Grant Halliburton Foundation

Grant Halliburton Foundation The Foundation promotes awareness and understanding of youth mental health and su***de prevention.
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Grant Halliburton Foundation offers a variety of presentations and conferences on mental wellness, su***de prevention, bullying, self-harm and other issues impacting youth mental health, including the annual educational conference When Life Hands You Teenagers. Through the I AM HERE Coalition it founded in 2009, Grant Halliburton Foundation also offers the Windows To Hope conference on adolescent

mental health in a faith setting and Beyond Bullying, a bullying prevention conference for professionals and parents.

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers "Make Your Mark" Theme Sponsor Front Porch Marketing for its support of ...
08/17/2023

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers "Make Your Mark" Theme Sponsor Front Porch Marketing for its support of the 2023 conference!

Front Porch Marketing is a Dallas marketing firm that specializes in branding, strategy, communications, advertising, and social media.

Only a few sponsorships remain! To purchase a sponsorship or register for the conference, visit granthalliburton.org/wlhyt.

Taking the time to do a few simple things every day can greatly contribute to your overall wellness.
08/16/2023

Taking the time to do a few simple things every day can greatly contribute to your overall wellness.

We're excited to be a sponsor of the Hispanic Mental Health Conference on September 15! This conference will provide opp...
08/15/2023

We're excited to be a sponsor of the Hispanic Mental Health Conference on September 15! This conference will provide opportunities for mental health professionals across Texas to learn how to better serve the growing Hispanic community, which now makes up the largest share of the state's population (40.2%).

Learn more and register at cannentafoundation.org/hispanicmentalhealthconference.

We loved having Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas in the office for the day! Four Girl Scouts who are interested in nonprof...
08/15/2023

We loved having Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas in the office for the day! Four Girl Scouts who are interested in nonprofit careers shadowed our teams throughout the day and learned about Grant Halliburton Foundation's work in North Texas.

SAVE THE DATE for the 14th annual Hope Party!  We hope you’ll join us on Friday, November 17 for this incredible evening...
08/14/2023

SAVE THE DATE for the 14th annual Hope Party! We hope you’ll join us on Friday, November 17 for this incredible evening that supports the Foundation’s work providing mental health education, resources, and support to North Texas youth and their families.

Learn more at GrantHalliburton.org/hopeparty.

GHF YP is both a personal and professional development organization for DFW-area young professionals in their 20s and 30...
08/11/2023

GHF YP is both a personal and professional development organization for DFW-area young professionals in their 20s and 30s who want to make a positive impact in their community.

Join GHF YP and be part of the next generation of philanthropists while supporting Grant Halliburton Foundation — one of the leading mental health organizations in North Texas!

Learn more at GrantHalliburton.org/ghf-yp.

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers CEU Sponsor, Medical City Green Oaks Hospital, for its support of the 20...
08/10/2023

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers CEU Sponsor, Medical City Green Oaks Hospital, for its support of the 2023 conference.

Medical City Green Oaks Hospital is more than just a Dallas-based hospital dedicated to inpatient psychiatric care, it's also multiple outpatient programs and locations in North Texas. Serving adults and adolescents, Medical City Green Oaks Hospital is deeply rooted to helping our patients and their families.

To purchase a sponsorship or register, visit granthalliburton.org/wlhyt.

Amy Pool, senior Thrive education manager, recently presented Building Blocks of Mental Health: Recognizing Depression a...
08/10/2023

Amy Pool, senior Thrive education manager, recently presented Building Blocks of Mental Health: Recognizing Depression and Preventing Su***de during a professional development day at Wills Point ISD

Fun Fact: This is the same school district where Amy began her teaching career 38 years ago!

Learn more about the Foundation's mental health presentations at GrantHalliburton.org/education.

Sonya Parker Goode, director of community outreach, presented to more than 60 Parker County counselors on building resil...
08/09/2023

Sonya Parker Goode, director of community outreach, presented to more than 60 Parker County counselors on building resilience in youth at the Parker County Counselor's Summit at Weatherford College.

She's pictured here with Cintia Ortiz, County Relations Officer and Ashley Lilavois, Pecan Valley Centers SOC Project Director.

Early bird registration is open for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! Come get eq...
08/09/2023

Early bird registration is open for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! Come get equipped with impactful tools, tips, and takeaways to help you MAKE YOUR MARK in your work with teens.

Learn more and register at GrantHalliburton.org/wlhyt.

Last Friday, Foundation staff were busy providing students and families with resources at the annual Dallas Mayor's Back...
08/08/2023

Last Friday, Foundation staff were busy providing students and families with resources at the annual Dallas Mayor's Back to School Fair! We participated in the Turn To Campaign, which focuses on the intersection of mental health and substance use disorders.

Make a difference and volunteer to become a Mental Health Navigator.Our mental health navigators are volunteers who resp...
08/07/2023

Make a difference and volunteer to become a Mental Health Navigator.
Our mental health navigators are volunteers who respond to incoming calls and offer mental health information, types of services available, and encouragement. No professional mental health experience is required.

The application deadline is August 23.

Learn more at GrantHalliburton.org/navigator.

Dallas Fire-Rescue officials say a relatively new program aimed at addressing mental health wellness within their ranks ...
08/04/2023

Dallas Fire-Rescue officials say a relatively new program aimed at addressing mental health wellness within their ranks is already proving to be successful.

The program was rolled out a little over a year ago, following a trend of su***des and su***de attempts not just within DFR, but within fire departments across the country.

Read more at https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/new-dallas-fire-rescue-mental-wellness-program-already-proving-successful/.

The program was rolled out a little over a year ago, following a trend of su***des and su***de attempts not just within DFR, but within fire departments across the country.

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers Title Sponsor, Connections Wellness Group, for its support of the 2023 c...
08/03/2023

Special thanks to When Life Hands You Teenagers Title Sponsor, Connections Wellness Group, for its support of the 2023 conference!

Connections Wellness Group is a Texas-based behavioral health services provider with more than 10 locations throughout DFW. Connections Wellness Group is committed to providing mental health services to those in need. Their highly trained and compassionate staff has years of experience treating a diverse array of mental health disorders.

To purchase a sponsorship or register, visit granthalliburton.org/wlhyt.

Blanca Garcia, LCSW-S, senior director of mental health resources, spoke at the UnitedHealthcare Empowering Health Healt...
08/03/2023

Blanca Garcia, LCSW-S, senior director of mental health resources, spoke at the UnitedHealthcare Empowering Health Healthcare CEO Forum in April about Grant Halliburton Foundation's Hispanic outreach initiative. Blanca discussed the initiative's successes so far and the outreach we're doing in Hispanic communities in North Texas.

Also at the forum, Laura Montgomery Peña, mental health education manager, led a volunteer activity that saw the creation of 400 Hope Care Kits for youth to receive after an inpatient stay.

All of this is possible thanks to a $300,000 grant from Healthcare!

Teachers, counselors, coaches, and other school personnel play an important role in keeping students safe. Our Toolkit f...
08/02/2023

Teachers, counselors, coaches, and other school personnel play an important role in keeping students safe. Our Toolkit for Educators offers information and resources to help guide those who work with students.

Find it at GrantHalliburton.org/foreducators.

Yvonne Merritt, mental health education manager, closed out National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month at the BIPOC...
08/01/2023

Yvonne Merritt, mental health education manager, closed out National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month at the BIPOC Mental Health Month Summit on Saturday. The mental health summit brought together local specialists, professionals, and community members to explore topics relevant to mental health in black and brown communities.

Early Bird Registration Deadline - 1 Month Left - for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers confe...
07/31/2023

Early Bird Registration Deadline - 1 Month Left - for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! Come get equipped with impactful tools, tips, and takeaways to help you 𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙆 in your work with teens.

Learn more and register now: GrantHalliburton.org/wlhyt

Thank you to Dr. Chris Taylor for hosting happy hour at Copper & Vine Kitchen and Wine Bar for our staff in early July! ...
07/29/2023

Thank you to Dr. Chris Taylor for hosting happy hour at Copper & Vine Kitchen and Wine Bar for our staff in early July! The food and drinks were delicious.

In addition to being a Foundation board member, Chris is a therapist and owner of Taylor Counseling Group and part owner of Copper and Vine.

Systemic racism and historical barriers and inequities have left particular ethnic, racial and minoritized populations f...
07/28/2023

Systemic racism and historical barriers and inequities have left particular ethnic, racial and minoritized populations facing trauma, loss, bias, social disparities and other unique challenges that have gone unsupported and largely unaddressed. We are committed to rectifying this by working with diverse communities, organizations and policy makers to ensure that mental health resources that are culturally relevant are equitably available across the nation.

Great resources are available here: https://afsp.org/supporting-diverse-communities/

We're excited to share that we recently hired Julia Beckel as events and marketing manager. Join us in welcoming her to ...
07/27/2023

We're excited to share that we recently hired Julia Beckel as events and marketing manager. Join us in welcoming her to the Grant Halliburton Foundation Team! 💙

Sponsorships are still available for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! As a confe...
07/26/2023

Sponsorships are still available for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! As a conference sponsor, you'll gain valuable exposure for your organization and the opportunity to network with providers, professionals, and others who care about youth mental health.

Purchase today at GrantHalliburton.org/wlhyt.

Depression rates in the United States can vary widely depending on where you live, according to a new report from the Ce...
07/26/2023

Depression rates in the United States can vary widely depending on where you live, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report highlighted age-specific prevalence of depression was highest among those aged 18 to 24 at about 21.5%.

"Eighteen to 24-year-olds right now have a whole lot on their minds that previous people of that age group did not," psychiatrist Dr. Steven Schlozman said. "They're worried about the climate, they're worried about the future of our nation, they're worried about the future of the world, and then you add to that the echo chamber of social media that affects them more than it affects people who are older."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/depression-rates-vary-by-state-cdc-report/

Some states have significantly higher rates of depression than others, a new report finds.

07/25/2023
Shout out to our education team for a successful three-week summer series with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department...
07/25/2023

Shout out to our education team for a successful three-week summer series with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department! The series included presentations on stress and anxiety, setting healthy boundaries, and depression and su***de prevention. Each week they also discussed coping skills and played interactive games.

For more information on the Foundation's youth education programs, visit granthalliburton.org/programs.

Our Senior Director of Mental Health Resources, Blanca Garcia, and Mental Health Resources Manager, Lizzie Davis Holley,...
07/24/2023

Our Senior Director of Mental Health Resources, Blanca Garcia, and Mental Health Resources Manager, Lizzie Davis Holley, had the privilege of being guests on the RecoverED podcast hosted by The Magdalen House. The Magdalen House is a nonprofit organization that helps women achieve sobriety and sustain recovery from alcoholism at no cost, and they have recently expanded their program to serve men as well. Take a listen here!

Grant Halliburton Foundation was established in 2006 in memory of a Dallas teen who battled depression and bipolar disorder for several years before his su***de death at the age of 19. Grant Halliburton works to strengthen the network of mental health resources for children, teens, and young adults....

Taking a bath? Reading a book? Meditating? Tell us your favorite ways to practice self-care!
07/24/2023

Taking a bath? Reading a book? Meditating?
Tell us your favorite ways to practice self-care!

GHF YP  is both a personal and professional development organization for DFW-area young professionals in their 20s and 3...
07/21/2023

GHF YP is both a personal and professional development organization for DFW-area young professionals in their 20s and 30s who want to make a positive impact in their community.

Be a part of the next generation of philanthropists and join GHF YP ! ✨

Learn more: https://www.granthalliburton.org/ghf-yp

Grant Halliburton Foundation was out and about in the community last weekend! Kristien and Elizabeth attended the  North...
07/20/2023

Grant Halliburton Foundation was out and about in the community last weekend! Kristien and Elizabeth attended the North Texas First Annual Community Resource Fair, and Julia and Sonya went to the NAMI North Texas North Texas Mentally Strong, Community Strong event presented by Oak Cliff.

Want the Foundation to attend an outreach event at your organization or school? Reach out to us at [email protected].

Take a Mental Health Test at mhascreening.orgMental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, are real, common a...
07/19/2023

Take a Mental Health Test at mhascreening.org

Mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, are real, common and treatable. And recovery is possible. After taking the mental health test, you will see information, resources, and tools to help you understand and improve your mental health.

Last week's 2023 Hope Party Committee kick-off event was an absolute blast! Thank you to Camille and Pat Owens for hosti...
07/18/2023

Last week's 2023 Hope Party Committee kick-off event was an absolute blast! Thank you to Camille and Pat Owens for hosting us in their beautiful home, our committee members (new and returning), and our 2023 co-chairs Karen Goetting and Camille Owens.

We hope you'll join us November 17 at The Statler in Downtown Dallas. Learn more and join the committee today at granthalliburton.com/hopeparty.

07/17/2023
Early bird registration is now open for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! Come ge...
07/17/2023

Early bird registration is now open for Grant Halliburton Foundation's When Life Hands You Teenagers conference! Come get equipped with impactful tools, tips, and takeaways to help you 𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙆 in your work with teens.

Learn more and register now at GrantHalliburton.org/wlhyt

There is safety in numbers! Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations are faced with disproportionate a...
07/14/2023

There is safety in numbers! Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations are faced with disproportionate amounts of historical trauma and displacement that can challenge their ability to thrive in their environments. However, culture, community, and connection are pillars that support and uplift BIPOC individuals in the face of oppression and systemic racism.

Download the 2023 BIPOC Mental Health Toolkit: https://mhanational.org/july

Sponsorships are on sale for the 2023 Hope Party benefiting Grant Halliburton Foundation! Join us for dinner, dancing, e...
07/12/2023

Sponsorships are on sale for the 2023 Hope Party benefiting Grant Halliburton Foundation! Join us for dinner, dancing, entertainment, a fabulous auction, and wine pull, all at our beautiful new venue, The Statler in Downtown Dallas. This incredible evening supports the Foundation’s work providing mental health education, resources, and support to North Texas youth.

Purchase your sponsorship today at granthalliburton.com/hopeparty.

07/11/2023

Sign up for our new Lunch and Learn series - professional education for adults working with young people - by this Friday! Thanks to our partners from Grant Halliburton Foundation, Mental Health America of Greater Dallas, and A Sisters Legacy for helping us out this together. Link here: https://buff.ly/3rjxorU

Mental health care is a field where a cultural and language connection can be critical for patients to feel comfortable ...
07/10/2023

Mental health care is a field where a cultural and language connection can be critical for patients to feel comfortable and understood. Getting an appointment with a psychologist in the Dallas area can take up to two months. Finding a Spanish-speaker professional is even harder. If you are looking for resources contact our Mental Health Navigation Line Here For Texas at 972-525-8181.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2023/06/28/texas-mental-health-care-needs-more-hispanic-representation/

Mental health care is a field where a cultural and language connection can be critical for patients to feel comfortable and understood. Empathy, through...

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3000 Pegasus Park Drive, Suite 750
Dallas, TX
75240

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 3:30pm

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+19727449790

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What a way to end our benefit season! Let’s give HOPE!! Thank you Grant Halliburton Foundation for letting us team up with you!
Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25, at 6:30 p.m. for an exclusive virtual screening of The Upstanders: Finding Strategies for Cyberbullying! 🎥🍿

The Grant Halliburton Foundation is excited to partner with iNDIEFLIX to present a free virtual mental health film for interested Prince of Peace families. ⭐️ This is a one-time virtual screening and registration is required; please reference Friday's e-newsletter for the link to register.
Another one of our top ten stories for 2021 features Vanita Halliburton, Co-Founder of Grant Halliburton Foundation. In January 2006 after her son Grant died by su***de, the foundation bearing his name began creating opportunities for education around mental health in our community and helping families avoid the tragedy that Vanita experienced. ⁠

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https://www.dallasdoinggood.com/doing-good/vanita-halliburton-shining-light-on-the-mental-health-stigma?rq=vanita
Resilience (n.): the capability to recover quickly from difficulties or toughness. 💪

Mrs. Lindsey Encinias, Manager of Outreach and Education at the Grant Halliburton Foundation, visited Upper School students today for meaningful "Bounce Back" presentations on resiliency. 👏 It's all too easy to turn bumps into mountains – even the simple roadblocks that individuals can learn from. Students learned, however, that with a coach's mindset and the right outlook, individuals may avoid falling into negative thinking traps and even rebound when they do. ⭐️ Thank you to Mrs. Encinias for both joining us and guiding such a productive dialogue on mental health!

The Grant Halliburton Foundation is a Dallas-based non-profit organization focused on adolescent mental health and su***de presentation.

Addressing the crowd of supporters of the Grant Halliburton Foundation, Shelley and Jeff Becker share their family loss, together with their successful effort to use the legislative process to help other teens and families overcome mental illness. Proud and grateful to have partnered with Shelley and Jeff and Representative John Turner to pass HB 3121.
Here (and dry as a bone) 🙂
Let’s get this HOPE Party started Grant Halliburton Foundation

TO GIVE:
https://www.granthalliburton.org
Thrilled to be serving as emcee for this years Hope Party supporting the work of Grant Halliburton Foundation tickets are going fast! https://www.granthalliburton.org/hopeparty
Hello Everyone,
My name is Alma, and I’m with The Venus Morris Griffin Scholarship Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization. We would like to let you know that our annual scholarship is now open for high school seniors in the US. The Annual Scholarship is for $10,000 and is not academic-based, and is available for students with an incarcerated parent. We invite any qualified students in the US, you know. We are still accepting applicants online. For more information, you can visit our website or contact me at [email protected] for the scholarship opportunity.

Thank you and I hope this would help anyone.
Join us and Jessica Look from Grant Halliburton Foundation this Wednesday at 10am!

This webinar will offer straight talk about adolescent stress, mental health, and how to prevent su***de in young people. The presenter will show participants how to recognize stress and depression; the warning signs of su***de; how to respond to a young person in crisis; and provide tools and resources to keep youth SAFE!

Register here: https://buff.ly/374Cjju
Grant Halliburton Foundation's "When Life Gives You Teenagers" is a wrap! So happy this event was in-person this year and The Center was able to be a Sticky Note Sponsor. Grant Halliburton Foundation is a valued community partner. Supporting mental health education, especially for teens and young adults, has never been more important.
This short story, winner of the King Lear literary prize, entitled ‘Apple Blossom Time’ gives a patient’s perspective of a dramatic event on a hospital ward.

Elsie's committed su***de in the hospital bathroom. She bought the razor blade in the shop downstairs and by the time the nurse found her the water was as red as the body was white. The bathroom door's locked now, but Elsie's still inside, and the nurses are whispering in corners when they don't think we can hear. They can't understand why she did it. She'd had her foot amputated, it's true, but that's no big deal. She was managing very well on her crutches and was due to have a prosthesis fitted this afternoon, but that's not going to happen now.
Dulcie and I know why she did it though. She found a small ulcer on her right heel this morning and she knew where that would lead. Elsie was seventy years old with no family to look after her and she didn't want to spend her last few years as a cripple in a nursing home.

Dulcie and I don't blame her. We've both considered su***de ourselves so we know the temptation. Dulcie's even tried it. She was brought in barely alive after swallowing a whole bottle of aspirins. The children found her when they came home from school and had the sense to call an ambulance. Dulcie loves her children, but the pain is stronger than the love. I understand that too. If I had children I think I'd sell them to the devil tomorrow in exchange for the pain-free life I fear I'll never have.
I have something Elsie and Dulcie don't have, though. I have the optimism of youth. I'm only twenty-three, with my whole life ahead of me as they say. So far I've wasted four months of it lying in a hospital bed, but things are bound to get better. I just have to get through this bit; this time when the pain makes me suck in my breath and refuse to exhale, when my body's at war with my mind and my mind refuses to accept what the doctors say. The operation was a success, they say and if I'm still in pain it's because I find some psychological satisfaction in it.

I say psychology has a lot to answer for. Every day I'm winched into a warm pool to have my limbs manipulated until my mind accepts that I can do it for myself; every day I'm winched back into the cold air and the shivering starts fresh waves of pain rippling through me. By the time I'm dried and returned to my bed I'm ready to commit su***de myself and I'm cursing Freud with every fibre of my being. No doubt the man had some basis for his theories but they're not right in my case. I think if I'm really mentally ill this is not the cure, but if I'm really mentally ill how would I know?
But I do know. Deep inside me dwells certainty, in a dark and quiet place where there's some sort of comfort. It's a selfish place with no room for other people. There it's just pain and me; there we fight every day, and so far I've won. Know your enemy, they say, and I certainly know this one. I study it carefully, noting the first signs, timing the build-up, concentrating on each swell of agony until I know the pattern it follows. Now I'm ready for it; I prepare my body for it, inhaling with each wave of pain, filling my lungs with it, breathing it out slowly. One day I'll be able to do it instinctively, like driving and holding a conversation; one day I'll be able to do it and talk at the same time; maybe one day I'll even be able to stand up and do it. But for now I just lie in that blackness and endure it.
Comfort's black too. She's one of the growing army of Caribbean nurses arriving in our hospitals. She's a middle-aged woman with a beautiful smile, not fat, but plump enough to justify her name, and there's a serenity and calmness about her that's very restful. I imagine her as a much-loved wife and mother in her real life outside the hospital, the sort of woman who should have a dozen children to sit in her lap and appreciate her home-cooked meals and home-spun wisdom. That Jamaican mother knew what she was doing when she named her baby Comfort.

Campbell's from Scotland and he's hoping to be promoted to sister soon, though I think they're going to have to find another description for him. I've been on his ward longer than any other patient and we've formed a kind of friendship. He's young and good-looking and the first male nurse I've ever met. They're a new phenomenon and a lot of the female patients are still wary of them, but I like it when Campbell turns me in the bed. He's stronger than the women and he lifts me more easily and doesn't drop me so hard. It's still a painful experience, but not quite as bad. He's kind too. Yesterday he came in on his day off to bring me a great armful of apple blossom he'd cut from his garden. We can see the trees in blossom on the heath from here and he must have heard me wishing I could be outside to smell it. He brought his girlfriend with him to visit me and to make sure there was no hint of impropriety. It takes a special kind of person to do something like that on his day off.
Then there's Jenny, the student nurse. She's small and sturdy and nips round the ward in her sensible shoes, fetching bedpans, taking temperatures, lightening everyone's day with her happy smile and constant chatter. She watched my operation as part of her training and obviously enjoyed the experience, though it sounded quite off-putting when she described it to me.
‘They used something like a tiny hammer and chisel and chipped away at the bone,’ she said. ‘If it wasn't for the blood it would have been a bit like watching a sculptor at work.’
No wonder I felt so bruised afterwards, though I'd have described it more like being hit with a sledgehammer and then being expected to lie on the bruises. It's a good thing Jenny doesn't mind the blood though. She'll probably get the job of cleaning up the bathroom after they've moved the body. She gets all the rotten jobs, like scrubbing bedpans and wiping up vomit, but she doesn't seem to mind any of them, though I suspect she's not as unmoved as she seems to be at this moment. According to the porter she was the one who discovered the body and that can't have been nice. It must be a shock to lose a patient in that way, especially a patient who was doing so well in terms she understands. She's too young and healthy to be afraid of helpless old age and young enough to view this as a senseless death she should have prevented, but she's putting a professional face on it, making beds and washing patients as though she has nothing but the immediate job on her mind.

They'll close all the ward doors and pull down the blinds at the windows when they take the body out and they'll pretend we don't know what's happened, but it's difficult not to know everything in a place like this. There's a reason why the bathroom's closed for cleaning and we all know what it is. It just won't be mentioned when Elsie fails to return. Her bed will be wheeled out and we'll be left to assume she's moved to another ward, though everyone knows we'll assume no such thing. None of us will sleep that well tonight, staff and patients alike. We'll all have a lot to think about and regret.
We're all learning to keep our problems to ourselves and keep smiling through the bad times, though I can't always manage it when I'm in that black place. Then I just ignore everyone, and they have the sense to ignore me. It’s the best way. I've watched the nurses with the other patients who've come and gone. They don't like the ones who are full of complaints and self-pity. Those patients get professional treatment but they don't get the apple blossom. It's the same with visitors. They don't stay long when all they hear is complaints, but when my sisters come and we laugh ourselves silly, everyone wants to join in.
These are the things I remember each morning as I pin the smile on my face, take up my burden of pain and prepare to carry it through the day. These are the reasons I don't blame Elsie and Dulcie, or anyone else who makes a different decision. Every day's a choice, and one day I might make a different one myself.
This story was written by Jeannette Warren and is the winner of the King Lear Prize for new writers over 65.
For details of Peter’s novels and collections of short stories search Peter Sykes on Amazon Books
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