mental illness

April 6^th & 8th 2011      

Blog #31 Confessions and dreams of a middle age woman  

 Dear Tania

Life has quickly turned a corner and we are on the merry go round again. Practices,  church, family and now mental health course that everyone in the family is doing to support Elijah. Hopefully we shall learn more about how to support him and yet how to hold him accountable. I’m so proud of Hannah & Barry, Kostin & Abby, my sister Meghan &  Aunty Carol. They could have said.. not interested or busy or after 8 hours of work..no thanks.. but instead they have greeted this with loving enthusiasm. How cool is that… to have that much support. Of course I’m not sure if Elijah realizes the support his family is giving him, but that is part of the prayer I am praying for him. That his awareness and compassion of others would increase and that he would be more concerned about their needs than always his own!

                  Ok.. this is now Friday (the above started on Tuesday)… I have been to the mental Health Course and thought I would share some info with you… It is an amazing course and it is free! Wow. Ok, so it is sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association. It should be available in Victoria.. It is there Education course. Again, after 1 week I can tell you it is a good course thus far. So some of things I learned about Mental Health…

   It affects 1 in 5 Canadians at one point in their life.

There are 10 Major Life Areas

- Family     -  Emotional    - Work        - Health             - Spiritual      - Finances        - Friends       - Personal Relationships         - Legal      - Leisure   

When 1 areas becomes out of balance it affects all the areas.. (common sense)

When trying to define Mental Illness it breaks down to this >  A SEVERE PATTERN…. An imbalance that is seen in one area or more that affects all the areas.

Our homework is to look at all our areas.. reflect… and write down all of our problems…  ugh!  Then come up with 3 Global goals to work on and achieve by week 8. And come up with weekly goals that work towards attaining that global goal. And 1 of those goals has to be a self care goal… I hate those the most!

Sooooooo…….  Lots to think about! This is a real hard thing for me Tania. You do it so well, it’s almost ‘natural’ but I do it so badly! I don’t even know where to start…  Setting goals for other things.. easy..myself..hard. Hey, maybe that’s a mental health disorder…lol… ;)

                                            So because I need to do this I am going to Blog you my answers because I need that accountability by Sunday. I am going to work on it today and give it to you by Sunday. My class is on Tuesday. Keep me in a prayer..because I seriously need help and inspiration.

Blessings