How to save the world (in 5 steps) – PART 3
This email is the final installment of my response to the question below. To read part 1, click HERE. To read part 2, click HERE. Dear Ryan, I am a college student. I see so many problems in the world (homelessness, hunger, racism, etc.). I want to use my career and my life to help. […]
How to save the world (in 5 steps) – PART 2
This email is part 2 (of 3) of my response to the question below. To read part 1, click HERE. Dear Ryan, I am a college student. I see so many problems in the world (homelessness, hunger, racism, etc.). I want to use my career and my life to help. Honestly, though, I don’t know […]
How to save the world (in 5 steps).
I got the following email recently: Dear Ryan, I am a college student. I see so many problems in the world (homelessness, hunger, racism, etc.). I want to use my career and my life to help. Honestly, though, I don’t know what to do, or even where to start. What advice do you have? Cynthia […]
I never understood the term “neurodivergent.”
Next week I am doing a live interview with an expert on autism. Carly Danesh-Jones is a British autism advocate (who is on the spectrum herself). She even received an “MBE” for her work on autism advocacy. It is one of those cool things that the British Royal Family does like making people Knights and Dames […]
Everything you know about human trafficking is wrong.
“I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my […]
I don’t know much about suicide.
I have a lot of professional experience with homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse, PTSD and traumatic brain injury. I have very little experience with the issue of suicide. Personally, I am grateful for that fact. Professionally, though, it is a gap. For years, people have been asking me to do a training on the topic. […]
How bad are homeless people?
I stumbled upon something interesting over the weekend and I had to share it… In an average night in New York City in January 2022: That means: Is it possible that homeless folks aren’t as bad as the world thinks? peace, Ryan SOURCES AND NOTES (1) That number is from the annual point in […]
The hardest day of my life was December 20, 1998.
Even though I was twenty years old, I crawled into my parent’s bed and sobbed. I felt like a frightened five-year-old, but this time the monsters lurking in the shadows were real. Everything had changed. All food had the same bland taste. Sleep was sporadic and unfulfilling. I always felt claustrophobic—even when I was in […]
Can I enforce the rules if someone is mentally ill?
Dear Ryan, I work in a public library. Last week, a patron with obvious mental health issues set a pocket knife on the table where he was reading. He didn’t threaten anyone with it, but he did leave it out in the open where it was visible to everyone for several hours. Some of my […]
What Librarians taught me about social workers
The last two weeks I wrote about social workers in libraries. I got several emails from libraries pointing out issues that I should have included. It reminded me that I am not an expert in this area. That is why I am particularly excited to be interviewing two actual experts for this month’s monthly training. […]