Blog /Spirituality

This year Peerlink National Technical Assistance Center hosted Alternatives 2012 in Portland Oregon, The theme of the conference was "Honoring Our History, Building Our Future." As a returning participant of such an innovative peer-nun system of change for mental health recovery, my involvement was different this year in comparison to last year’s Alternatives Conference. Last Year, I was a presenter of a workshop. Whereas this year, I volunteered as an onsite worker who ensured that the daily workshops ran smoothly. Each morning, all of the volunteers met to receive their assignment. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to work workshops I was interested in.

However, there was one group in particular that was the highlight of my Alternatives 2012 experience. The workshop that I am referring to was entitled, "Mindfulness, Trauma and Mental Health Recovery" by Jim Probert.

Jim Probert, the facilitator of this workshop is presently a psychologist. In addition to him being a licensed professional who clinical psychology received special training to work with individuals that have mental health issues in a variety of settings such as private practices, county mental health, community mental health, or hospitals, he is a person who identifies as experiencing mental health challenges.

As far back as 1982, Jim Probert is someone who has been hospitalized and prescribed psychotropic medications. He has traumatic experiences and continues on his healing journey of recovery every day.

Specifically in this workshop, "Mindfulness, Trauma and Mental Health Recovery," Jim put aside some of his professional training and offered more of his personal experiences of dealing with terrifying experiences and his spiritual trek of their being a common ground for all of us as human beings. Jim offered each participant a different way of looking at painful, distressing, and hurtful happenings. First, he encouraged everyone in the training not to see trauma as random experiences of something that happened to us, or as events that we cannot recover from. He suggested that we allow trauma to be metaphoric situations and/or circumstances that we learn from, "stand up to" with our emotions, and push through so we can experience healing.

The way in which Jim offered this was by implementing a very useful tool. The tool he provided was creating a mindfulness journal, and on each page of the journal each person would have two columns, (one entitled Emotion/Experience and the other column entitled Intention/Purpose), and in the notebook each side of the page would allow a person to acknowledge each category, not trying to make away with what happened but instead deal with the emotions in order to have healing and self-love occur. From there, each person could then start with developing positive statements of self-acceptance for him or her, in turn beginning to practicing valuing ourselves and believe in our own basic potentials.

Jim projected these tool offerings by openly and honestly sharing is journey, and how it's helped him. He also kind heartedly listened to others share, honoring their experience. While actively listening to each person express themselves, Jim held each person in high regard, no judgment, shame or blame. As a result of Jim being authentic, the room the workshop was held in felt like the safest place to be.

Overall, the order and process of the workshop was extremely empowering and healing for me. I am very thankful to the space he created and the transformative healing tools he provided.

I look forward to next year's Alternatives Conference, and I hope to attend more workshops facilitated by Jim Probert.

I am so not a morning person. And it took every drop of energy in my body to rise from my warm bed and make the 7am Day of Prayer. However, I was in for a lovely surprise. The Day of Prayer takes place in communities across the country for National Mental Health Awareness Week. As stated on the event's flier, at the Day of Prayer we "send prayers and inspirational messages to restore mental wellness in our communities."

When I arrived to the plaza in Downtown Oakland, there was a peaceful energy blanketing the streets. Our video specialist was quietly setting up for his shoot. I watched participants decorating a statue with bright-colored paper cranes. And the sun was just starting to peak over Lake Merritt. Then a blessing arrived in the form of a Noah's Bagels deliveryman. The bagels and coffee seemed to taste even better that morning.

We heard from people of various spiritual practices: Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, non-religious faiths and others. All explained how spirituality helps them get through their mental health challenges. While snapping pictures I couldn't help but notice all of the people from various faiths praying together. It was beautiful. So many people throughout the history of humankind have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. Yet we all came together with our Qurans, crosses, chants, beads and sent up our prayers for one common cause: mental health. We prayed for peace. We prayed for the ones living and suffering. We prayed for the ones we lost, most recently Black Men Speak Founders Dewitt Buckingham and Darnell Levingston. And we prayed for ourselves. If only the entire world was just like this moment, this peaceful space. There would be less trauma, less wars. Peace does wonders for wellness. 

I was so moved by the unity and religious acceptance that when the day's organizer, Minister Monique Tarver, opened the floor for us to make comments I went to speak. I saw a look of surprise on Minister Tarver's face. She told me later she was pleasantly surprised to see me come up because I usually work behind the camera at events. Honestly, I was surprised I went up to speak. I didn't have much to say to the crowd. Okay, of course I pitched our podcast (my colleagues tease me because I do that anytime I'm in in front of a crowd). Honestly, I just wanted to express how I valued the beautiful moment and that spirituality has benefited my mental wellness. 

Mindfulness meditation slows down my racing mind when I feel anxiety kicking into gear. Prayer eases my worries and uplifts me when I get a case of the blues. Gospel music takes me higher and fuels me through tough times. And it manifests the joy in my heart when I'm feeling grateful. Then there's nature. Gloriously tall trees, the smell of fresh leaves, bright flowers, quiet streams — all ground me. Being around nature reminds me that there's something greater than myself, my problems and my joys. It truly puts me in a peaceful state of awe.

The Day of Prayer was a nice start to the rest of the day. Our Empowerment Coordinator Yaffa Alter writes beautiful prayers that I think just about one from any faith can appreciate. She read the event's invocation. Her closing verse sums up what I took away from the day:

Let us unite peacefully with compassion on the whole human family; take away the controversial teachings of arrogance, divisions and hatreds. Let us not only stay alive but be alive bringing the body, mind, and heart together, having wisdom to govern among the conflicting interests and issues of our times and live life with justice, peace and harmony. ASE!  

by Allan Goldstein, Associate Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. 

Dr. Steven Hickman, Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, and I arrived at the PEERS office early. We were ready to facilitate the weeklong Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training. From the moment we walked in, it became clear that we had left our institutional, academic offices far behind in San Diego. While sitting in the waiting area's very comfortable chairs and listening to sounds of the door's chimes, we gazed at the brightly decorated walls. The atmosphere felt light and joyful. We sat with a sense of wonder and curiosity, and thought about who would walk through the door and be part of the group we would spend a week with.

 To our delight, we found the groups' dedication and commitment to the material and mindfulness-meditation practices to be huge. It is not easy to take a whole week and experience training of this kind everyday, especially when you are not familiar with the territory. In fact, it takes a leap of faith as we ask people to suspend judgment for a week and simply experience all that unfold. Some were more skeptical than others and perhaps more challenged to let go of pre-conceived notions. There were times when the atmosphere felt heavy and sad. Yet the group demonstrated a capacity to hold it all while practicing, reporting on their experiences, or mindfully listening to all that bubbled up for themselves and others.

Being trained in Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI’s) has two sides. MBI is for oneself and the population that it is intended to be brought to. We teach that in order to bring this work into a community, it has to come out of one’s own experience and mindfulness practice. It was refreshing to be with this group of community leaders at PEERS who are on the front lines helping people in Oakland and beyond.

We are thrilled that PEERS continues to hold weekly meditation sittings at their offices on Tuesday mornings at 8:30m. Several PEERS mentors, caregivers, and community activists frequently report how they bring mindfulness into their work. We continue to support them by holding a monthly conference call and helping with the coordination of professional MBSR programs. We look forward to joining the PEERS staff again, next spring, to continue watering the seeds of their mindfulness – based programs.

Maintaining wellness for me means taking care of my mind, body and soul. For my first workshop at my first Alternatives conference, I decided to get my experience started on a spiritual tip. I attended the panel "Restoring the Spirit: A Celebration of Culturally Diverse Wellness Practices from Lived Experiences."

Catherine Quinerly's presentation resonated with me. She is the community voice policy director for the Transformation Center in Roxbury, Mass. Quinerly is Puerto Rican. Her spirituality is a blend of her Pentecostal and Santeria upbringing. I am a nondenominational Christian. Although our faiths have some differences, we have similar views on living life. Quinerly presented a list of principles to the workshop she lives by which she says feed her spirituality:

• Live your joy
• Discover
• Take time for self-renewal
• Be Open
• Freedom to Explore
• Balance
• Peace
• Inner Goodness
• Forgiveness

I love these principles because they’re liberating. Quinerly referenced her love for nature when she discussed her principles of openness and taking advantage of our freedom to explore. While attending Alternatives in Anaheim, Calif., last year, she and a friend took some time to hike Laguna Canyon. She said once she reached the peak of hill, she and her friend split off, but not too far and cried. They reconvened. "I can’t believe I'm doing this," her friend told Qunierly. "I can’t believe I’m doing this," she replied.

I know that feeling. I got teary eyed years ago when I arrived to the London flat where I would spend my summer. I was finally living my joy and dream to travel overseas, and giving myself freedom to explore new cultures. And during a time of great anxiety I sought a mindfulness workshop, led by a cool Buddhist priestess, as my self-renewal tool. Everyone in the class took a solo mindful walk in a small garden. The peace my mind and soul desperately needed was truly a God send. That peace allowed me to connect to my inner goodness I had abandoned during all of the commotion in my life. Somehow the silence opened my heart to forgiving others and myself. That moment felt so good, it brought tears of joy and peace. 

Sometimes we don't know how our actions will affect others. I never actually wrote down my life's principles. Actually looking at principles on a flip chart that gave both me, and a woman I never met, balance in our lives was a blessing. Thank you Catherine. Thank you God.