While some people may feel compelled to make a difference for people with unique needs in our communities, not everyone has time to give to become involved with various organizations and initiatives. If you are one of these people, consider adding a group who supports people with different needs to your annual charitable giving list. As with any charity donation, look into which ones do the best job of putting your donation to good use to directly support the cause.
Tag: community
Bright and Beautiful

Kaarin Anderson Ryan, PhD, BCBA, LBA 7.28.21
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am sure that this is true. After all, there are things that are beautiful to some people but not to others. We all have basic preferences for color, shapes and design. We also have preferences for beauty in the form of landscapes, animals, and other people. In many cases, we may come to appreciate beauty where we had not seen it before.
When it comes to other people, there can be tendencies as part of human nature to make judgments based on appearances. Sometimes these judgments are purely about attraction – do I like how that person looks as a potential romantic partner? Other times these judgments are more complex, looking at someone and thinking you may know them because of the outward appearance you see. Clothing, hairstyle, skin color – these are all things that can affect our judgment, often leading to inaccurate representations or poor outcomes.
In the field of psychology, we strive to understand and predict human behavior to help build better success for people with regard to personal interactions. It is often disappointing to see negative patterns of behavior repeat themselves – with individual people we know, with ourselves, and with society. In my specific experience, spending my entire career working with and advocating for the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens – those with autism, developmental needs and diverse abilities – I have challenged others to look for beauty and strength in people where it might not be as obvious to society. We have come a long way in the past 20 years towards increased acceptance and community inclusion, but we still have a long way to go. It doesn’t seem like we can fix things in any easy fashion, but looking at where we are today, it seems that one thing we can all do is look for and find beauty.
In others. In ourselves. In our communities.
In others.

How good are you at looking for an finding beauty in others? Not just physical beauty, but inner beauty, positive qualities and attributes? Do you look for the best in others, or do you focus on the things you don’t like, or the things that make you uncomfortable?
We often see the negatives more than the positives. In doing this, I can promise you that if you look for a negative quality in another person, or look for fault in what that person says or does, you will find it. This also holds true for the opposite – if you really apply yourself to looking for the best quality in another person you will find it. I believe that there is beauty somewhere inside all people, with very few exceptions.
In addition, it is important for us all to remember that we have each only really walked in our own shoes. Do any of us really know what it feels like to be someone else? Someone who was rude to you at the store? Someone who has a different skin color than your own, or who comes from a different culture? Someone who has been born with a disability that affects every day life in ways you might not be able to imagine?
Try to imagine – only just imagine – that each person you come into contact with today is honestly just doing the best they can with what they have in that moment. If you can even imagine that, your outlook may become more balanced. This may also result in more positive interactions and less frustrations throughout your day.
In ourselves.

While I do think that in general, we tend to be too hard on other people, I also think that we tend to be hard on ourselves. It is so easy to slip into negative thinking about ourselves, our skills, our looks, our interactions. Have you ever second-guessed a conversation after it happened and thought about what you could have or should have said differently or better? Have you ever looked in the mirror or at a picture of yourself and really focused in on the things you don’t like about your looks? Have you ever talked yourself out of trying something because you think you won’t be good enough?
Simone Biles, bright, beautiful, and possibly the best female gymnast of all time, just stepped down from the Olympic team competition to let her team compete without her because she wasn’t sure she had it in her to live up to the world’s expectations in that moment. She, who from an outsider’s perspective with her incredible talent and should have every reason to believe in herself, was wrought with doubt this week. The world was shocked. We look at her as someone who is flawless, perfect in her sport, the epitome of strength and perseverance. But even Simone Biles has her moments of self-doubt, and if she does, it is no wonder that we all do. Simone Biles had the courage to say to the world that she needed a break for herself, and I hope that in doing so she is able to search and find that strength, beauty and brightness once again.
How can we face our doubts and not lose sight of our own beauty and brightness? Maybe it means sometimes hitting the pause button to give yourself some grace for a time. Maybe it also means looking at yourself in a more balanced way – you may challenge yourself constantly to overcome weaknesses and things that get in your way, but it is important to not let this dominate your thoughts about yourself. For every weakness or challenge you seek to improve within yourself, look for one thing you are proud of, one thing you like about yourself, one thing you know other people like about you. Balance yourself with positive thoughts about yourself while you strive for self-improvement.
In our communities.

Boy oh boy, is it easy to find fault in our communities, isn’t it? Do they do enough of this, that or the other thing that we think is important? Probably not. But like the balanced perspectives we can strive for regarding others and ourselves, we have to do this with our communities as well. Like people, communities are not perfect. How could they be? They are made up of imperfect people, after all. That is the nature of life. This is not to suggest that we shouldn’t advocate for our communities to do better in things that could be improved, but it is to say let’s think about them in a more balanced way.
When you consider your own community, including our collective state and national community, do you see more things that you like or more things that you don’t like? Is it easy to criticize local, state or federal organizations and governing agencies for everything they do wrong? It is, I think, very easy to find fault with organizations and systems. And there are things that need to be improved, without a doubt. This is true for things that affect lives of people in a multitude of ways. Does your community do enough to support people in financial need? Does it do enough to support and include people with different needs and abilities? Does it do enough to provide opportunities for positive interaction and productive debate? Does it do enough overall to support diversity and inclusion for all people?
Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. But, I would venture to say that all our communities have qualities and strengths that we may take for granted. While you consider the things you wish would be better within your own community – or even on a broader scale with state and federal organizations or governments – also consider the things you value in these area. What does your community do well? Look for the beauty.
If we start from a place with a focus on what is bright and beautiful, it will make it easier to tackle the challenges that we face with others, with ourselves, and with our communities.
Brave New Year

Kaarin Anderson Ryan, PhD, BCBA, LBA
It has felt like climbing up a mountain, hasn’t it? 2020 has been a year of unprecedented everything, and there will be lots of videos, blogs, and news to reflect upon this past year and look to the horizon for a better 2021. New Year’s Day has long been a symbol of fresh starts and resolutions, which is a great way to approach the new year.
But let’s face it. Nothing will be all that different on a worldwide level on January 1. We are still in the midst of a global pandemic, still looking for answers and witnessing or participating in all kinds of disagreement about the “best” way to handle the situation. This includes personal choices as well as government mandates. Nothing seems to be the perfect answer. So instead of re-hashing everything that has been tough about 2020, or making all kinds of glowing predictions about everything getting better when the calendar changes, I would like to reflect on the things that have been positive this year and how we can bravely move forward to bring all the best things that have come from the pandemic into the next year.
For many people, priorities have shifted. All around me I have seen such a re-focus on family and quality time with loved ones, because for much of the year we have been forced to isolate ourselves into smaller bubbles of contact. So in these bubbles many people have been able to really appreciate and enjoy that time and those people, reconnecting with an emphasis on quality of time spent together rather than trying to fit all kinds of activities into our time. For the new year, think about the times you have been able to find more enjoyment and relaxation with close loved ones, and when things start to feel more normal in the rest of the world remember the value of these times. Make it a priority to seek out those connections with family and close friends.
In our communities, we can all find countless examples of increased giving and support. In the spring, my local community had a surge of donations to food pantries, people volunteering to take food to others, and providing other types of support to families who had experienced job losses or health-related difficulties. Many towns and cities experienced a surge of support for local businesses, including people intentionally shopping at local stores and making efforts to support local restaurants by dining in or taking out food to help those businesses remain open. This spirit of giving back and providing support does not have to go away when the pandemic eases – our communities can always use support.
Large companies have also reached out to help people in need during the pandemic. Of special note is the focus on helping students to make the best of the situation. For school-age students with no internet in the home, companies across the country made internet available to families for free. In many areas, companies created free Wifi hotspots for students to use during school closures. In addition, there have been some nice efforts from everything from insurance companies reducing rates or waiving certain fees to all of these companies that have thoughtfully and often generously established ways to give back specifically to help in the wake of COVID-19. The surge of support from companies that can actually make a difference should help us see the positive side of humanity during difficult times.
In so many ways, we have seen a surge of creativity and industrious efforts to keep people connected. Between updates to Zoom, entertainment giants such as Netflix creating easy ways for people to have movie parties from different locations, and online games increasing access and ease for allowing people to spend virtual time together. We have all had to be more creative and flexible to stay connected to our loved ones, and the technology available to us has given us great opportunities to spend time together.
During this time, we have seen heroic efforts in medicine. Our health care workers across the board have been amazing, providing care under stressful conditions. Throughout this pandemic, there have been ever-changing guidelines on how to treat people who become very ill and have to stay in the hospital for lengthy periods of time. But our health care teams across the country and around the world have stepped up day after day to rise to the challenge of providing the best possible care. They are true heroes. In addition to the health care workers in the field, there have been incredible scientific efforts to learn more about this virus and to develop treatments and preventions, including the vaccines, to help bring an end to the pandemic. Scientific teams have worked around the clock to ensure medical progress that will help save lives.
In education, teachers and staff have gone to incredible lengths to provide the best possible education during this time. Parents have stepped up as partners, providing support while students are learning from home. As exhausting as this has been for both teachers and parents, the efforts have been tireless. Also, educators have tapped into creative and innovative ways to keep students engaged. Look at these North Carolina teachers who have come up with fun and engaging ways to teach online, or this one, who does different character videos for her interactive online class. Is it ideal? No, of course not. But it is also not stagnant – educators and parents are rising to the challenges and continuing to do what they can to give students the best educational experience possible under the circumstances.
I could go on and on with all the creativity and goodwill that has come out of our experience with COVID-19. But let’s take some time now to think about how we start off the new year with courage and strong hearts. One approach is to focus on our great need for things to get better, to get back to normal, to stop needing to think about masks and distancing and limiting interaction and activities. These things will be realized, probably within the next year but not within the next month. So to move forward with positivity, to be brave in the new year, take some inspiration from any of the categories listed above. In the new year, what will your resolutions be? It is always good to spend some time reflecting on personal habits and making changes for yourself, but look at all the positive changes so many people have made over the past year out of necessity. These positive changes have required courage, commitment and positivity. Let’s look back at 2020 with acknowledgement of how different and how difficult it has been, while we look to 2021 with optimism, and a renewed sense of positivity for what can be done by all of us, even under the most challenging of circumstances.
Stress Management 101
Kaarin Anderson Ryan, PhD, BCBA, LBA. 6.24.20
It just keeps building up, the stress of 2020. It’s hard to look at social media or the news without sensing an instant rise in your stress level, with fresh new things to worry about every day. You can, in some cases, take action to deal with things going on in the world, whether it is contributing to a cause, getting involved in politics, or staying up-to-date with needed precautions against Covid-19, But even when you are able to take action, there is still a feeling of powerlessness, of hopelessness, when everything seems to be bad news.
For those who have been home with children for the past few months, trying to balance their own work with becoming surrogate teachers, this stress can be even worse because there is already a level of exhaustion that has set in every day. People who work in health care and other impacted industries may also be experiencing stress levels that are higher and different from others. During these seemingly unprecedented difficult times, it is important to remember 2 things: Perspective and Self-Care.
Perspective. Yes, it feels like the world is on fire. It feels like things will never be the same regarding illness, germs and feeling safe in public settings. It feels like there are more difficult questions than there are good and useful answers. But despite the fact that many of us have not experienced this level of turmoil in the world all at once, this is certainly not the first time that there has been extreme social unrest or pandemic disease. Remember that we often learn best from history. We have the advantage of being able to look back at past events and view them through the lens of what went well and what didn’t go so well. For example, a lot of health experts have been reflecting on the 1918 flu pandemic, with a sharp eye on which communities fared the best and which ones had worse outcomes. By looking at choices those communities made, we can have more informed decisions about how to manage transmission rates now, 100 years later. Health experts are also using history to drive clinical decision making. With a brand new virus, hard facts have been sparse. But by looking at other similar germs, outbreaks, treatments, and vaccines, health professionals and scientists are best able to make informed decisions as they work hard to get this under control.
When it comes to social unrest and politics, we also have history to lean on for guidance. As human beings living in societies around the world, many people are better off than their ancestors. This is largely due to social and political changes over time. Some of these needed changes happened peacefully while others came with the cost of human suffering and many lives lost. Looking at history, let the past be our guide about how to promote necessary social changes in our world in the most peaceful manner possible. And to keep things in perspective, use history to realize that our best chance to move forward is to recognize each others’ humanity, and to do this without prejudice to promote positive change. Do what you are able and willing to do – for some this may mean organizing events or putting up signs, for others it may mean writing to your government representatives and leaders, and for others it may just mean having conversations with your own children.
Self-Care. How can you even begin to manage your stress these days? We’re home with restless kids. The rules about going out keep changing. We still don’t know enough about this illness to feel safe but we are so sick of being restricted. Summer plans have had to change. The world outside our doors is falling apart. Political discourse is at an extreme low. Nothing feels right. Although it is hard to imagine, this is actually a recipe for us to prioritize self-care. Without managing your stress, you risk getting yourself into a mind space where you just can’t see past the negatives. So what are some things you can do?
- Stop looking at the news and your social media so much. Allow yourself a small amount of time each day to catch up on developments with Covid-19, with politics, with world events, with local news. After that set amount of time, turn it off and live your own life for the rest of that day. A good balance might be 15-20 minutes in the morning and 15-20 minutes at night. Or, even better, just once a day.
- Pick one thing you enjoy and carve out time to do it each day, even if only for a short time. Work on a puzzle, read a book, watch a show, do some yoga. Any of these things can be done for a short or a longer period of time, so you can tailor it to your own needs and your own schedule.
- Move your body. There is overwhelming evidence for the positive effect of exercise on stress. Even moderate activity makes a difference. Take a walk, a bike ride, or do an exercise class online. Just like the activity you enjoy above, these can all be done according to your own time frame and schedule.
- Breathe. When you start to notice your stress level rising for any reason at all, stop and breathe. Slow, deep breaths can do wonders for your immediate stress level. And it only takes a minute.
- Talk. By engaging in conversation, you can reduce your stress in a few ways. If you are able to talk to people about your stress, you may find compassion and shared concerns, which can be helpful. If you talk to people about other things, this can be a nice distraction from your stress. Finally, if you talk to people for feedback, you might get some good ideas for problem-solving and coping.
- Rest. Try to develop good sleep routines. If you have been having a hard time sleeping, take a good look at your routine. Are you doing or thinking about something stressful right before bed? Are you using a laptop, tablet or phone right before bed, which can affect sleep? Are you going to bed around the same time every night? All of these things can affect your sleep, and your sleep can affect your stress.
- Use structure at home to build a sense of stability. Summer days can be chaotic with kids, and maybe even more so in places where activities are still limited. Try to develop some routines and structures in your home to help you and your family cope with this unique and unusual summer we’re having.
- Remember what they tell you on the airplane. Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs. When you neglect your own basic needs and self-care, you are less able to make a difference to others.
Things are opening up. What is ok for you and your family?
Kaarin Anderson Ryan, PhD, BCBA, LBA. 6.2.20
The information keeps flooding us, day after day more news and conflicting information about coronavirus. In my last post I talked about doing what you can each day. This time I will be turning the focus a bit back to children, and coping with the next phase of the pandemic when you have kids at home.
It seems to me that the new challenge for many of us will be deciding what to do. As restrictions start to loosen up in many states, the decisions about how to proceed with venturing back into the social world will be up to each of us, individually. Some may look to their family for guidance, or follow the lead of trusted friends. Others will do what they want or what they think is best based on what os happening in their area, or within their own family.
For people who have been home with their children for over two months, it will be tempting to jump back into life as usual as much and as soon as possible. There may also be some pressure for allowing playdates and other friend interactions, This pressure may come from your own children or it may come from their friends, or both. How will you navigate this next phase of the global pandemic?
As with many difficult decisions and tasks, it might be helpful to break these questions down a bit before you decide anything. Each thing you and your family do going forward will be based on your own personal calculation of the risks involved. What are some things to consider?
Most importantly, consider your family health risk. Are you or anyone in your family at greater risk for complications based on current health conditions? Do you care for someone who is at greater risk? If the answer to any of these is yes, it might be in your best interest to continue to stay home as much as possible and limit contact with others who are re-integrating into the world.
If you are at low or average risk for complications due to COVID, think about some basic common-sense measures you can take to protect yourself, your family, and others.
- Social Bubbles. This is a concept based on the idea that it is safe to spend time with other people who have been practicing the same level of safe behavior as yourself. Do you have friends and family who have been working from home, rigorously distancing themselves from others, wearing masks out in public, and avoiding gatherings? If you have set a certain standard for yourself these past few months, and you know others with the same standards, they are likely safe to be with now. Here are a couple of recent articles on forming your own Social Bubble:
- Maintaining your own social distancing rules. Do you have friends or family who have been less careful than you? Do you know others who have had to go into a public work environment? As states ease restrictions and you want to see these friends, consider social-distancing gatherings. Sit on a deck or a patio, stay 6 feet away, bring your own food and drink.
- Be careful in public. Yes, I know we still have mixed information on masks and how long the virus lives in the air and on surfaces. We – the public – do not know a lot more now than we did when this all started. But some studies are definitely showing a benefit to universal masks to reduce transmission if worn correctly. This means you •put it on • stop touching it • don’t touch your face • still maintain a safe distance from others • continue to wash or sanitize your hands after touching things in public • leave the mask on to talk, sneeze, cough (I actually heard about a woman in New York who was seen pulling her own mask down to cough into the air then putting it back on. True story.). The masks do not universally protect you. But used correctly, along with maintaining all the other recommended safety measures will certainly not hurt and will likely help.
- Now for the tricky part. Think about your own kids. How will they do with maintaining boundaries? Are they able to keep a safe distance? Will they be able to keep their hands clean? Some older kids can actually do well with this. Other kids who are younger or who have behavioral or social difficulties may be more challenged with these safety measures. If you have one or more children who will struggle with maintaining safe standards, it will be up to you to decide what other people they can spend time with now. Will you let them play with other kids who have maintained the same level of caution as you have? The Social Bubble idea might be particularly relevant to families with young kids or kids with special needs.
- For children, teens, and even young adults on the autism spectrum, this might be especially challenging. For one thing, if you have a child with autism and you have been at home with limited support, you may be tempted to take support and opportunities for your child to have time with others as quickly as possible, with less concern about the possible risks involved because basically, you have had enough. For another thing, people with autism may be less aware of how to maintain boundaries, and in some cases may have less social awareness and control to help them navigate interactions using distancing and other healthy precautions such as not touching their faces. The thing to remember is that you have choices. Using the Social Bubbles may help you with this, and it also applies to caregivers and support personnel, such as ABA providers or other therapists. If you allow your child to spend time with peers, do the best you can to make sure the peers and their families are following the same guidelines that you are. It may also help you to find caregiver support through ABA and other therapists, as well as local babysitters or respite providers who you trust to use precautions around you and your family.
- Keep an eye on trends in your own area. As things open back up, how do the numbers look near you? Are things continuing to look better, or are the numbers going back up? You can decide how to handle your own safety measures based on what is happening where you live. Stay informed by the data to help guide your decisions, one day at a time.
- If you really aren’t sure what is ok and what isn’t for you and your family, reach out to health experts in your area for guidance. This may include family doctors or local health officials who have been carefully following the trends with this outbreak. While it is good to be cautious, it is also important to balance caution with common sense measures you can take to help move back to some normal daily experiences.
Information overload
Kaarin Anderson Ryan, PhD, BCBA, LBA. 3.19.20
How quickly things can change. Within the past week we have gone from being on alert for potential changes in our country while watching other countries struggle with this pandemic, to being in full-scale crisis mode. This is especially true in certain areas of our country that are particularly hard-hit by COVID-19 and are scrambling to contain the situation. The amount of information out there is completely overwhelming and ever-changing.
Resources are popping up everywhere to give people help and support during this challenging time. I have seen great ideas being shared about how to help parents suddenly needing to have their kids at home and do their schooling from home, and in some cases including online schooling. There are resources for how to work remotely, how to social distance, how to stay healthy, how to prepare your home for a period of isolation, how much you need to isolate to protect others and yourself. Some are posting ideas on self care and finding peace in the midst of turmoil. It is wonderful to see so many minds sharing ideas on how to cope with this surreal situation.
But it is also just overwhelming.
So, this post is not going to link you to a thousand great resources. It is not going to tell you what to watch and what to read and what to ignore. Instead, this post will give you my own take on what to do now. For yourself, for your family, and for your community.
For Yourself.
Breathe. Every day you will wake up with some sense of unrest. What will be in the news today? What is the status in my own community? Am I healthy? Are my loved ones healthy? The potential for overarching fear and anxiety is through the roof. So, remember to breathe. I am not talking about just a deep breath here and there, I am talking about intentionally taking moments throughout your day to stop and take at least 5 focused, quiet deep breaths. Stop thinking for a few minutes and focus on the air you are breathing in and the air you are breathing out. Breathe in slowly through your nose and out slowly through your mouth. Let some of the anxiety go out with your breath each time.
Make a list. What are all the things you wanted to have time to do, but never made the time? Being stuck at home, this is a good time to look at some of those projects, and spend some time with those. How you do this is up to you. Maybe you say, I am going to spend one hour per day working on project x, or catching up on miscellaneous tasks. Or maybe you jump in wholeheartedly to one big project that you have been putting off for a long time. Whatever you do is up to you and will depend on your own schedule and circumstances. But many people in the United States and around the world are finding themselves with a bit more downtime right now.
Share enjoyment. Can’t get out to socialize as much as you want? Set something up online. Of course it is not the same as person-to-person contact, but it is better than not seeing people you like. You can use any number of technologies, from FaceTime to Facebook video to Google Hangouts or Zoom. I have seen posts for musicians doing virtual living room concerts you can livestream and hear good music. You can also use Netflix, who has set up a way to watch movies with friends.
Get some fresh air. If you live somewhere where you can get outside without being near a lot of people, a daily walk is refreshing and good for your health. If you can’t leave your building without rubbing elbows with people on the elevator, open your window and let in some fresh air.
Workout from home. You do not need a home gym to work out from home. Not only are there loads of resources for using bodyweight exercises to get full body workouts, some gyms are now posting exercise classes online for you to livestream or view. They are doing this with the understanding that people do not have equipment at home, so you can do the classes from your own place.
Stay the course. If everyone does their part to flatten the curve and keep this pandemic in check, we will be back to normal sooner. Remember that this feels awful right now, but we will get through it and we will be back to normal.
For your family
Implement structure now. If you have kids or teenagers at home, start out by setting up a structure for the days. Most kids still have school work, and college students are finishing up their courses online. Have your family set up times for work and leisure every day. Implementing and maintaining structure can reduce stress.
Schedule family time. More time with family always sounds great, it feels like the right thing to wish for, but in reality being cooped up with your family for weeks can be a bit difficult. So make sure individual family members are getting their own space as much as possible, but also set aside time regularly, even daily, to do something fun as a family. Movies, games, puzzles, making video journals of your time in isolation, cooking and baking are all good ideas. All you need to do to get ideas is search online for things to do in quarantine and you will find a lot of recent posts and articles.
Stay positive. By taking good care of your own needs, as noted above, you will be able to stay more positive for your family members. And remember, this will pass. We can do this.
For your community.
Stop the spread! This is my most important advice right now. Not to get too much on a soap box about this, but we all have to do our part to stop this now. The horses are already out of the barn, so to speak, but it is up to us now to slow them down. Because our testing is way behind in this country, the advice from experts is to assume that everyone has it. That’s right. Assume that everyone has it. Including yourself. So this means you are isolating yourself as much as possible. Staying in your home, working from home, socializing only remotely, OR only with people you know are also being very strict about their interactions. When you do go out you are distancing from everyone. You are washing your hands much more than usual. If you think you may have been exposed, even if you don’t have symptoms, stay home. **If you are a young adult or you know a young adult, tell them to stop attending social events and gatherings!** Because they often don’t show symptoms but are contagious anyway, they are super-vectors for this disease. And even if they are lucky enough to not get really ill, they could easily give it to someone who isn’t so lucky. All you have to do is read about Europe right now to see that if we don’t slow down now it will soon be mandated, but not before lots of vulnerable people get really, really sick. Stop doing things. Just stop.
Help local service organizations. There are a lot of people who shouldn’t be going out at all. Community organizations everywhere are setting up delivery services for vulnerable people take them food, groceries, medications, and household needs. If you are healthy – and if you can follow all the precautions to protect others – contact local groups to see how you can help.
Donate to food pantries. Food pantries are going to see a growing need for supplies as people lose hours at work and need more help. If you are able, drop off food and necessities (toilet paper for example!) at a local food pantry. Every bit helps and they will need it.
Donate to charities. If you are financially secure through this crisis, consider directing some of your charitable contributions to organizations who are going to struggle. This would include shelters, soup kitchens, churches, and volunteer agencies who help those in need. Also consider helping community businesses who may struggle during this time.
This is a time when we need to reflect as individuals and as a society who we really are. Let’s take care of ourselves and each other, and let’s try to breathe through this and remember that only with each others’ support will we come out on the other side of this as whole and as together as possible.