Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
3/5/26: Emotional Resiliency
This week at Stronger Together, we will discuss how we manage to be emotionally resilient in the face of life struggles. This video talks about techniques for doing that. Join us to discuss their take on emotional resilience and discuss how we all work at managing it ourselves.
Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
1/1/26: New Year’s Resolutions
Do you like New Year’s Resolutions, or avoid them like the plague? How about setting a Mental Health New Year’s Resolution? Let’s discuss resolutions after watching a short video about setting New Year Resolutions made specifically about Mental Health.
1/8/26: Hope in the New Year
This week we will talk about Hope, but from a TED talk of a personal account of struggling with serious depression and suicide. The video is 16 minutes, but hopefully worth it.
1/15/26: Addiction and Mental Health
We all realize there is a connection between mental health and addiction, but what is that all about? Let’s watch this short video and talk about it.
1/22/26: How to Talk about Mental Illness
Our topic this week will be “How to Talk about Mental Illness.” We’ll read this article: How to talk about mental health and ask for help.
1/29/26: Social Media and Mental Health
This week we will watch a short video on teen mental health and social media. Although it discusses specifically how social media impacts the developing teen brain, the issues it brings up are applicable to all ages.
2/5/26: Immigration and Mental Health
This week we’ll discuss the mental health impact of current immigration policies. The following six-minute video talks about the issue, giving us a starting point for discussion. How Fear of Deportation Affects Immigrant Mental Health.
2/12/26: The Health and Mood-Boosting Benefits of Pets
Are you a pet/animal person? If not, what comforts you? You’re invited to join us for a discussion about how pets can be beneficial to our mental health. We’ll read this short article and talk about it. The article notes: “Pets come with some powerful health benefits… Caring for a dog, cat, or other animal can help relieve depression and anxiety, lower stress, and improve your heart health.”
2/19/26: No topic – conversation
2/26/26: Internal Family Systems Therapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS) psychotherapy model is an established therapy model, though not as widely known, and it seems like it could have some practical value for each of us. Join us to watch the video, try the exercise it describes, and talk about what we notice and how it might help us.
Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
11/6/25: Gratitude
It is easier to feel grateful when life is going smoothly and joys abound. But during challenging times, gratitude can feel much harder to access—and yet it can be especially meaningful and supportive for our emotional well-being during those moments. We’ll talk about why practicing gratitude matters, particularly in difficult seasons, and share ideas for how we can nurture gratitude intentionally in our daily lives. We’ll also watch a short five-minute video that highlights the mental health benefits of gratitude and offers simple ways to cultivate it. Please join us.
11/13/25: Connection and Community
I think we all agree that our supportive church community — and the smaller groups that grow out of it, like Stronger Together — offer us a foundation that nurtures our mental health.This week’s video highlights the importance of community to our well-being and introduces the speaker’s concept of Social Health. It opens the door to a meaningful conversation about the role of connection in our lives. Please join us as we watch and discuss it together.
11/20/25: Sound Therapy
Sound is all around us, and whether we know it or not, it’s always affecting how we feel. Yogis have been aware of the healing power of sound for thousands of years. This week we’ll read “A Guide to Sound Healing” and “What is a Sound Bath?” We’ll also explore some sound compilations and try it for ourselves. Join us to discuss!
11/27/25: No gathering; Thanksgiving
12/4/25: Tradition and Ritual
As we enter the Christmas season, so rich with traditions and rituals, let’s look at how these traditions and rituals support our mental health. We’ll watch this video together. Join us to discuss.
12/11/25: When the holidays make you blue
The Christmas season is beautiful and exciting, and conversely, depending on the day, your mood, or your circumstances, can be sad and lonely. We’ll watch this video together about managing the emotional pitfalls of the holidays, and talk about managing them for ourselves. Please join us.
12/18: Don’t Feed the Monkey Mind!
The information is on this site – https://jennifershannon.com/
Some of the worksheets/quizzes are here – https://jennifershannon.com/worksheets/
Are your thoughts rapidly leaping about, preventing you from relaxing or focusing? We call it the Monkey Mind, and it can be an unwelcome distraction. Can we calm it? How do we live with it? Please join us as we discuss it together.
12/25 – No meeting (Christmas Day)
Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
9/4/25: Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Most of us have heard about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), but really, what is it? Join us to watch this video, and then let’s talk about it.
9/11/25: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
This week we’ll be learning a little more about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). We’ll watch this video, which should be helpful for understanding what people with OCD are going through and how to support them.
9/18/25: Accepting and Loving Ourselves
Sometimes we get down on ourselves, find failure in the things we do, and feel like we are stuck with us. How do we manage to accept and love the person we are, this person that we live with our entire life? Let’s talk about it. Please join us. We’ll watch this video and talk about it.
9/25/25: Embracing Solitude
What is the value of spending time with ourselves, how can that be enriching and boost our mental health? Let’s talk about it. We’ll watch this video on Embracing Solitude to get us thinking. NOTE: September is National Suicide Prevention Month, serving to remind us that we must look out for loved ones, the people in our community, and those who have been impacted by this leading cause of death.
10/2/25: Sleep and Mental Health
We all have nights of tossing and turning, then stressing when we see 3am on the clock. The quality of our sleep has a strong impact on our mental health. Let’s talk about it. We’ll watch this short video.
10/9/25: Active Listening
Active Listening helps us understand each other, connect to each other, and helps problem solving. Join us to talk about how to actively listen, and why we strive to do it. Here is a short video on what Active Listening is, and what it means for our mental health.
10/16/25: Coping with Uncertainty
Just when we thought things couldn’t get more uncertain, well, then there is an indefinite government shutdown. How can we emotionally manage the uncertain times we live in? Join us to talk about it this week. We’ll watch this short video about Coping with Uncertainty.
10/23/25: I Respectfully Disagree
Especially now our country and world seems to be in a place filled with heated dividing disagreements that continue to escalate. This week, we will review an entertaining short video and then discuss how to respectfully and more effectively disagree. Please join us!
10/30/25: Core Values
We all have core values, how do we be true to those values in a world that is sometimes at odds with them? Let’s talk about it. We’ll watch this video about identifying and living with your core values.
Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
July 10: Handling Rejection
Did you just lose your job? Or maybe you didn’t get the job you applied for, or perhaps an important relationship ended because someone “ghosted” you? We all regularly deal with rejection, and learning to manage it is an important life tool. So, let’s talk about it after watching this video about managing rejection.
July 17: Life’s Transitions
Life is full of transitions when we go from one situation in life to another: losing a job or starting a new job; the breakup or start of a relationship; moving to a new place… You can fill in the blank for your own life! How do we deal with these life transitions? Let’s talk about it. Here is a video to get the conversation going.
July 24: Major Depressive Disorder
All of us feel depressed at times. Could it be a passing feeling, or classified as Major Depressive Disorder? Only a professional can diagnosis that, but this week we will consider the criteria for Depressive Disorder and how it is currently treated. We’ll watch this video, and then talk about it.
July 31: Psychological Defense Mechanisms
We turn to coping mechanisms when dealing with stressful situations, including situations where the moral and ethical fibers of the society seem to go against our own values. Here is a video about 10 psychological defense mechanisms that people rely on. How do you cope? Let’s talk about it.
August 7: Feeling Overwhelmed, or Too Many Balls in the Air
We all get overwhelmed – too much to do, too much information, a sudden change in our lives that we were not prepared to deal with, the list goes on. How can we, and how do we, cope with these situations? Let’s watch this short video and talk about it.
August 14: The Flow Zone
We all love those times when we have our best focus and perform tasks at our peak. That state has been called the “Flow Zone.” What is it, and how do we get into this Flow Zone? Join us to watch this video and talk about it.
August 21 (moved to 8/27): Freeform discussion on Spirituality and Mental Health
8/27/25: Spirituality and Mental Health Again
What is the relationship between spirituality and mental health? Is there any? Let’s talk about it. Here is a short video to get us thinking and talking.
Here are the topics recently explored in our mental health discussion group, Stronger Together:
May 1: Mindfulness
This week let’s talk about Mindfulness as a tool for managing mental health. We all hear about it, but what is it and how do we do it? Let’s talk about it and watch these videos: What is Mindfulness and A guided Mindfulness meditation.
May 8: The Anxious Generation
This week our discussion will be about “The Anxious Generation.” As it says at that link, “We rewired childhood and created an epidemic of mental illness. After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures.” That site also shares some evidence that you might like to look at before the discussion.
May 15: Emotional Coping Mechanisms
We all have emotional coping mechanisms, many are not helpful in the long run but make it possible for us to deal with impossible situations or pain. Denial, repression, and suppression are three layers of a coping mechanism. What are they, and how do we help others who are experiencing them? Let’s talk about it. Our first video discusses what is denial, repression and suppression, and the second one discusses how to help others deal with these issues. Denial, Repression, Suppression: Intro Psychology, Personality #2 and Dealing With Denial – Dr. Brian Wind.
May 22: Supporting Those with Suicidal Ideations
This week in Stronger Together, we’ll be addressing supporting individuals with indications of suicidality. This week’s discussion is a step toward normalizing conversations within our community about issues surrounding suicide. Please join us. Here are some videos to watch: “Preventing Suicide and Coping with Loss” by the World Health Organization, and “Preventing Suicide: What Families Need to Know” by Seattle Children’s Hospital
May 29: Happiness!
What is happiness? Do we just know it when we see it? This week we will explore what happiness means to each of us. Please join us for this “happy” discussion. We’ll watch this video.
June 5: The Grieving Process
Some of us are grieving losses about jobs, a sense of stability, safety, or other more personal issues. What are the generally accepted five stages of the grieving process? Let’s look at one of the videos below explaining them, and then talk about it.
The five stages of grief simplified – 6 min.
The 5 Stages Of Grief Explained – 11 min.
June 12: Autism
What is Autism and how do we help and work with autistic friends, children, and co-workers? Let’s talk about it. We’ll watch one or both of the following short videos about what people with Autism deal with, and their unique contributions: What is Autism? and What is the Autism Spectrum?
June 19: Information Overload
What is information overload? To find out we can Google it, read a book about it, or see a YouTube video explaining it. Or we can do all three, as information is readily accessible all the time. We likely all experience information overload and wonder how to manage it. Please join us to talk about the impact of information overload on our mental health. We’ll watch this video on information overload.
June 26: Coping with Loss
We deal regularly with the sadness of loss, it is a part of the human experience. These days many of us are either dealing with the loss of jobs or know people who lost jobs, and yet we also continue with the normal cycle of lost relationships and people. How do we cope with these losses and how do we help those going through the grief of loss? Here is a three-minute video on coping with the loss of jobs, relationships, and people.