Elliott Connie
Founder/PresidentElliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution...
When I started SFBT Moments over seven years ago, my goal was simple: to create a space where people could learn about Solution Focused Brief Therapy for free. But as the community has grown, I’ve realized it’s become something much more meaningful. It’s a place to share hope, positivity, and truth.
Today, I can’t ignore what’s happening in our country. As America continues to face a government shutdown and millions lose access to SNAP benefits — the very thing that helps families eat — I feel called to speak up. As a therapist, I believe it’s my responsibility to talk about the systemic issues that make mental health harder for so many people.
We can debate policies all day, but we should never debate whether people deserve to eat. I’m asking my fellow mental health professionals, and anyone who cares about humanity, to stand with me. Let’s be the voices that remind the world: doing what’s right might be uncomfortable, but silence is never an option.
Seven or eight years ago when I started the blog series, SFBT Moments, I did it because I wanted people to have a really consistent place where they could come and learn about Solution Focused Brief Therapy completely for free. But as this has grown and turned into where I have hundreds of thousands of subscribers weekly paying attention to this blog, I now want it to be a place where not only can you come and learn about Solution Focused Brief Therapy, but it can be a part of the internet that’s a positive place where you can come and get positive messages. I know it sounds cliche, but like a little piece of the world that can make the world a better place.
Today, just like every single week, I was thinking about the message I wanted to deliver to the people that listened to this blog series. And this is one of those days where more than Solution Focused Brief Therapy, making the world a better place is on my mind.
America is in a government shutdown, and lots of things are being defunded, and as of tomorrow, SNAP benefits are going to be taken away, and SNAP benefits are how low income families eat, they’re literally how they pay for food. And this has been a huge debate in America because people who receive SNAP benefits, people debate whether or not they should be able to buy candy and soda and all these things. And you know, that debate, sure, have that debate. I have my opinions and thoughts on what people should buy and I don’t care what they buy with their SNAP benefits. People should be able to get what they want in my opinion. But what we should be able to agree on is that we shouldn’t send tens of millions of people to starve in the richest country in the world. But that’s exactly what’s about to happen tomorrow.
And the reason I wanted to talk about it is because I think we have a responsibility, and most of the people watching this are psychotherapists. So if you are a mental health professional, I think we have a responsibility to talk about the things that make our mental health systemically more challenging. And one of them is the idea of ‘othering’, where it’s just like, “Oh, it’s those people over there.”
We have to be compassionate and care about all people. We have to be compassionate and understand that these systems are in place to help people that are less fortunate than others. And this is literally how people do not starve. I’ll happily have the conversation if you want to talk about some people overuse the system, some people buy things they shouldn’t buy. Great we can have that debate, but we should not debate whether or not people should be allowed to starve, literally starve, in the richest country in the world.
And tomorrow, today as I make this recording, it’s the last day of October, so tomorrow’s the first day of November. And as of tomorrow, the first day of November, people are losing their access to critical resources.
And I think this is a moment where as mental health professionals, we have to be the leaders, and be like, “Look, there’s a political debate that we can happily have, but there’s a humanitarian debate that we should not have.” And one of the things in the humanitarian level is we should all be able to agree that allowing people to starve is not okay. Allowing people to starve in the richest nation in the world is not okay.
And when people use their language to ‘other’, like, “Oh, those are those people. Those people in poverty, those people of color, those people didn’t make great choices. Those people who abused the same system.” When you start using language like that, you are causing injury to the systemic nature of mental health. You’re causing injury to society and then ultimately yourself.
So let’s be leaders right now and post on social media, highlight these things as much as you can, and let people know that we all agree that creating tens of millions of people to go into a situation where they’re now starving themselves and their children, this is not okay. We need to fix it. And then we’ll have all kinds of political debates about what people do with their SNAP benefits. But for right now, we need to be the leaders and say, “This is not okay. You cannot let people starve. We will stand against this. We will post content against this. We will protest this. We will stand for what is right.” That is what you do to have strong mental health.
Occasionally doing what’s right makes you uncomfortable. Occasionally doing what’s right is hard. And this is one of those moments.
So do what’s right. Stand up for people. Stand up for these children. Stand up for these families. Stand up to the political machine that is trying to weaponize food for a particular agenda. That’s what we’re called to do right now. And as mental health professionals, it is our time to lead this initiative.
Elliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution focused approach to help them move their lives from the current problems towards their desired futures. As well as being the Founder and President of The Solution Focused Universe, he is recognized around the world speaking at national and international conferences and events throughout the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, England, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Holland, Canada, and Asia training practitioners to apply solution focused questions and techniques in their work. He has authored or co-authored 4 books including “The Art of Solution Focused Therapy”, ‘Solution Building in Couples Therapy”, ‘The Solution Focused Marriage’, and ‘Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma’.
