In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, we’re celebrating organizers who lead groups for support and mental health. These organizers have created spaces for people to open up, get support, and most importantly, heal.
Watch a conversation with Lara Novack organizer of Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Support Group THRIVE BAY AREA! and Sandy Shehadeh organizer of Depression and Bipolar Support as they share how they’ve changed lives while leading their respective groups. You’ll learn about their experiences as community organizers and about the safe spaces they’ve created online.
Main Takeaways:
- Sandy: Listening and witnessing is just a huge way to support other people. When we’re present and we’re listening fully and in what someone is sharing with us, it’s very supportive.
- Sandy: the diagnosis is a part of who we are, it may shape some of our behaviors and our emotions and our feelings but it’s not all of who we are, so to be constantly saying, I am bipolar or I am I am depressed, all the time, and to say that language over and over again reinforces something that we don’t necessarily want to be focusing on when our identity is so much more than that.
- Lara: Different people have different roles in our lives. Not everyone’s purpose in our life is to be our lifeline in this area. We talked about the importance of having a community who understands and validates. And so we talked about the fact that you could have a friend community, you could have a religious community, you could have a work community. But this community that we have through Meetup really are the people who can understand and validate because they’ve been through it.
- Lara: Every membership request I have is a success because that means somebody who’s taken a step in awareness and self advocacy and self help.
Top Q&A Questions/Resources:
- What happens when you do not have a support system?
- Sandy: Join a group. And they start as strangers maybe but they become friends and you will find people who get you. You’re not alone, you’ll find people. But you do have to put yourself out there and be vulnerable and honest and authentic. But you’ll find someone.
- I love the concept of investing in oneself.how do you do that?
- Lara: The first thing I’d say is that if you’ve been through a trauma, you need a trauma therapist. The second thing is learning your value. For a lot of us we lose track of our own self-value and if you don’t know your self-value ask somebody you respect – What do they respect about you? And then own it.
- Resources:
- DBSAlliance.org
- DBSANCA.org
- NAMI.org
- TheMighty.com (topical online support groups and essays)
- 7 Cups of Tea (Free App with real time online listeners)
- Wysa the Mental Health Support Penguin (Free App chatbot)
- Recommended experts with online resources:
- Peter Levine
- Dr Ramani Durvasula
- Brené Brown
- Francine Shapiro
If you’re looking for a support group, Meetup is also a great place to start: Search for support groups on Meetup
Last modified on June 1, 2021
