Under Construction - MHWA Retreat

Okay, everybody should take a breath and relax. Please do that until you're no longer tense/angry/frustrated or whatever emotion(s) you're feeling. Remember, this is an online group. This is a discussion between adults to solve a problem. None of this should be taken personally, cause anxiety, etc.

First, this group is still NEW! It's only a year old so let's keep that in mind. Not only is it new, but MHWA stands for something special and is doing something no group has ever done to this extent - focusing exclusively on mental health. We're raising awareness. Mental health is hard, the issues we all deal with are hard. And Charlie is trying to bring together a ton of people with different issues to HELP us all. As a result, we each have a responsibility to do things the right way and guide others to the best of our ability. Does someone posting a short little blurb without any helpful information help anyone else on WDC? Or does it invalidate the very real situation that person may be facing and came to your for help with?

If someone walked up to you and said, "I'm not interested in your anxiety enough to truly understand it. Listen to me about my PTSD", how would you feel? These topics need to be treated with care. Respect. Honor. They are IMPORTANT! And we all need to remember that.

I'm very passionate about mental health. I write about it professionally. I'm writing four books about it. I have a nonfiction blog dealing with my child's schizophrenia at age 11. It's part of why I'm in this group. Because even I, after two decades of therapy, need help still dealing with some of this stuff. We all NEED each other.

Charlie is still valiantly feeling his way through the balance. He is NOT projecting his "standards" onto others or trying to make others feel they don't belong. He is trying to establish some. In fact, he's working hard behind the scenes to help others feel more included. He is one person and has been doing it alone. So now, the group has grown to include community leaders (waves - grin!) like myself. There are going to be hiccups and new ways of doing things. If you can't roll with that, we are sincerely sorry. We will do our best to keep the waves tiny and the hiccups few. We have no desire or intention to make anyone's issues worse.

"Your standards for yourself are so high I sometimes feel you project them onto the group, and it at times makes me feel like I really don't belong here. Am I not a serious enough blogger? Maybe I should focus on the Retreat forum instead of the Challenges?"

This may be something many people feel. We do not want anyone to leave or feel excluded but you should acknowledge that perhaps that's something to work on? If all of this makes you uncomfortable, why? Is there another reason? Are you stressed and overwhelmed by your life? Is there a factor outside of MHWA/WDC that's driving this feeling? Do some self-analysis and see if there's something driving that feeling other than this. We want to encourage participation and behind the scenes we've had a lot of discussion about this in the past 24 hours. How do we do that? What does it need to look like? Now that the group is larger, how to handle all the needs of the group? The best way is through activities with rewards. We're still working through and brainstorming ideas.

Maybe you don't get the merit badge. Maybe it takes you time to achieve it. Maybe right now where you are in life you cannot commit to the group the way you want. All those things are OKAY! Since when was life about winning a prize? Sometimes life is about doing the right thing regardless of the result. Sometimes you do things because it's good for you (like eat vegetables instead of chips!). Sometimes it's about working toward a goal, failing, making mistakes, learning, and trying again and again and again until you get there.

Please realize it costs 500K in GPs just to commission the MHWA MB! It's 10K to give it out. Plus all the work of coordinating getting it made, voted on, submitted. It should be something that takes effort to get. It's the holy grail of MWHA. It should NOT be easy to achieve. It requires some effort. We do not want to diminish the value of it by giving it away too easily.

Now, is there room for smaller rewards for participating? Quite possibly! We'll take a look at that. And I know Charlie and the team are open to that. PLEASE keep making suggestions for how we can improve the group. But please do not attack others or label what they're doing negatively. That serves NO one and is not in the spirit of MWHA. So before you post, take a breath. Take a few if you have to. And do not post in anger. It can wait for cooler heads to prevail here.

Much love to you all,

Charity, Community Leader