”
Consider me a liberal humanist because yes, I am shocked and horrified.
As expected, extreme physical punishment features prominently, with clear instructions for abuse.
Any pediatric organization worth its weight in salt has put out position papers on the short and long term damage corporal punishment causes.
“There is strong evidence that physical punishment places children at risk for physical injury, poorer mental health, impaired relationships with parents, weaker internalization of moral values, antisocial behaviour, poorer adult adjustment and tolerance of violence in adulthood”
As a child psychiatrist, I was particularly distressed that Keith Johnson states that children with ADHD don’t need other forms of treatment, they simply need to be spanked into submission.
This drawing makes me feel like puking. What. The. Fuck.
Johnson, who I don’t believe has any actual training in parenting or pediatrics, also recommends treatment of infants that are known to interfere with secure attachment and breastfeeding. For the love of Pete, babies are not manipulative creatures to be ignored into obedience.
I realized when I finally scrolled to the end of the manual that I had been holding my breath for quite some time. It is incredibly upsetting and heartbreaking to think of the untold families who were coached into abusive parenting by a pastor in a position of authority.
My heart is with all the victims and former students of Legacy Christian Academy who faced abuse, humiliation, and discrimination at the hands of those in power who should have known better. I wish you peace, validation, and justice. Thank you for your bravery ❤️
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Lack of appropriate and safe community options also severely impacts inpatient mental health care and, frustratingly, this often means dealing with different government ministries that don’t seem to communicate or care about the others’ budget
🧵
Hospital beds obviously fall under Health but community placements are the responsibility of Social Services and, sometimes, ICFS under federal jurisdiction. There is a severe lack of homes for youth and adults with developmental disabilities who sometimes act aggressively.
Governments like to pat themselves on the back over “deinstitutionalizing care,” when all they’ve done is transfer these vulnerable citizens, to prisons, shelters, and hospitals.
As a child psychiatrist, I have grave concerns about this entire release, but this part in particular that got buried at the end:
“The province also announced parent/guardian consent for students under 16 will now be required to change a student’s name or pronouns in the school.”
Many patients have evolving gender identities. Sometimes being trans sticks and other times (though less often) kids revert back to their gender assigned at birth; identity formation is the literal ‘job’ of adolescence. They lead the way and I try to use their preferred names/
pronouns. It always saddens me when kids don’t feel safe or comfortable using the names and pronouns they prefer around their own families. It’s not uncommon that schools end up being the more welcoming environment where kids feel more free to be themselves.
“Using an [FOI] request, Global News obtained internal government messages that show Shahab told provincial leaders the healthcare system would be overwhelmed more than a month before patients were transferred to Ontario.”
This is not surprising but still incredibly infuriating to read.
Anyone tracking our ICU capacity and infection rates knew we were on a collision course to collapse.
2/3
Every single citizen is owed an apology from the Sask Party for the additional lives lost, the unnecessary HCW trauma, and the countless tests, procedures, and surgeries that were cancelled as we scrambled to save lives that our government didn’t seem to care about.
3/3
I knew our current healthcare crisis would trigger a descent into two-tiered medicine but I didn’t realize that American-style primary care was already happening right here in Saskatchewan 💔:
I don’t know the person behind this business, but I learned today that this clinic is offering private pay primary care and mental health services through nurse practitioners. A family med-style consultation will set you back $150 while a follow up runs $90 (one issue only)
2/9
Note that family physicians get paid about $75 for a complete assessment (aka ‘a physical’) and not quite $40 for a follow up — whether it takes 10 min or an hour.
Those with expertise in this area: are clinics like this in contravention of the Canada Health Act?
3/9
I think when we look back at our pandemic response, one of the biggest mistakes we made could be summarized as ‘not making it easy enough for people to do the right thing.’ 🧵
1/5
As soon as supply scarcity was no longer an issue, we should have made medical grade masks (and then N95s) free or subsidized and easy to access. Distribution sites like our testing kits in Saskatchewan would have been fantastic.
2/5
Speaking of, some people never sought out testing or used RATs bc they couldn’t afford the consequences of a (+) result. Paid sick time would have resolved this; same with those who didn’t get vaccinated due to the fear of missing work if they felt crappy the next day.
3/5
.@PremierScottMoe, it was more than disheartening to hear you talk today about how doctors should *start* publicly educating and talking to media to counter pandemic misinformation, as if we haven’t been doing this kind of advocacy from the start.
A thread (with receipts):
Back in March 2020, we saw the writing on the wall and knew we needed more action from our political & business leaders. Our first open letter, signed by nearly 200 Drs, called for a move to encourage employees to work from home and businesses to move to a takeout/curbside model.
In November 2020, we wrote again, this time specifically addressing you. We asked for masking in public spaces and increased funding to support testing and contact tracing capacity (sound familiar?).