As you may have heard in my Second Tuesday talks, I am starting a support group for geeks with depression and anxiety. I have found that while therapy is indispensable for coping with these conditions, it can be quite expensive in the long term.
The goal of the group is to provide a long-term and sustainable resource for people with depression and/or anxiety to learn and share skills for coping with these challenges.
As I understand it, there are three major hurdles to starting the group:
Finding a time and place that is quiet enough and private enough to meet. The lounge area at The Hive is the obvious choice, but at times it can be neither quiet nor private. If the Hive is to be the venue, the group’s meetings should probably fit into the natural traffic pattern for the Hive’s membership. The group cannot monopolize the space.
Finding a date, frequency, and duration for meetings that works for the most attendees. Tuesday was chosen for the weekly Hive meeting because all hackerspaces meet on Tuesdays. Weekly meetings were decided on for the same reason. Personally, my work schedule changes from month to month, so a fixed day of the week (other than a Saturday) is tough for me. I don’t want my crazy schedule to prevent meetings from happening. Which leads to the third obstacle…
Finding a format/protocol for a meeting that works. The Hive’s Tuesday meeting format is well known, to the point that pretty much anyone can run one. I would like to find a simple, but effective format for meetings so that they can be run in my absence. I would also like to document the format, so that meetings can be reproduced at other hackerspaces in the future.
To tackle these obstacles, I am opening this thread for discussion. I will also be at the Hive on Wednesday (July 20th) at 6:00 pm, and again on Saturday (July 23rd) at 3pm, if anyone wants to meet to discuss these challenges in person.
Or just go out and look for Pokemon. I’m down for either
I’d like to come to some of these meetings. Personally I don’t think it would be a problem for the group to monopolize the lounge on a non-Tuesday.
Alternatively, I bet we could get a meeting room at a library if we open it up to non-Hivers.
Meeting nights would be a hard night in my opinion given the tours after meetings, and how crowded the hive us in general. Possibly we could just go on some random dates to get things in motion and claim the lounge on non meeting nights.
If be down to attend. Also let me know how I can help if needed.
If it comes down to it, I have the ability to reserve private spaces through UC Health / UC. I think a familiar space would be better (lounge, etc), but if you need a room and some logistics support in short term, that is something I can get.
I will be at the Hive on Saturday, July 23rd at 3pm if anyone wants to
start then or talk logistics in person. Or go downtown and farm all the
Pokestops.
If I had to pick a day of the week to meet, it would probably be a
Wednesday in the evening. Earlier is better than later because I work at
7pm some Wednesdays, but I can be late to work when necessary.
If I had to pick a frequency to meet, it would be weekly. No one has to
feel pressure to be there every week. Cinci2600 meets only once a month,
and it's really easy to miss 3 months that way. I do it all the time.
The format for the meeting is where I can't just pick arbitrary numbers.
Does anyone have experience with attending support groups?
I went to one as part of the process for adopting my daughter. It's a long,
expensive, and emotional process. The agency held weekly meetings for
parents going through it. Parents at different stages of the process would
share their challenges and their successes and then mingle for a bit
afterward. Everyone brought their kids so it was complete chaos.
I figure the sooner we start meeting, the sooner we can figure out what
doesn't work. In true hacker fashion.
Yes, I have experience attending. Also experience as a volunteer moderator for DBSA NAAMI.
I have depression and anxiety, and my relatively stable remission has been helped greatly by informal peer groups. In this city it is extremely difficult, as people are simply not like me culturally or in interests. In my part of New Mexico, the population is very diverse and comprised of many scientists, researchers, and nerds (as well as every other slice of life). Many there have common interests, but other than folks from Hive, I rarely feel open or involved in Cincy.
If anyone on the list feels uncomfortable with this topic, I understand. However, it is also important to reduce the stigma of mental illness (hey, it’s proven by science!).
