January Support Group
Since New Year's Day falls on our usual support group night, I've made the executive decision to push our group back to Thursday January 8th at 7pm. We have a very appropriate speaker coming to our January meeting. Angie Storey, a retiring case manager at Lanark County Mental Health, has graciously agreed to present a Compassion Fatigue (cost of caregiving) workshop to us. I know I am a little worn out after the holidays and all that goes along with supporting family members with mental health challenges through the hectic and intensive festivities. I don't imagine that I am alone in feeling this way!Giving and Taking Advice
I had a moment today in conversation with a person about a situation with their loved one, where I gave some very good advice which I needed reminding of. I said that the most important voice you listen to is your own. That is why it is so important to be mindful of whether your internal voice has a positive or negative influence.If your internal voice is saying, "I'm tired", "I'm so hard done by", "I don't have the energy", then that is the way your outlook becomes. If you catch yourself saying these things to yourself, try modifying the message to have a more positive, but realistic tone. "I should start to feel more awake once I have my shower, it always feels so good." This may seem silly, but the soundtrack going on in our head truly has a huge impact on our wellbeing, being mindful of what it is saying and making some small changes can have a very real, positive impact on our lives.
Education Event
In partnership with MICA http://micaontario.com Mental Illness Caregivers Association, we will be hosting a workshop for service providers and the public. This workshop will be valuable to those people who do their own research on illnesses and treatments. It is designed to help people understand and evaluate the quality of medical studies. There is abundant information available and it can be hard to determine what information has valid scientific evidence supporting it, and what information exists without such evidence. We have all seen the media present new studies in flashy headlines as concrete facts and then the following week the media can claim the opposite is true. This workshop will give you the tools to look behind the headline.When:
Thursday February 19th
Service Providers: 2-4pm
General Public 6-8pm
Where:
Mental Health Support Project - The Link
88 Cornelia St West Unit A4
