Mental Health Check In

tuxielove93

We had one of these in my previous bump groups, and I always found it super helpful. But each group ran it differently, so I thought I would see what everyone was most interested in before I started one for real. 

In one group, we had a monthly thread where anyone could just pop in when they were struggling or had questions. In the other, we did a weekly check in. It was like the regular weekly check in with questions, but it was all focused on mental health. Questions like: How are you feeling mentally? What are you doing to take care of yourself/your mental health this week? Is there anything stressing you out? What is making you happy? 

What does everyone think? 

zinnia19

@tuxielove93 great idea! I think a monthly one would be fine (seems easier to keep track of, at least for me), but I am down for whatever. 

inthewoods23

Sounds great!

inthewoods23

These were the prompts we had for the mental health thread on the TTGP board that was created monthly. Not sure what format BMBs have used.

-------

Mental Health Diagnosis (if you have been) or What brings you to this thread today?:

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/TTA): ((obviously we would omit this one))

Where are you in your mental health journey? (in treatment, looking for support, on meds, in counseling, having a rough day, etc.)

How are you feeling?

--------

Another possible idea (if you listen to the Office Ladies podcast you might have heard of this) is to have a question like "how heavy is your backpack today?". That may work better for a weekly thread than a monthly one though. And I do love the idea of adding in what's making you happy or something positive that is going on to balance out the heavy stuff.

jellie603

I love this and was hoping we would start one! I'll go off the basic prompts listed above but feel free to add/change so it evolves. 

I'll kick us off because I was fairly open about what I was going through once I found my way back here.

Mental Health Diagnosis (if you have been) or What brings you to this thread today?:

Generalized anxiety, anxiety that presents as anger, depression, mild OCD. What brings me to this thread could fill a book, so I will try to keep it short. At 8 weeks when I went in for my first US I was getting small cold feet as it was. Just starting to realize that we were starting over (we have an almost 5yo) and just mourning our great routine and great sleep and ability to drop him with grandma if needed. The I find out it is twins and I start spiraling. Already mourning our current life, but now mourning the life we imagined when we were planning for only 2. Selfishly hating what this will do to my body. Knowing that I am already struggling mentally and having it effecting my parenting of my current child. A lot of feelings, worries, emotions. I couldn't get off of the couch for a few days. I told my husband I couldn't talk about it until my next appointment in 3 weeks. 

We have been through a lot in 5 years and I feel like we haven't just been able to "be". And the thought of that ever being a thing now is so far gone in my mind. 

Where are you in your mental health journey? (in treatment, looking for support, on meds, in counseling, having a rough day, etc.)

I was already seeing a therapist weekly. OB added Zoloft but I didn't take it last week. I started for a couple of days and it knocked me on my ass and I couldn't do it while traveling. 

How are you feeling? How heavy is your backpack today?

My backpack is a huge one and it has been full to the brim. Over the last week or so, it has been feeling a few percentages lighter. I have definitely accepted what is to come and that has helped a lot. I am feeling a bit better now that my Type A planning has taken over. 

What is making you happy, however big or small?

My quick work trip time away made me happy. Sometimes, honestly, you need a king-sized hotel bed with no one calling your name. And gourmet donuts and coffee on the company dime haha!