Christina Buttons

Newsom’s California leaves children with serious mental health needs to die in the streets. Jázmin Pelligrini was a 15-year-old girl who was hospitalized 40 times over 2 years. California repeatedly “treated and streeted” her rather than help her access the long-term, secure residential care she needed. She died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on a San Francisco sidewalk.

if you think uncomfortable conversations are hard wait until you see the results of not having them

Underrated life advice: Make yourself easy to root for. Be kind. Be reliable. Celebrate other people’s wins. Work hard without complaining. Carry good energy into rooms. You'll be shocked by how many doors open for you by making life better for others.

@jameszimmermann We will go with you one week and then get In-N-Out after 😄

@buttonslives Happy to have you join us any time at the oldest standing church in Nashville, St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows downtown (Catholic) That is, if you're looking for an institution that's still around after 2000 years of onslaught from every evil under the sun

I think I’m going to give church another try. I need help understanding evil. Which kind of church talks about that?

We had the pleasure of speaking with @buttonslives on the podcast this week re: her viral @TheFP piece on being wrongly diagnosed with autism. Check it out! youtube.com/watch?v=UR_Mni…

@BeCrustacean I’m engaged. I don’t actually feel a hormonal pull toward babies; I changed my outlook on them through a rational process. I stopped seeing having children as something that takes away from your life and started seeing it as something that adds to it.

@buttonslives It's your hormones talking. You are single. Adopt the dog - it can replace some of those baby rabies you are experiencing.

It was only a few years ago that I wasn’t sure about kids, and now I’m excited to have them. It’s strange how much a person can change in a few years. I feel like there are so many discarded past versions of myself that I don’t understand because I can’t relate to them anymore. But this time, I feel like I’ve finally planted roots and am settling into the best version of myself.

@DougLundy7 I’ve interviewed many of these families, who are desperate to help their kids but are bullied ruthlessly by anti-treatment activists. It’s very similar to what is happening to parents of autistic children.

@buttonslives Congratulations! Parents need support with raising youth with these challenges.

In some exciting professional news, I’ve been invited to testify at a federal hearing next month about my policy work and reporting on systems of care for youth with severe mental health and behavioral challenges.

@lawrencepatihis Great tip! Thank you.

@buttonslives I recommend saying the words "trade offs" at some point.

@rickyteachey I don’t see anyone as my personal enemy, though some seem intent on making me theirs.

@buttonslives It means personal enemies who are trying to hurt you. It doesn't mean loving the UPS driver who was recently convicted of murdering that little girl. Some Christians will tell you otherwise but they are wrong.

@michaeljknowles Thank you for the suggestion! It seems from the comments that the Catholic Church is controversial, but I am not sure why. I think I will try a different church each week and at least one of them will be Catholic.

@buttonslives I strongly recommend the (One Holy) Catholic (and Apostolic) Church!

@Axiomaticrule I’m putting into the world what I want to see more of: personal growth and positive change rather than illness-as-identity and resignation.

@buttonslives You’re talking about yourself too much. It’s off putting

@Right_Side_New I don’t have one. I’m basically starting at Level 0.

@buttonslives I recommend studying your Bible. Start with Genesis don't read anything into what you see just read it for what it says. He will not find yourself in a church at all if you do that.

@jonathanplumb I haven’t blocked anyone who responded to this post, I am just reading the responses now.

I will never forget this unplanned, Holy Spirit–filled moment during Charlie Kirk’s memorial when the band began to play and the crowd held up signs with Charlie’s face that said, “Here I am, Lord send me.” It felt like, for a brief moment, tragedy might spark a spiritual revival and unify Christians on the Right. But in the months since, things have felt increasingly divided and disoriented. It appears we've lost people to a conspiratorial world view and pro-Islam world view. I asked @JeremyDBoreing whether we’re heading toward a great revival or total fracture. His answer, and his reflection on Pentecost, is powerful:

@redrose_anna We don’t really know a lot of people locally. We do have a couple we’re friends with, and they took us to their church after Charlie was killed, but they’re out of town this weekend.

@buttonslives See who in your personal circle would be willing to take your to church with them. See who you are naturally drawn to for such a journey.

Here's something I'm seeing more and more in "woke" research papers: ritualized, emotion-filled confessionals about the authors' "positionality" designed to signal academic rigor. These aren't actual research methods, although they're often in the Methods section. In this paper, the section is called "Reflexivity and Rigor." One author's "experience as a Black, genderfluid, queer clinician and academic" apparently shaped the research questions, while the other authors are described as "white, heterosexual, cisgender women." Then we get this: "These ongoing dialogues created intentional spaces to question ideas and examine how each author's social location informed their meaning-making." They also "shared excerpts from analytic memos...which captured the first and second authors' emotional reactions to the transcripts and their analytic insights." All of this apprently "deepened the authors' understanding of the data and helped to manage bias; thus, ensuring a thoughtfully interrogated analysis." This is bizarre. Academic publishing is supposed to minimize bias. That's the whole point of blinded peer review. But instead of concealing the authors' immutable characteristics, these papers foreground the authors' skin color, sexuality, and gender identity. The authors claim this helps "manage bias," but I suspect it does the opposite. Instead, it signals to reviewers: We are good, progressive, emotionally empathetic people doing The Work. Please treat us accordingly.

@JoelWBerry Honestly @JeremyDBoreing has better insight and more helpful advice than most working therapists.

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