Mar 19, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
I searched my email just to be sure: our first Stronger Together discussion was held nearly four years ago on April 16th, 2020. At the time we envisioned it as a “three-part series” to address the social isolation we were experiencing during pandemic lockdown. So much has changed since then. Our conversations on mental health are wider-ranging, many new people have joined in to share ideas and experiences, and we kick things off with a “warm-up question” rather than “two words to describe how you are feeling today.” Many other things have stayed the same; we show up to support each other, we listen with empathy and share honestly, and we congregate via Zoom at the same day and time each week.
I wonder what the next four years will look like for Stronger Together, don’t you? Let’s talk about it. Occasionally we discuss as a group how we want Stronger Together to continue and evolve, and now is a good time to check back in. How might we evolve the program so that more people are involved? What roles can each of us play in sustaining it?
Please take a few minutes ahead of the discussion to reflect on what you love most about Stronger Together. Please also spend a few minutes thinking of a time when something in church (or work, social clubs, etc.) changed over time… but in a good way. This will be the warm-up question for Thursday as you’ll see below.
And don’t think that I’ve forgotten to share a neat video with you! I came across a touching and thoughtful video from BBC called “How to help someone struggling with their mental health“, and to my delight I found that it’s part of a robust series called Headroom: Your Mental Health Toolkit. Why this video this week? It reminded me of you, and what makes Stronger Together a special experience.
Our warm-up question for this week:
Tell us about a time when something significant changed at church, work, or a social club… and the change ended up being really positive.
See you soon,
Alex
Mar 14, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello Stronger Together Friends,
I am filling in again for Alex so… please join me this Thursday to discuss conflict and how to try to argue effectively. Of course arguing effectively sounds good on paper, or video, but in real life arguing is way complicated, as we all know. What are your go to techniques for diffusing or working through difficult arguments?
Here is the video we will see on working through conflict: How to Argue Effectively.
Warm up question: What do you think about Daylight Savings Time?
Hope to see you Thursday at 7pm.
Dee
Mar 6, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
Last week we talked about narcissism as a form of mental illness, which led to a thoughtful conversation on the challenges of dealing with narcissists. We can all agree there are plenty of types of “difficult” people beyond just narcissists, however! I’ll bet if you paused right now to see how long it takes you to come up with the name of one “difficult” person you’ve had to deal with… actually, try that right now and let me know how long it took you.
I came up with two names in less than two seconds, and just thinking about them started to make me feel tense. And that’s the point of this week’s discussion: how can we deal with difficult people without it feeling so painful? We’ll watch a helpful, short interview with an expert who sums up the guidance for psychologists quite well. I think the advice we hear in this interview will resonate in some ways, and challenge our assumptions in others.
Our warm-up question for this week:
What’s one thing you cherish about spring?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 29, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
I love when our Stronger Together discussions take us down a different path than we planned, or open up new topics in unexpected ways. In last week’s conversation on apologizing and gratitude, we briefly considered an interesting exception: what about narcissists?
To be clear, there are narcissistic behaviors we all have exhibited from time to time, as well as people who are pretty narcissistic in general. Then there’s narcissism to a degree that is a form of mental illness: Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. Our conversation this week will focus on NPD–how we can understand it better and empathize better with people affected by it. We’ll watch a video that describes the diagnostic criteria for NPD as well as some of what the symptoms “hide” in the person experiencing this form of mental illness.
Remember…we all have a bit of narcissistic tendencies. That’s normal and part of what makes us human!
Our warm-up question for this week:
Tell us about a truly great vacation or trip you took. What made it so special to you?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 22, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
If only it were easier to say “I’m sorry.” If we could just be better at apologizing — truly apologizing — think of how much easier it would be to move past conflict, maintain loving relationships, and build trust. Probably there’s a good reason why saying “I’m sorry” is inherently difficult.
If it’s difficult to apologize, does that mean we can get better at it? That’s one of the things I’m hoping to figure out in this week’s conversation! We’ll watch a brief video titled, “A perfect apology in three steps” (it’s only three steps, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy). In it, the speaker talks about how to craft an effective apology, and how this turns us toward a place of gratitude. If you don’t have time to watch the video beforehand, no apology is necessary. 😉
Our warm-up question for this week:
What’s your favorite summer Olympics sport to watch?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 15, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
It’s tempting to think of mental illness in terms of diagnoses, and to some extent it makes sense to do so. After all, by necessity there are commonalities in how people experience clinical depression or any other named health outcome. The problem is that there are wide ranges of experiences “within” a diagnosis; how one person experiences and recovers from clinical depression can be dramatically different from the next person.
This is yet another reason why it’s so important to anchor our understanding of mental illness on the perspectives of those whose lives are touched by it. Through this lens we can begin to appreciate how much diversity there is in mental illness experiences and outcomes. We’ll get a chance to do just this as we watch and respond to a video titled, “Mental Health: In Our Own Words” during our conversation this week. I hope to see you there!
Our warm-up question for this week:
Imagine you were going to take a cross-country road trip anywhere in the world…where would you go, and what kind of vehicle would you want to travel in?
See you soon,
Alex
