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The Gay Road Less Traveled

The Gay Road Less Traveled

Tag Archives: social work

Chronic Childhood Trauma

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by johnjernigan in John Jernigan, My Heart, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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adoption, bear, child abuse, Domestic Violence, health, Life, medical, mental health, News, relationships, science, social work, trauma

My class curriculum includes considerable time spent on trauma-informed care and helping my prospective adoptive families succeed in parenting children who have suffered abuse or neglect. I use the example of a Bear in the Woods (at the 8-minute mark in this Ted Talk video on Childhood Trauma by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris).

Significant damage to the emotional and physical health of children who are exposed to high levels of adversity/trauma occurs over time (chronic trauma). They are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior, and to develop heart disease or cancer. Our brains have a stress response system, in the hypothalamic and adrenal glands, that governs our fight or flight response in a situation. Imagine you’re walking in the forest and you see a bear. Immediately, your brain sends a response to your adrenal glands: Release stress hormones! Adrenal! Cortisol! Your heart starts to pound, your pupils dilate, your airways open up, and you are ready to either fight that bear or run from that bear! And that is wonderful, if you are in the forest, with a bear. The problem is what happens when the bear comes home every night, in the form of domestic violence, or physical abuse, or molestation. This system is activated over and over and over again, and it goes from being life-saving to health damaging. Children are especially sensitive to this repeated stress-activation, because their brains and bodies are just developing. High doses of adversity affect their brain structure and function, their developing immune systems and hormonal systems.

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Books Books Books

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by johnjernigan in Books Check 'Em Out, Dogs is People Too

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authors, book reviews, books, children, dogs, good reads, Life, Nature, pets, social work, society, Thrift Store, writers

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$5 for a Bag of Books at the Worcester Habitat for Humanity yo, inching Less Than Zero, Doctors and a childhood favorite Island of the Blue Dolphins. 8 years old I was Marana on that island, struggling to find food and trying to avoid being killed by the wild dogs (while doing everything I could to steal one of their puppies).IMG_1212

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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by johnjernigan in Movies, My Heart, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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babies, beauty, canada, crime, documentary, law, love, movies, perspective, point of view, social work, theater

I have never had a movie make me this emotional, I am bawling like a baby…please everyone watch this documentary tonight or as soon as possible! I really feel it was a bit life changing for me.

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French Bulldogs & Babies

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

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@thejohnjernigan, animals, atlanta, babies, boston terrier, buy John's book on Amazon, cute, dating, depression, dogs, french bulldog, gay, LGBT, Life, loneliness, love, perspective, pets, point of view, puppies, relationships, sex, social work, social worker, St. Petersburg, tampa

French Bulldogs & Babies

I have felt sad and old and pessimistic about life all day. To cheer myself up, I am posting some pics of 2 of my favorite things, frenchies and babies. I also got to hold a precious little nugget on one of my cases this afternoon as well.

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Favorite Things

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A Little Social Work Love For Me

11 Friday Apr 2014

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@thejohnjernigan, adoptions, buy John's book on Amazon, Clearwater, culture, dating, funny, gay, hero, humor, LGBT, MSW, perspective, point of view, queer, relationships, Ryan Gosling, sex, social services, social work, social worker, St. Petersburg, tampa

A Little Social Work Love For Me

My friend Melissa gave me some social work shine on the facebook today 🙂

Melissa Ann – John Jernigan

Today Directions had an all case management meeting. Our supervisor gave John this award, the Champion Award. She explained that she gave him the award for a couple of reasons: For one thing, he keeps the office laughing and in a good mood telling jokes and making fun of people, but also because he has been working some tough cases, with difficult teenagers mostly, and he has kept his cool. He has also been driving one of his teens daily across the Howard Frankland to Tampa and back to Clearwater, so that the teen can remain in his same school. Congrats, you funny little fella !

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Heart, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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Greatest Valentine’s Gift

14 Friday Feb 2014

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adoption, Adoption worker, atlanta, buy John's book on Amazon, child protection, culture, cute, entertainment, gay, happiness, inspirational, love, MSW, perspective, point of view, social work, social worker, Tampa Bay, Valentine's Day

Greatest Valentine's Gift

Today was an extremely emotional day for me, ending with me crying in my car. I wasn’t crying because something awful had happened in court on this day (though I have a few times in the past). There was just so much emotion and love in that court house, it was almost overwhelming. I had the adoption finalization for two of my children, sisters, ages 9 and 6. My 9 year-old, who is such a sweet and sensitive child, climbed into her adoptive mother’s lap and cried throughout the hearing. Her cute little chubby cheeks were red, and she was so worked up. Everyone in the court room, even the normally hard-nosed Judge and the deputies, had tears in their eyes or were crying. I was bawling. After the ceremony, the little girl said she was crying because “I’m happy to be adopted, but sad because me and my little sister lost our birth mother.”

And they lived happily ever after

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Heart

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Valentine’s Day Love

14 Friday Feb 2014

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adoptions, atlanta, child protection, culture, dating, entertainment, gay, Lesbian, LGBT, loneliness, love, relationships, sex, social work, Tampa Bay, Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Love

Although I am single and alone on Valentines, I did get some love from my friends

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Heart

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Video

F**K Candyman

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by johnjernigan in My Favorite Things

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Tags

atlanta, bad kids, child protection, culture, cute, dating, DCF, funny, gay, humor, jokes, new orleans, pop culture, relationships, social work, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay

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Teeth

19 Thursday Dec 2013

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Ben South, Birmingham, child protection, Christmas, culture, dating, foster kids, gay, gay blog, inspirational, john jernigan, LGBT, loneliness, MSW, perspective, point of view, relationships, social work, Tampa Bay

Teeth

Today I took one of my teens to have her wisdom teeth removed. Normally this 15 year-old is a terror, she has a horrible temper and intentionally says fuck every other word because I once tried to admonish her on her language. On this day, she was quiet and sweet and scared. She wanted me to be in the room with her and she cried a little, and I held her hand and talked to her and calmed her down. In this last year I have horribly failed at dating or finding someone special or being the one that somebody is thinking about. As I drive my teenager back to her foster home (while she is taking selfies and pics of her teeth and posting them), I take some small comfort in knowing that there is something I am good at, my children like me, and I will always be an advocate for them. I just wish I could somehow use my social work skills to find someone to love me.

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Heart

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Recent Posts

  • The Gay Road Less Traveled March 20, 2020
  • Lost Without You – Freya Ridings February 27, 2020
  • Happy National Boston Terrier Day! February 19, 2020
  • John’s Favorite 1990’s Movies February 18, 2020
  • Johnny’s Favorite Songs of 2018 December 9, 2018

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The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

C.L. Bolin Books & Art: When I get the chance, I love reading John Jernigan’s blog. I’m laughing, homesick, crying and peeing myself all at once.

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The Gay Road Less Traveled

A friend of mine who used to be one of the hard working under appreciated social workers for the State here in Pensacola has written a book now available on Kindle, John Jernigan’s “The Gay Road Less Traveled.” I purchased it tonight to start it, couldn’t out it down, it was so funny. Graphic, real, and hysterical, John’s writing is endearing, funny, smart and if you happen to be drinking coffee, it may shoot out of your nose at some point during one of his vignettes. You can read it on Kindle.

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