#supportgroups — Public Fediverse posts

I'm still reflecting on #SupportGroups I've been in, and I realize most of them have been led by #MentalHealthProfessionals who seem to be using the group for their own #therapy. To some extent, I appreciate their honesty, as I think even #therapists are overwhelmed by #covid19, #ClimateChange and all the other crises we're facing. But I think having a therapist lead the group, even also as a participant changes the dynamic. The therapist ostensibly isn't the leader, but still carries authority everyone else lacks.

The best support group I've ever been in was focused on the #pandemic and was led by someone who didn't seem to have formal #MentalHealth training--he was just trying to connect with other people and provide a space to vent. Something about the group's being informal and more egalitarian maybe created a better dynamic? It was far from perfect, but it was the best #SupportGroup experience I've had so far.

I'm still reflecting on #SupportGroups I've been in, and I realize most of them have been led by #MentalHealthProfessionals who seem to be using the group for their own #therapy. To some extent, I appreciate their honesty, as I think even #therapists are overwhelmed by #covid19, #ClimateChange and all the other crises we're facing. But I think having a therapist lead the group, even also as a participant changes the dynamic. The therapist ostensibly isn't the leader, but still carries authority everyone else lacks.

The best support group I've ever been in was focused on the #pandemic and was led by someone who didn't seem to have formal #MentalHealth training--he was just trying to connect with other people and provide a space to vent. Something about the group's being informal and more egalitarian maybe created a better dynamic? It was far from perfect, but it was the best #SupportGroup experience I've had so far.

Or is it just that despite anyone's best efforts, #therapy and #SupportGroups are inadequate to deal with the multitude of #existential crises that currently face us all, from the on-going #covid19 #pandemic to #ClimateCollapse? Even in the #SupportGroup I'm in now where we talk about those things, it still feels so theoretical and abstract, even as we're literally living through the hottest summer on record (so far). The people in it are great—this is nothing against them! I just still feel very alone within the group in a way that no one else seems to. It's very weird.

*Cue angsty playing of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"*

#MentalHealth #ClimateChange #Ecocide #anthropocene #ClimateJustice #ExistentialCrisis

Or is it just that despite anyone's best efforts, #therapy and #SupportGroups are inadequate to deal with the multitude of #existential crises that currently face us all, from the on-going #covid19 #pandemic to #ClimateCollapse? Even in the #SupportGroup I'm in now where we talk about those things, it still feels so theoretical and abstract, even as we're literally living through the hottest summer on record (so far). The people in it are great—this is nothing against them! I just still feel very alone within the group in a way that no one else seems to. It's very weird.

*Cue angsty playing of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"*

#MentalHealth #ClimateChange #Ecocide #anthropocene #ClimateJustice #ExistentialCrisis

I've tried being in support groups at the suggestion of a therapist I was seeing individually after I basically hit a wall with one-on-one therapy. And after having been in various support groups for about a year now, I'm kind of...not impressed? Like, they're fine, but everyone else in the group seems to feel connected and transformed in a way that I don't. And everyone is always going on about how #vulnerable they feel and how grateful they are for the space, but to me everyone seems vague and theoretical and not very vulnerable. I also feel like when I am vulnerable, no one actually knows what to do with me, so I end up just feeling like a strange outsider, which is basically how I feel in all groups.

Is this an #autistic thing? Are #SupportGroups actually not as supportive as they're hyped up to be? Am I doing it wrong?

#Therapy #MentalHealth #Autism #Vulnerability #RadicalVulnerability

I've tried being in support groups at the suggestion of a therapist I was seeing individually after I basically hit a wall with one-on-one therapy. And after having been in various support groups for about a year now, I'm kind of...not impressed? Like, they're fine, but everyone else in the group seems to feel connected and transformed in a way that I don't. And everyone is always going on about how #vulnerable they feel and how grateful they are for the space, but to me everyone seems vague and theoretical and not very vulnerable. I also feel like when I am vulnerable, no one actually knows what to do with me, so I end up just feeling like a strange outsider, which is basically how I feel in all groups.

Is this an #autistic thing? Are #SupportGroups actually not as supportive as they're hyped up to be? Am I doing it wrong?

#Therapy #MentalHealth #Autism #Vulnerability #RadicalVulnerability

i used facebook groups for support in my transition. It was very helpful that membership was hidden, interactions inside a group didn't show up to everybody and content was focused. I now want/need digital support but there is just no way i'm going back to fb. Is there a fediverse solution i don't know about? #fediverse #supportgroups #mastodon