Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

You dont have to look too closely to know that climate change is one of the dominantand most anxiety-inducingstories of our lifetimes. This summer, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a landmark report detailing the dire future of the planetone that United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterres called a code red for humanity.

Without immediate, drastic action, its unlikely that well be able to avoid 1.5 degrees Celsius warming in the next 20 years, a so-called climate tipping point that will bring about irreversible impacts to our weather, food supply, and health. Young people are expected to live through an unprecedented number of natural disasters, according to research in the journal Science. Put simply, climate change can feel like an impossible load to bear.

That thing you might be feeling right now is called climate anxietyfear and stress related to the climate crisisand its a growing phenomenon, explains Thomas Doherty, a psychologist specializing in an environmental approach to therapy at Sustainable Self in Portland, OR.

There are practical and worthwhile ways to confront and calm it, says board-certified psychologist David H. Rosmarin, Ph.D., assistant professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Center for Anxiety. And working to solve eco-anxiety can also help us work through other forms of anxiety we face each day, Doherty notes. Heres how to tackle climate anxiety, according to the experts.

The most significant risks to humanity are not immediate, but long-term, Rosmarin explains. The IPCC report is written in urgent language designed to spur action on the part of world leaders; it doesnt say, however, that we should brace for the end of the world.

So remember that even in the worst-case scenario, it will take two decades for us to reach that climate tipping pointurgent, yes, but a timeframe we can work with. When you find yourself obsessing over the ways in which the environment could collapse over the upcoming years, Rosmarin recommends trying to pull back. Being aware and taking reasonable action against a distant risk is fine, but being preoccupied is generally not productive, he notes. In these moments, go for a walk, write down your thoughts, or do something else that calms you and helps you refocus on the presentspiraling over potential issues wont stop them; itll just make you feel more anxious.

This strategy isnt perfectsome people are already living with the effects of climate change (like those breathing in wildfire smoke in the West), and plenty of people are declining to have children because of fears over the future. But its worthwhile, Rosmarin says, if youre caught up in vague, overwhelming eco-anxiety.

Anxiety is a normal, healthy emotion, Doherty says. On a basic level, anxiety is fear wrapped in a cloud of uncertainty. It arises when were faced with a situation that may or may not be threatening to usand he describes it as helpful because it prompts us to step inside that cloud and take steps to protect ourselves. Its normal for people to feel anxious about climate change or disruption because it has many, many potential threats, Doherty explains.

But like with other drawn-out stressors like, say, chronic illnesses, divorce, or the pandemic, you can keep livingeven thrivingwith the anxiety that it causes, Rosmarin says. Such anxieties do not need to take over ones life, he explains.

Rosmarin recalls a patient who worried about her health in the same way many others worry about the environment; its natural to worry about the big issues that affect you. He encouraged her to not try to push her anxiety away, but learn to live her life alongside it. She remarked that it was very empowering to think that she doesnt need to get rid of her anxiety to have a happy life, he says.

Anxiety is a normal, healthy emotion.

So dont immediately try to bury your anxiety over the environment; poke around in that so-called cloud, Doherty recommends, and figure out what you can do to address climate change in your life. This way, your anxiety will actually help you build toward something positive, instead of keeping you spinning your wheels and focusing on the negatives.

Its easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of sad, scared thoughts about the environment. But eco-anxiety, by its very nature, comes from a love of the world around us. I try to get people to see a 360-degree view of emotions in general, and also regarding the environment, so were not stuck on just a few different emotions, Doherty explains.

Once you start opening that up, you build more capacity to deal with your anxiety, he says. People realize they have more emotions in there, such as hope, curiosity, empowerment, or compassion. Once we get a lot of emotional channels going, then that anxiety has better context.

Although this can apply to any anxiety, it applies especially well to climate change. Reconnecting with why you love nature in the first place, especially by getting outside (which has mental health benefits of its own), can help you pair your negative thoughts with wondrous ones.

Many newcomers to eco-anxiety are not experts on the environment, Doherty says, so he recommends exploring climate issues to create what he calls an environmental identity. This is built on your values, connections with nature, life events, and researchmuch in the same way people come to understand their gender or cultural identity, he notes. With a firm grip on that, anxiety is much easier to manage, and personal growth is more likely.

You can use this identity to channel your anxiety into action, whether thats pressuring your elected officials or bosses to adopt greener practices or volunteering with an environmental organization. But theres no mandate for you to do these things, Doherty. After all, no one can do everything on their own; pace yourself to avoid burnout.

Confiding in someone you trust is necessary for all of us, Rosmarin says, whether thats in a loved one, a family member, or a professional. Sharing anxieties, he notes, can help strengthen the bonds between us, leading to happier, more fulfilling lives in general. Plus, verbalizing your thoughts can help you make more sense of them.

This is an especially important step if youre really struggling with climate anxiety. People who cannot think or focus on other matters are likely to be experiencing an anxiety disorder, Rosmarin warns. If one cannot control their worriesif they feel that they cannot stop worryingits worth having a conversation with a mental health professional.

Doherty agrees, saying that while most people will experience some form of climate anxiety, a smaller group has a climate anxiety disorder that requires help from a professional. (Finding the right one can be tough, but this guide is a great place to start.) Theres a new contingent of climate-identified psychologists and therapists like Doherty, but its not completely necessary to reach out to one, he notes.

Thinking of this as a normal, 21st-century situation is helpful, Doherty says. Any good therapist can help people deal with anxiety.

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How to Cope With Climate Anxiety, According to Psychologists - Prevention.com

What do Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury (have you tried her new glow-boosting face mask, by the way?), Jasper Conran and Vivienne Westwood have in common? They all star in a brand new documentary charting the incredible life story of the iconic fashion designer, Dame Mary Quant - duh.

Quant pieces original interviews with some of the designers closest friends and family members, together with real footage from the icons life and dramatised scenes to really help viewers immerse themselves in the glitzy - yet gritty - world of one of the globes most well-known fashion faces.

One of the most influential artists of the 20th Century worldwide, Mary Quant (now 92) is a pioneer of the style revolution during the 60s and 70s, leading the charge away from conservative convention and instead championing ground-breaking designs including the miniskirt (shock, horror) and hot pants (can you believe it?).

In fact, there are likely cherished items of clothing you wear today that are all thanks to the fresh designs and irreverent style that Mary Quant was so celebrated for. Intrigued? Well, luckily, we finally have a trailer for the feature-length documentary (which, incidentally, is Sadie Frost's first directors role), and it looks every bit as achingly cool as we could have hoped.

Here's everything we know so far about the Quant documentary:

Through interviews and original footage, Quant will explore the creative, personal and professional life of the much-respected culture and style icon. As we alluded to above, you can expect to see interviews with other fashion and beauty titans, including Kate Moss, Charlotte Tilbury, Jasper Conran and Vivienne Westwood, amongst others - all of whom help us piece together a sense of the incredible life Quant herself led.

The official Instagram account for the documentary describes the designer as a, [r]ule breaker, trend setter, hemline slasher... [she] provided a uniform for the girls who didn't want to dress like their mothers.

So if you are a fashion fanatic or just like marvelling at gorgeous clothes - get ready to discover how one incredible woman revolutionised British street style, in an documentary that epitomises female empowerment and ingenuity.

In a recent press release, Studio Soho and Goldfinch Productions (who are both behind the documentary) announced that Quant will be officially released in UK cinemas on 29 October 2021.

If you can't wait that long though, the Curzon Mayfair and Curzon Soho cinemas are showing screenings on 9 and 10 October respectively - though tickets are selling out fast.

Okay, okay, this section isn't strictly about the documentary, but we couldn't let a piece on Mary Quant go by without including some of her iconic quotes. Here are our top five favourites - we'll be weaving these into our vocabulary, that's for sure

And, for good measure (and because we've got nothing to do now we've binge-watched Squid Game), you can find 26 of the most memorable quotes that prove fashion is so much more than frivolity here.

Right, now, where are those hot pants

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Quant: what you need to know about the Dame Mary Quant documentary - GLAMOUR UK

reiterates commitment to Nigeria

By Elizabeth Adegbesan & Juliet Umeh

The Coca-Cola System in Nigeria, comprising Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited and Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd, has flagged off activities marking its 70th anniversary celebration in Nigeria, with commitment to invest N560 billion in five years. This was announced Thursday at a press briefing with key NBC and Coca-Cola Nigeria executives in attendance.

The Coca-Cola System, through the bottling arm NBC, was incorporated in 1951. Today the Coca-Cola system is a leader in the non-alcoholic category with a rich portfolio of brands and array of options across its product offering. The system has kept growing with its customers with a stated vision to provide a beverage for every occasion around the clock, while positively impacting the nation and economy.

With 8 manufacturing plants, over 7000 dealers, skilled and dedicated employees, and a sophisticated distribution system across Nigeria, there is practically no community in Nigeria where a cold bottle of Coca-Cola is not within the close reach of consumers.

Commenting on the 70th anniversary milestone, Managing Director of NBC, Mathieu Seguin said, As we continued to grow, we have been very deliberate about investing heavily to make a positive impact in the lives of people in communities where we work and operate. We believe that our business is only as sustainable as the communities in which we do business, and this is why we have mainstreamed sustainability into every aspect of our business.

For perspective, in the last 10 years alone, the Coke System has invested more than 9 billion naira in lifting the living standards of communities where we do business in Nigeria, through locally relevant initiatives. Some of the areas we have had the most impact have been in education and youth development, women empowerment, water, environmental sustainability, sports and the promotion of commerce and entrepreneurship.

Seguin went on to share some of the impact and notable accomplishments of the Coca-Cola system over the years. In youth development, the System has trained over 30,000 youths on entrepreneurship and employability skills across different cities in Nigeria in the last 5 years. Under Education, its Tech Relevant Teacher (TRT) project has impacted 24,000 school pupils, with 648 school leaders and teachers trained and several classrooms blocks constructed or renovated in over 30 public schools in the last 5 years, impacted over 30,000 students.

With regards to women development, from 2015 to 2019 alone the Coca-Cola 5by20 program impacted over 470,000 women, with 38,000 women supported to start up their own medium, small or micro businesses as Coca-Cola Distributors or Retailers. The Lady Mechanic Initiative empowered 100 vulnerable young women with vocational, entrepreneurial and life skills, and equipped them to become certified professional automobile mechanics. Furthermore, the Safe Birth Initiative, a wellbeing programme to support the efforts of the government towards reducing the alarming numbers of deaths by women and new-born babies from birth-related complication has impacted over 12,000 Mothers and Babies since inception.

Speaking also at the event, Alfred Olajide, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Nigeria remarked that, Anniversaries are an important part of life. They remind us of important events, both personal and cultural. This celebration not only gives us an opportunity to look back at the brands storied history in Nigeria but is also an opportunity to highlight our plans for the future. This milestone anniversary is a testament to the possibilities and shared opportunities we have created in this great country.

Beyond an anniversary, this is a story of a company building and establishing long-lasting relationships with diverse groups, individuals, and organisations in a bid to ensure a better-shared future; it is years of system investments that have ensured the oiling of this countrys economic gears; it is years of initiatives that have ensured and fostered community resilience in communities seeking our intervention; it is years of instilling hope, open happiness, positive feelings and the magic of community in audiences.

The 70th anniversary celebration will run all through the remaining part of 2021 with a line-up of activities designed to celebrate the milestone with the Coca-Cola Systems consumers, customers, employees, partners and the general public for their support towards the growth of the business which include the Anniversary Stakeholder Event, consumer seeding/giveback programmes among others.

In emphasizing our current Real Magic philosophy, we will be kickstarting The Nigerians of Coca-Cola campaign, which will serve to tell a visual story of a diverse set of people across key regions in the country with different struggles and positive histories with Coca-Cola. These are people that have directly benefited from The Coca-Cola Systems sustainability initiatives from our value system to our key programme areas such as women and youth empowerment, waste, wellbeing, and water stewardship. Through this activity, we will also highlight the long-term impact these partnerships and initiatives have had on the communities and individuals.

To share fun and interesting stories about our beverages, we are also launching the My Coke Moments campaign, to encourage customers and stakeholders across demographics to share nostalgic moments and memories with their online network of friends. This further demonstrates Coca-Colas cultural relativism in Nigeria and showcases the brands longevity and love in the country

We have also planned Share a Trip with Coke which is an activity that will be spreading Real Magic across four key Nigerian cities. Coca-Cola branded buses will be on major routes in Lagos, Kano and Port-Harcourt, and lucky customers that get on the buses will be rewarded with free rides and exclusive brand merchandise. To cap off the exciting activities, we will close the celebration with a celebratory dinner in November 2021 to delight our varied stakeholders.

At the event, the Coca-Cola System presented Socio-Economic Impact Report for 2015-2019 which summarises the impact of the system, the value it has contributed to the Nigerian economy and the investments it is making in communities. According to Mr. Seguin, since 2007, we have invested $1.7billiion in the country and we will be investing an additional N560 billion or $1b in our operations in Nigeria. In the last five years, the Coca-Cola system has also supported the creation of 58,000 jobs along its value chain.

In closing, Olajide remarked that, as we prepare for more decades of excellence and enriching moments, I believe that there are opportunities for us to learn more, listen more, and continue to tailor our beverage solutions, to provide our consumers the brands they love at the different phases of their lives, done sustainably for a better shared future. We will continue to enable economic empowerment for the people who need it most downstream and upstream of our supply chain to truly uplift future generations.

Our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals are embedded in how we operate as a business it has been the history and legacy of the business in Nigeria, and our consumers should not expect anything less than the promise of quality, personalization, and the optimism that our beverages inspire.

Olajide noted that Coca-Cola has always been in the forefront of corporate support for the development of football in Nigeria. Over 10,000 players, from 500 schools and 50 celebrity football coaches have participated in the Copa Coca-Cola programme which has reached the 36 States and the FCT, Abuja since it launched in Nigeria in 2009.

In addition, on January 17, 2018, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited announced its partnership with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the Official Soft Drink Company and Sponsor of all the Nigeria National Football teams. The partnership is worth $4 million and will run for five years. Partnerships such as these have brought the FIFA World Cup trophy to Nigeria three times, as part of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour and have given many consumers the opportunity to travel and watch football tournaments live.

Sustainable manufacturing was also highlighted as an ongoing priority for the System, with a focus on Energy use reduction, Water use reduction, Emissions reduction and World Without Waste through investments made in installations such as Combiner Heat and Power plant, Effluent treatment plants and hybrid solar power installations in its manufacturing plants. The system also reinforced its global commitment to make all consumer packaging 100% recyclable by 2025 and to enhance the collection of all packaging material by 2030 through its World Without Waste program.

Vanguard News Nigeria

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Nigeria Coca-Cola system to invest N560b in 5 years, flags off 70th anniversary - Vanguard

Emily Ratajkowskis memoir, My Body, is already making waves, and it hasnt even been released yet.

In the book, the model details her experience working with Robin Thicke on the infamous music video for his 2013 song Blurred Lines. She is unhappy with how her story is being presented, especially since the whole book isnt out yet.

Heres what happened between Ratajkowski and Thicke and what the model said about the sexual assault allegation headlines.

The story making the rounds on social media is based on an excerpt from Ratajkowskis memoir, which will come out later this year.

According to Londons The Times, Ratajkowski at first enjoyed making the music video for Blurred Lines. But her feelings changed when Thicke, who was a little drunk, allegedly groped her on set.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a strangers hands cupping my bare breasts from behind. I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke, Ratajkowski wrote.

He smiled a goofy grin and stumbled backward, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. My head turned to the darkness beyond the set. [The director, Diane Martels] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, Are you OK?' Afterward, Ratajkowski wrote that she felt humiliation pump through her body, though she didnt react.

Emily Ratajkowski is not pleased with how the media has taken over her story.

Whats frustrating is I didnt come out with it; it was leaked, she told Extra on Tuesday, Oct. 5. The now 30-year-old Gone Girl actor said having the incident shared this way wasnt what she had in mind when she wrote her book.

Its been hard for me; I really like to have control over my image, and I wrote this book of essays to share the whole story and all sides of it, and I feel like it turns into a clickbait frenzy, and all of a sudden words like sexual assault and allegations are getting thrown around rather than people reading the actual essay, she said.

Im just looking forward to when people will be able to hear things in my own words.

The model hopes everyone can look beyond the headlines.

Everything I talk about is about the evolution of my politics, and its not some big reveal, its not some crazy thing, its a part of a larger essay, Ratajkowski said. Im just excited for people to hold nuance and understand that.

RELATED: Emily Ratajkowski Explains Exactly How She Uses Her Sex Appeal for Survival

Ratajkowskis memoir My Body will be released on Nov. 9, and it is currently available for preorder in hardcover and Kindle formats on Amazon.

Heres how Amazon describes the book:

A deeply honest investigation of what it means to be a woman and a commodity from Emily Ratajkowski, the archetypal, multi-hyphenate celebrity of our time.

Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor with the provocative display of her body as an unapologetic statement of feminist empowerment. The subsequent evolution in her thinking about our cultures commodification of women is the subject of this book.

My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of mens treatment of women and womens rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowskis life while investigating the cultures fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for womens sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse.

Nuanced, unflinching, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a fierce writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

Amazon also touts My Body as a most anticipated book of fall 2021 for Vogue and TIME, and here are what each of the publications has to say about the memoir:

Vogue says, My Body is a memoir, but its also a slow, complicated indictment of a profession and the people who propel it. Ratajkowski doesnt so much direct blame at any one person or organization as paint a personal picture of what it was like for her to be young, naive, ambitious, and smartand to feel reduced, far too often, to a collection of body parts [My Body] will deliver a more nuanced and introspective rendering of her interior than those who come to it with surface interests might expect.

TIME says, No stranger to discourse and scrutiny over womens bodies, Emily Ratajkowski brings nuanced insight to questions about empowerment versus commodification of womens bodies and sexuality. Blending cultural criticism and personal stories, My Body is smart and powerful.

How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.

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Emily Ratajkowski Is 'Frustrated' Over 'Leaked' Allegations Against Robin Thicke - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Deportment classes and finishing schools have been teaching mostly young women posture, poise and presence for centuries.

They're a master class in how to be ladylike, covering everything from nail care to the correct way to eat a banana (hint: it's apparently with a knife and fork).

In their heyday of the 18th century, young women from wealthy or aristocratic families were sent off to finishing schools where they were taught all the social graces needed to secure a husband.

Think curtseying, books on heads and lessons in how to eat soup delicately.

Given today's world of self-expression and self-empowerment, where individualism is celebrated and communication is increasingly informal, finishing schools have undergone a major re-brand in the hopes of staying in step with today's values.

So could this practice be a dying art? How relevant is deportment to young people in today's world? And what social currency does it hold?

Deportment expert Jodie Bache-McLean is at the helm of June Dally-Watkins a school that's taught modelling and deportment to mostly young women for more than 70 years.

ABC News: Mark Leonardi

After surviving the 1960s when deportment schools "lost their flavour", the managing director said deportment was in the midst of a revival.

"I'd say it's making a comeback," she said.

"Especially now. We're at home, we're in this insular world and our interaction in some instances is purely with people on a screen."

She said the past 18 months of lockdown had sparked renewed interest among parents who were "shocked" to witness their children's eating habits at the dinner table.

Others contacted Ms Bache-McLean in the hope of resolving their children's anxiety and self-esteem issues a creeping pandemic of its own among young people.

ABC News: Mark Leonardi

Not only does Ms Bache-McLean believe learning deportment has become more important now than ever, she's hoping the government will recognise it as "an important life skill" and introduce it to the national school curriculum.

"There's a saying that's been around for centuries: don't judge a book by its cover. And I totally respect that, but we do regardless," she said.

"We make conscious decisions, it's part of our flight-or-fight response. We're judging situations constantly."

While maintaining an emphasis on physical appearance, Ms Bache-McLean said deportment had "evolved" over the decades to be less about how to attract a man and more about cultivating self-confidence.

ABC News: Mark Leonardi

"It was very much about that decades ago," Ms Bache-McLean conceded.

"It's less about being a gentleman or being ladylike and more about being a human.

"[The classes have undergone] slight changes but the messaging remains the same, the terminology may differ.

"There's a wonderful saying what do people say about you when you've left the room? the best we can hope for in that experience with that person is that they were impressed."

June Dally-Watkins' lessons have stayed with you for decades. These are some of the more memorable, from the harsh to the helpful.

Deportment expert Renee Chambellant has witnessed countless transformations in students over her 40-year career teaching deportment, personal development and grooming to models, corporate workers and juniors.

"It's basically the same, obviously we've moved with the times and we've updated," she said.

"We teach how to go in and out doors, up and down stairs how to sit in your seat, how to get into a theatre and move between the chairs."

Ms Bache-McLean said: "It's about feeling comfortable and having self-confidence being the best version of you."

But by whose measure?

It's a question Helen Dalley-Fisher the senior manager with national women's advocacy group Equality Rights Alliance has taken issue with.

"A lot of deportment classes use the language of empowerment how they're empowering women to get ahead, to participate in high-powered situations," she said.

"But it's not empowering to worry all the time about whether you're looking right and about whether you're conforming properly."

ABC News: Greg Nelson

Ms Dalley-Fisher said she was bothered by how manydeportment classes place anemphasison "external appearance and obeying the rules".

"It's a problem when a woman's primary value is reduced to how she appears," she said.

"To suggest to a young girl, particularly when you're in that vulnerable stage in your teens and your 20s, that the way you appear is firstly not acceptable and needs to be changed and secondly it needs to conform to a set of rules [is problematic]."

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Ms Dalley-Fisher said a truly empowering deportment class would help students assess their own inherent value beyond their appearance.

"Perhaps what deportment classes are really offering is reassurance and a sense of security," she said.

"But when the sense of security is about how you look rather than what you do, and when it's about whether you're conforming, rather than what you're doing is of objective value that's not going to serve you well in the long term."

ABC News:Phoebe Hosier

Emily Searle, chair of a University of Queensland's Women's Collective a student body made up of young women echoed the sentiment, describing deportment as "exclusive" and "regressive".

She said most deportment schools reinforced gender roles society was working hard to undo.

"[They're] really only for people who can afford to spend that much money to teach skills that aren't that necessary today," she said.

"Young people less and less fit into these gender roles. More and more we're shifting away from 'men do this, women do that' and more towards this is what's expected of people.

"They [deportment classes] kind of look in the opposite direction."

Ms Searle said etiquette should reflect the multitude of multicultural communities that exist in Australia, rather than just the British way.

"There's no right way to set a table with Australia being such a multicultural community. There's so many different ways to perform etiquette and there's no one size fits all," she said.

We offer tailored front pages for local audiences in each state and territory. Find out how to opt in for more Queensland news.

While some of Australia's leading deportment schools teach mostly in private schools, Ms Bache-McLean said her organisation also worked with state schools and was accessible to an array of demographics.

"I have students who are on the spectrum, who are vision impaired, who are in wheelchairs it's not about walking, it's about your presence," she said.

"I have gender fluid students, I have students undergoing a transition and they would like to work with us to make their gestures more feminine than masculine, so we have evolved in that way."

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How relevant are deportment classes and finishing schools to young people in today's world? - ABC News

The word therapist is a broad term that can encompass many mental health professionals. Counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychologists are all considered therapists.

Depending on the individual, the geographic area in which they practice and their respective state licensure or regulatory practices, many mental health professionals use the term therapist to speak broadly about themselves. Regardless of what term is used, providing mental health services to clients is a meaningful way to offer help and support to others at the individual and community levels.

While the term therapist is often used as a general term to encompass the mental health field as a whole, it is important to note that there are very real and significant differences between and among the mental health professions, said Kristi B. Cannon, PhD, LPC, NCC, director of counseling programs, assessment and evaluation at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU).

These differences include:

While the term therapist can be used across professions, state licensure boards restrict the use of particular terms such as licensed professional counselor or licensed psychologist to those who have received specific educational, exam and practice requirements for licensure in that area, Cannon said.

And, because educational training, ethical guidelines and licensure are critical to each of these fields, it is important for potential clients to understand that the term therapist is not regulated, Cannon said. Therefore, the term therapist can be used by anyone across the profession.

These terms are often used interchangeably. Both a therapist and a counselor engage in a helping relationship, said Metoka L. Welch, PhD, LCMHC (NC), director of counseling programs for the learning environment at SNHU. The difference between the two lies within the goal of the professional.

A therapist provides mental health therapy to clients, Cannon said, while a counselor is a specific type of mental health professional whose offerings align with a wellness model of healing and who believes in the empowerment of clients to accomplish their goals in mental health, career and education.

According to Cannon, some types of counselors include:

Just like with the term therapist, there can be distinct educational, training and licensure requirements for each of these professions.

The type of professional counselor most often associated with therapist is a clinical mental health counselor. This person is someone who provides direct client counseling in a private practice, hospital or community-based setting, Cannon said.

The first step toward becoming a therapist is to decide which type of therapy you wish to provide.

These are some common pairings of interests and career pathways, according to Welch:

Once you have chosen your focus, the next step to becoming a therapist is to investigate the educational pathway you will need. An undergraduate degree is necessaryto become a therapist in any area. Most programs will specify if the degree for your chosen field needs to be in a social science, such as psychology, or a related discipline, such as sociology, Welch said.

If you already have a bachelors degreein another field, do not worry. It has been my experience, said Welch, that counseling programs are understanding that people are often enrolling in counseling programs as a second career, so their undergraduate degree could be in political science or, in my case, English. Most bachelors degrees will provide the foundational concepts and information you will need to move forward.

After you determine which area of counseling you would like to pursue, go to your states licensing board website to determine what educational credentials you need. Then, look into programs that offer the qualifying curriculum, said Welch.

A bachelors degree is only the beginning, however. A graduate degree is needed as well. Some types of therapy practice, such as a counseling psychologist, will need a PhD in counseling psychology as the minimum requirement for licensure, said Cannon. Other types of therapy practice require a masters degree.

Licensed professional counselors must have a masters degree in counseling, which includes the educational requirements established by the state counseling licensure board to practice, said Cannon.

While in school, you will likely complete a practicum and gain internship experience. Depending on your state and area of specialty, you will need to complete 2-4 years of post-graduate experience in order to be licensed, Welch said. I often tell students that (becoming a therapist) is a 25-year investment.

For most therapist specialties, such as clinical mental health counseling or clinical social work, the minimum education needed is a masters degree.

A doctorate is required for certain specialty areas, such as a clinical psychologist or counselor educator. And to become a psychiatrist, you need be a medical doctor, Welch said.

When it comes to how to become a licensed therapist, it's important to note that there are different types of licenses required for different counseling specialties. The type of license required is determined by the mental health field you choose and the state in which you will practice.

Requirements for licensure include a set number of clinical hours completed under the supervision of an approved supervisor as well as passing required state licensure exams, Cannon said.

Different types of licenses include:

The demand is growing for therapists and mental health professionals. This is due to a combination of factors, Cannon said, including the fact that mental health issues have gained more prominence in society over the last few years.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an increase in awareness of concepts like self-care, work-life balance and even mental health days, have helped normalize mental health issues as part of a collective sense of overall health, Cannon said.

There are many possibilities to build a robust and meaningful career as a therapist. Often, when people think of being a therapist, they think of working in private practice, Welch said.

Welch also noted that therapists could work in areas such as:

The combined awareness, acceptance and prominence of mental health issues and the need for care is only growing the field, and I fully anticipate this will continue, said Cannon.

In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors will grow 23% from 2020 to 2030, which is much faster than the average for all other occupations.

Because becoming a therapist is a tremendous time investment, you may not see a higher salary until you are licensed or working in a specialty. Most people who go into this line of work do so because they had a personal experience with a counselor, said Welch, or because they want to make a difference in the world. So, a good bit of the reward of being a therapist is intrinsic.

Depending on the educational background, license, area of client focus and geographic location, salaries can vary considerably. The Occupational Outlook Handbook of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes a median pay range from $47,660 to $82,180 for mental health counselors and psychologists, respectively. Marriage and family therapists and social workers earn a median salary of just above $50,000.

Being flexible, adaptable and empathetic are at the top of the list of traits that both Cannon and Welch say are important for a therapist to be successful. Welch also notes the ability to be courageous and set boundaries as necessary traits. The willingness to constantly work on yourself, your biases and hidden assumptions are essential traits for any therapist to succeed, said Welch. The willingness to be a client yourself, and to recognize the strength of human resilience are also important, she said.

All of these skills together enable therapists to help their clients strengthen their internal resources. We want clients to use their own coping skills for the issues that come up in their lives, Welch said. This skill can take years to build, so the ability to continuously grow and learn is key as well.

The ability to embrace and weather change is also crucial. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be able to deal with ambiguity, Welch said. Often graduate programs in counseling are difficult for type-A perfectionists. You have to have a willingness to let go of what you think and become a student of the clients work.

In clinical terms, a therapist works directly with clients and provides some form of psychotherapy, Cannon said. In more personal terms, the role of the therapist is to hold space for the broken places of their clients and allow space for people to grow and change, said Welch.

In terms of day-to-day responsibilities, the job can vary based on specialty. As a mental health counselor, Cannon works with clients one-on-one, with couples or families or in groups to provide direct mental health counseling services. The type of issues addressed can range from life transitions to more significant and pervasive diagnosable mental health issues, Cannon said.

Therapy can occur in a private practice setting, such as in an office or via telehealth. A community mental health agency, hospital, school or outpatient program provides opportunities for practice as well.

The job itself can look very different setting by setting, therapist by therapist, because the needs of clients and the services provided to those clients can vary so widely, Cannon said. Regardless of the setting, the overall focus of a clinical mental health counselor is to utilize a specific set of counseling skills, driven by an empirically valid theoretical orientation and interventions, to empower client growth and well-being, said Cannon.

Both Cannon and Welch agree that being a therapist is a tremendously rewarding career. Welch acknowledges that helping clients work through issues can result in both small and large changes. The reward comes not from the size of the change that you help your client make but from helping clients realize the possibility that things can change, she said.

For Cannon, being a clinical mental health counselor is a highly rewarding career:

In my work, I have the capacity to empower and support people in meaningful ways every day of my life. For some clients, this may be as simple as working through a difficult decision or navigating a challenging relationship. For others, this could truly be fostering a will to live or work through a significant life trauma. Either way, I am hard-pressed to think of many other careers that center on such meaningful change and offer opportunities for such significant long-term impact.

As you might imagine, while the rewards of being a therapist are great, there are some significant challenges as well. As much as this career can be rewarding, said Cannon, it can also be emotionally and mentally taxing.

The biggest challenge, according to both Cannon and Welch, is the risk of burnout. Therapists need to know their limits and ensure they are seeking good self-care as part of their practice, said Cannon. The importance of self-care and personal therapy is often a part of therapist training, according to Welch.

Another great challenge is that of demand. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for services, and, right now, many licensed therapists have waitlists, said Welch.

Becoming a therapist is a big investment of time and energy. Because it can take years to achieve licensure and become qualified to establish a practice or work full-time in your chosen area, this is not a career field to enter into lightly.

This is also a field that can be very rewarding for some but is not the right fit for everyone. For that reason, its worth taking the time upfront to research the different options within the field of therapy to decide if this is the right career for you. This is not a profession you can just try out to see if you like it, Cannon said. Becoming a therapist takes some "front-end research, identity alignment and a commitment to the profession before deciding if it's right for you, she said.

Welch advocates the importance of becoming a client yourself because it takes a great deal of vulnerability to sit in the clients seat and reveal deep, often painful parts of your life to a stranger, she said. Once you respect that position, you realize how sacred this work is. For that reason, she recommends having your own therapist because if the idea of that is off-putting to you, reconsider why you want to do this.

Welch believes that the key difference between a good therapist and a great one is as simple as having the willingness to seek therapy yourself.

Marie Morganelli, PhD, is a freelance content writer and editor.

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How to Become a Therapist | SNHU - Southern New Hampshire University

by Janet OShea |September22,2021

The climate breakdown, which so many of us assumed lay far in the future, is upon us now.

Extreme weather conditions abounddrought, wildfires, super storms, floods. A recent and terrifying report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that more of the same is inevitable, and that the window to avoid the most horrific outcomes is rapidly closing. Only by reducing emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 can we limit the temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius, the panel concluded. Even that best case scenario involves devastationsuch as an Arctic region that sees a month every year without sea iceand damage that is irreversible. Still, world leaders ignore pleas for action.

In this situation it makes sense to be scaredand to take a cue from empowerment self-defense (ESD), a feminist self-defense practice that pays close attention to the relationships among fear, anger, and action. By harnessing the power of fear, ESD shows a path forward for climate activism, too.

Its worth thinking about the benefits of fear. In the home, in public spaces, and on a global scale, fear is an emotional and cognitive response that expresses itself through physical states: hair standing on end, a tightness in the chest, an accelerated heart rate, a queasy feeling. These signals appear as the brain picks up on sensory cues that the conscious mind might miss. Together, they form what we call our intuition, and they fuel self-protection and survival. Fear helps us figure out which threats to respond to and how quickly, and what obstacles are mere annoyances that we can safely ignore.

And yet, modern society teaches us to second guess our fears, to allow our minds to slip into denial in the face of potential danger. So its no wonder that some politicians, journalists, and scientists urge restraint in how we talk about the climate crisis. Scientific reticence has, until recently, encouraged climate researchers to speak in the bland language of parts per million, and of change rather than breakdown, allowing scientific skepticism to blur into climate denial. Journalists have adopted neutral-sounding terms for ecological catastrophe such as global warming rather than global heating, and climate change rather than climate crisis. Even some climate activists suggest that fear can only motivate people in destructive ways.

In fact, a healthy dose of fear might motivate us to work harderand empowerment self-defense shows how and why. For instance, ESD teaches us to confront denial, a common response to interpersonal violence (and to environmental breakdown). When a person encounters a strangers violencea grab, a slap, a shove to the groundthe defender often spends precious response time thinking this cant be happening. Many of us, especially those of us raised as girls, are taught that our safety is someone elses responsibility and that a bystander or an expert will intervene and save us.

Fear helps us figure out which threats to respond to and how quickly, and what obstacles are mere annoyances that we can safely ignore.

Empowerment self-defense confronts this kind of withdrawal directly, replacing the denialist statement this isnt happening with a question: Whats going on? ESD students practice actively enlisting the support of bystanders, through specific instructions or requests. These strategies replace a dependence on others with the ability to actively engage them, acknowledging fear and confronting it head-on.

An insidious form of climate denial contends that someone elsepoliticians, scientists, or entrepreneurswill solve the problem for us, or that individual, incremental change aloneenergy-efficient lightbulbs, carpooling, recyclingwill avert disaster. By using ESD methods, we can train ourselves to respond more actively to the environmental crisis, replacing I cant believe this is happening with This is happening, and its occurring more quickly than expected. What can we do about it? And how can I mobilize others to tackle this problem?

ESD provides a roadmap for that mobilization. When women, the feminine-identified, and non-binary people train in self-defense, they fight social norms that tell them to be polite and accommodating at all costs, and to doubt their physical strength and cognitive skill. ESD normalizes the resistance of women and other marginalized groups to violence and makes the unimaginablea society that celebrates their autonomyachievable. Because it brings together threat appraisal, social critique, and the expansion of our options, empowerment self-defense demonstrates that individual, self-protective action can support systemic change. We can replace a justificationIm just one person; what can I do?with a provocation: What can I do?

In climate action, too, our personal choices can be springboards for larger interventions. We can ride the bus and we can lobby city leaders to make public transit more efficient, welcoming, and comfortable. We can choose a plant-based meal and convince our workplace eatery to shift its menu toward a plant-forward approach.We can forego one airplane ride and encourage our employers to offer extra vacation days to employees who chose ground over air travel. Personal choices show us what is possible. They also remind us where constructive action remains difficult, thus illustrating where we need structural change.

In a situation of harassment, aggression, or even outright assault, ESD acknowledges, many people are so unwilling to make a fuss that they quietly convince themselves that a situation cant be urgent if others are allowing it. The psychologist and climate activist Margaret Klein Salamon makes a similar point about environmental collapse: People look to one another for cues as to how to behave. If everyone around us just shrugs and moves on, we assume that we are alone in our assessment of the situation, a phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance.

Salamon offers a solution to pluralistic ignorance, one that is familiar within empowerment self-defense: Get loud. This can mean joining a climate march or participating in a climate strikeor talking to friends, families, and elected officials about the life and death nature of this crisis. When we make noise, literally and metaphorically, we also give others permission to put forward their demands for a safer, cleaner, more just world.

Fighting, in ESD training, refers to literal, combative action. But fighting also includes complete commitment. It entails using all the resources we have at hand: If one thing doesnt work, try another, and dont give up. Research on ESD suggests that active resistance works. Activism is effective when the improbable becomes normalized; personal and small group actions make such alternatives conceivable. Smaller efforts can encourage us to question a broader economic and political system built on the burning of fossil fuels and on industrial, animal-based agriculture.

In order to protect life on our planet, we need to treat the climate crisis as the self-defense situation that it is. We do not fear climate catastrophe enough. When we cut through our denial, resist climate doom, call attention to the crisis, and recognize that we can make a difference, we can reshape our world, and push our leaders to enact better policies. Heeding our immediate responses to environmental breakdownthe surge of adrenaline and cortisol that can accompany images of disaster, the unease in the realization that our home or our neighborhood could be next, and the accompanying sense that we need to do somethingcan motivate us to save our environment. The key is reacting to these responses before we rationalize them away.

Effective self-defense harnesses fear and anger to generate an appropriate response. It focuses on the many things we can do, not on the one or two things we should do. Empowerment self-defense shows us that when we fight we expand our world rather than narrow it. And this is the most exciting lesson of all for the environmental movement: When we fight, we can win.

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The Feminist Self-Defense Practice That Could Give the Climate Crisis a Beatdown - zocalopublicsquare.org

Vancouver Island Universityssuluqwa Community Cousins Aboriginal student mentorship programis celebrating its 10thanniversary in September 2021. In honour of this important milestone, we are sharing stories of people closely connected with the program every month leading up to the anniversary. Stay tuned for a celebration of this important milestone in February 2022 when we hope to be able to gather in-person.

The suluqwa Community Cousins program builds capacity for mentors to gain leadership and employability skills through outreach and mentoring activities. Students hone skills in self-awareness, communication, leadership, self-care and an exploration of personal values, with an emphasis on telling ones story as a path to self-empowerment through outreach to others.

Participating in the Community Cousins program at VIU allowed Aaron Moore to connect with his Coast Salish culture through activities such as learning from Elders teachings, participating in Tribal Journeys and forming bonds with other Indigenous students.

Ive learned first-hand that its never too late to better understand who you are, and what or who brought you to this very moment, says Aaron.

Now Aaron, who graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Care, makes a positive impact in the lives of Indigenous youth. He works as a SeYeYu Kinship Social Worker with Kwumut Lelum Child and Family Services. He is also currently working with a co-worker to launch a program called 9 Nations Lacrosse to bring the sport to each on of Kwumut Lelums member Nations and make it as accessible as possible for Indigenous children to participate in.

Aaron shares some of his experience at VIU, what hes been up to since graduating and whats next for him.

Uy skweyul, my name is Aaron Moore. I am son of Leonard and Suzanne Moore. My Fathers Mothers family is from the Stzuminus First Nation and Cowichan Tribes, with connections to the Penelakut Tribe. My Fathers Fathers family is from Denmark and Finland. My Mothers family is from Ireland and England. Id like to say huy steep qu to the Snuneymuxw People for letting me live and learn on their traditional territory.

Ive always heard good things about the CYC program at VIU and I wanted to attend school close to home and as someone who grew up in South Nanaimo, VIU made the most sense for me.

I grew up playing lacrosse in Nanaimo. I played a lot with fellow su luqw a Sheldon Scow, so I spent plenty of time at his mothers house. Sylvia Scow is Manager of Indigenous Protocol at VIU and coordinator of the Community Cousins program. When Sylvia saw me on campus, she asked if I wanted to be a part of this amazing program. I graciously accepted.

Being a Community Cousin has given me the opportunity to make a connection to culture that was never presented to my father. Growing up I was always considered an Aboriginal Student in elementary school, but at the time, I couldnt really tell you what that meant. After becoming a Community Cousin, learning from Elders teachings, participating in Tribal Journeys and being so much closer to everything that I come from as a Coast Salish person, I know what that means now. I raise my hands to every Indigenous student that displays pride in where and who they come from.

I was fortunate enough to represent the Community Cousins at various conferences and events, but I have to say that Tribal Journeys will forever be one of my favourite experiences. The practices brought us together and made us stronger. The paddling from nation to nation brought us closer. The laughs, songs and dances shared were amazing. I definitely wont forget that experience.

I think its really easy to keep your head down and focus on survival in your first year of university, but it is very important to make connections and find like-minded people. It makes the whole experience easier when youre going through it with someone by your side.

Currently I am a SeYeYu Kinship Social Worker with Kwumut Lelum Child and Family Services. In my role I advocate for and support children who have been placed in the care of extended family voluntarily. At Kwumut Lelum we serve nine Nations in the mid-Island, including the one that my fathers family comes from. I love my job and I really enjoy working for Kwumut Lelum due to our practices being very culturally informed.

I am applying to complete my Master of Social Work through either Wilfrid Laurier University or the University of Toronto.

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Making a positive impact on youth: Aaron Moore - Vancouver Island University News

Jenna Burk is a freshman journalism major at MU. She writes about feminism and social justice for The Maneater.

As I scroll through my Instagram feed, I witness tidbits of the lives of people I went to high school with. I see my friends having awesome experiences, like going to concerts or on vacations. I see them posing with their loved ones, families and pets.

Not long into my social media venture, Ill typically encounter content that is performative. Then, I am met with a social dilemma. By default, I am inclined to comment a compliment on that persons post. I naturally want to make that person feel good about themselves.

However, if I validate that person for sexualizing themselves online, am I unconsciously telling that person that they need to keep delivering that kind of content to maintain their self-esteem?

There is a difference between posting a picture that features a body versus exploiting a body for a picture. This past winter, there was an Instagram trend that especially exacerbated this issue. In Kansas City, the lowest temperature of 2020 was zero degrees. I was surprised to see so many young women posing in two-inch-deep snow wearing nothing but bikinis.

Although the pictures often turned out very artistic, I couldnt help but see the demeaning, not to mention dangerous, element of the trend. Demeaning, because the picture itself represented female discomfort equating to sexuality. Dangerous, because well, frostbite.

It begs the question, what messages are young girls getting that would make them degrade themselves for societys beauty standards?

The nature of Instagram provides a sort of social status based on numeral reward systems. It is easy for the human brain to hyperfixate on rewards, creating an incentive to sexualize ourselves.

Jenna Preuss, a freshman at MU, shared her internal battle between her self-perception and her online-perception.

I did sexualize myself, Preuss said. I noticed I was getting attention and I liked it.

Preuss said she was feeling the pressures that come with putting yourself on the internet.

After I put [photos] up, I got anxious. I would panic and look over my account, Pruess said.

Pruess said thoughts like, This is embarrassing and I need to delete it, would circulate around her head.

The cycle would continue until I decided that I couldnt do it anymore.

Preuss said she made a choice that best suited her mental health by diversifying her social media to include images that she had less of a personal connection to.

If Im not in the picture, I dont have an attachment to it, Preuss said.

Now, Preuss Instagram is centered around her life rather than her physical appearance. She only posts content that she is fully comfortable sharing: images of herself, her friends and cats. She has chosen to post pictures for herself, rather than for others.

She recognizes that these posts get significantly less attention, but Preuss doesnt feel the need to have that validation anymore. She can maintain her self-image without it. Preuss experience is purely personal and self-reflective.

Some people struggle with it [posting] more than others, Preuss said.

It is equally as misogynistic to assume that women cannot handle their autonomy and need to be protected. The sentiment that women should only post images that do not exhibit their bodies is insensibly sexist. This isnt a preachy call to modesty.

Social media provides an illusion of autonomy. Once a choice has been made it exists online permanently. Autonomy is then stolen, as the picture no longer belongs to the poster, it belongs to the internet.

Instead, social media is an acknowledgement of how the patriarchy operates under the circumstances of our modern world. The patriarchy retains relevance in social media by demonstrating the objectivity of women for the consumption and entertainment of men.

It becomes clearly misogynistic when patterns related to gender are apparent. Female influencers are far more prevalent than male influencers.

Female influencers dominated trends such as The Silhouette Challenge on TikTok. Posters would get naked or in underwear and pose in a dimly lit room, so that you could only see their silhouettes.

The challenge proved to be especially dangerous because viewers would remove the filter, revealing nude images of the original creators. Tutorials on how to remove the red filter from The Silhouette Challenge became almost as popular as the original content.

Despite criticism from the general public, edits are still being manufactured and can be found all over the internet: YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.

Its as if the traces left behind from this old trend will never entirely disappear. Nothing that has ever existed on the internet will die out completely. Although that is an alarming idea, we push it to the back of our minds. However, we should be aware of the implications of our actions.

Yet, collectively, there seems to be a lack of awareness. Perhaps that lack of awareness is a self-defense mechanism. If we pretend that we want to contribute to the objectification of women, or even declare it as empowerment, we feel less exploited by society. This way, we are able to rationalize it as an independent choice, rather than a form of indoctrination.

The importance of practicing self-reflection is key. Not only does self-reflection entail facing personal queries, it has to do with how we project our intentions onto other people. It is crucial to be mindful of our own boundaries and the boundaries of others when creating an online identity.

The best remedy is to monitor yourself to make sure that you are not sharing any content that is for the enjoyment of others, at the sacrifice of your own well-being. Remember, you are more than an image.

The Maneater encourages all readers to commit to the fight against domestic abuse and donate to Futures Without Violence. Futures Without Violence is a health and social justice nonprofit with a simple mission: to heal those among us who are traumatized by violence today and to create healthy families and communities free of violence tomorrow. Please donate here: https://www.futureswithoutviolence.org

Edited by Sarah Rubinstein, srubinstein@themaneater.com

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Self-sexualization on social media is all too prevalent - The Maneater

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Following the enactment of SB8 in Texas an unconstitutional law that will leave millions of women without access to critical abortion care Corporate Accountability Action is fighting back by launching #OffTheBANWagon. The new project will shine a light on the corporations that have bankrolled the campaigns of the Texas state legislators who sponsored this cruel abortion ban.

AT&T, NBC Universal, Time Warner, and Charter Communications spent over $1 million financing the campaigns of Texas legislatorsthat effectively ended 50 years of precedent established by Roe v. Wade and repeatedly affirmed.

These powerful corporations have been publicly advocating for equity and empowerment for women while behind the scenes spending hundreds of thousands of dollars propping up state legislators who continue to push and champion harmful legislation that stands in direct contradiction to the company's statements.

Click here to watch CAA's first adcalling out AT&T that's set to air in the Dallas media market and on digital beginning this week.

Corporate Donor Contributions to Anti-Abortion Lawmakers

AT&T, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, donated the largest amount to the sponsors of the extreme Texas abortion ban while widely claiming that "one of the company's 'core values' was 'gender equity and the empowerment of women."

"Women in Texas and across the nation deserve to know that companies they've long patronized, which claim to want to empower women, are actually doing the exact opposite. Through their support of anti-abortion extremists, companies like AT&T helped enact one of the most cruel and disgraceful laws in the country, and they should be held accountable," said #OffTheBANWagon spokesperson Julie McClain Downey. "This law not only put an end to safe and legal abortions in Texas, but it interjected perfect strangers into the private, time sensitive, and deeply personal medical decisions of individuals on strict and baseless timelines and without exceptions for victims of rape and incest. We must call these companies out for their hypocrisy and put an end to the enactment of similar bans being proposed around the country."

"This abortion ban part of the Republican plan to make reproductive health care completely out-of-reach is devastating, which is why companies that backed the lawmakers responsible for this cannot be permitted to bury their heads in the sand," said reproductive rights advocate and American Bridge co-chair Cecile Richards. "By funding politicians that have made clear their disdain for reproductive freedom, corporations are giving lawmakers across the country the green light to ban essential health services while giving lip service to 'equity' and 'empowerment.' We cannot let this go on, which is why it's so important to call out their hypocrisy and stop them from continuing to harm people."

SB8, recently passed by the Texas legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott (R), effectivelybans abortions for millions of women with no exceptionsfor victims of rape or incest. Moreover, it allows for vigilante justice giving any individual the right to sue another over a personal medical decision. A similar law has been passed in Mississippi and is on the docket to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. As a result of the Texas ban, state legislatures across the country are considering extreme abortion ban laws of their own, taking away long-established reproductive rights.

The #OffTheBANWagon campaign, a project of Corporate Accountability Action and American Bridge 21st Century, will be releasing advertisements focused on educating Texas residents on the corporate backers of the ban, along with the critical role these major corporations played in the ultimate passing of the law.

To learn more about how to hold these corporations accountable, visit OffTheBANWagon.org or Twitter @CAAction2021, Facebook at /corporateaccountabilityaction, or on Instagram @corporateaccountabilityaction.

SOURCE Corporate Accountability Action

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Corporate Accountability Action Launches #OfftheBANWagon Campaign To Hold Financial Backers of Texas Abortion Ban Accountable - PRNewswire