“Nothing was as it seemed. I was not as I seemed…I was confronted by the possibility that perhaps the truest thing about me was a coiled identity, my irrealis self, a might-have-been self that never really was but wasn’t unreal for not being and might still be real, though I feared it never would”

The pandemic triggered by SARS-CoV-2 has changed since that first case in Wuhan in 2019. We currently have efficient vaccines that have allowed us to return to our daily activities. But, SARS-CoV-2 remains a public health emergency of international concern.

Background: Using the learnings and reflections from their professional and personal journeys, the authors believe that every “Neurosisoriented” mental health concern has four root causes: self-love (a lack of it), fear, grief, and aim (a lack of it). Using this as the premise, the authors have developed a new therapeutic modality that incorporates 12 primary universal formulas that they have conceptualized.

Practitioners working on the front lines with young children may feel pressure to advise, instruct, and intervene. Decades of research in contemporary developmental science point to an alternative approach termed “listening in.” This commentary will review evidence supporting this approach, showing its application in a common clinical scenario. It will root the approach in concepts of cultural difference and the importance of cultivating a sense of belonging.

Though not a mental health professional, I have benefitted from significant training in mental health first aid, and I encounter the challenges of poor mental health on a weekly, if not daily, basis in my role as a Principal (Headteacher) of an English, publicly funded, all-ability high school, a role I have held in several schools over twenty years, together with professorial roles in higher education, both at the University of Notre Dame (USA), London, and St Mary’s University, England.