Special Events Being Planned for the Fall
Serious Mental Illness Awareness Week
The first week of October is committed to increasing awareness of Serious Mental Illness. Grow a Strong Family supports the supporters who are affected by a loved one with a serious mental illness (SMI) now known as a serious brain disease (SBD). The commitment and courage that define the Supporters is unacknowledged and undermined by a system of care that consistently fails to provide relief for the individuals and their Supporters that would improve outcomes and reduce disasters. This auction is an opportunity to enable Grow a Strong Family to increase its 24/7 web-based support for the Supporters so that they receive what they need when they need it for free.
First Annual Photo Contest
Online Photo Contest
The Contest begins on September 01, 2022 at 9 AM Eastern Standard Time and ends on September 30, 2022 at 5 PM Eastern Standard Time (the “Contest Period”).
How to Enter
Online: https://gasfptp.live/contest and following the directions provided to fill out the entry information, and submit.
Limit one (1) entry per person, per email address, and per category for the duration of the Contest Period. Entries received from any person, e-mail address, or household in excess of the stated limitation will be void. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.
Prize drawing on or about Oct 10.
Grand Prize (1) – $75 + Photo Published on GASF Website with free links to artist website for 6 months
Grand Prize in each category $45 + Photo Published on GASF Website with free links to artist website for 3 months
Donations Appreciated
Offering 24/7 website access is free to all who need what Grow a Strong Family provides. Our numbers inform us that most visitors are active in the late night early morning time period. Please keep this important resource available by donating once or monthly!
Support Us as we Support Supporters
A Coach’s Thoughts on Mother’s Day
Another Milestone, Another Anniversary
Every year, there are Hallmark Holidays that we embrace as opportunities to celebrate a role that someone in our lives has filled. Sometimes, we fill that role. Mother’s Day is one of those days. It is always on the second Sunday in May. The commercial industry promotes images of mothers doing all sorts of motherly things. The images painted are of happily sacrificing women in the center of the family. Nurturers. Being appreciated and modestly accepting their due.
Many of the mothers who attend my sessions are experiencing ambivalent feelings, loss, self-love, and a more contemplative approach to this day. They are mothers who have experienced closeness, distance, connection, disconnection, illness, death, and then moving on. The coaching work involves exploring how to celebrate their roles as mothers on their own without external recognition.
Divorce, brain disorders (mental illnesses), death by suicide, and the more typical behaviors of adult children create a void which was once filled. So, what solutions do I offer?
First, understand that coaching is a partnership and one that is filled with finding solutions together. Second, I offer everyone the opportunity to mope and sulk because that can be freeing in and of itself.
Through the years, solutions include gardening, buying plants, volunteering, going out to eat with friends, camping, fishing, golfing, and other springtime activities. Some go to the cemetery to visit their mothers. Others celebrate by relishing a special dessert or treat previously shared. Many couples acknowledge the day as one of recommitment to their relationship.
Over the course of time, things change. Acknowledging the road as going from child to adult, single to mother, mother to crone or wise woman.
Embrace Mother’s Day as a day to acknowledge connections throughout your lifespan, with different levels of engagement, and enjoy the journey.
Family Life Education & Coaching
Family Life Education is the practice of equipping and empowering family members to develop knowledge and skills that enhance their well-being and strengthen their interpersonal relationships, all through an educational, preventive, and strengths-based approach.
Family Life Educators consider societal issues — parenting, relationships, economics, sexuality, and many more — within the context of the family and larger systems. They empower families themselves to apply knowledge about healthy family functioning to prevent or minimize problems.
Coaching is a short-term service designed to promote learning, improving quality of life, and supporting you in the process.
It is a “go to” service when beginning a new journey. “Now” focused. Skills based. Although coaching can be very therapeutic, it is not therapy.
The approach I take through Points to Ponder is to partner with you and develop a better understanding of the path you are now on. Together, we develop “SMART” goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based.
I offer two examples to clarify how coaching works and how it might benefit you and your situation. In one example, “Rose” was referred to me to assist her in co-parenting during a very difficult post-divorce period. Her ex was not interested in co-parenting, putting down her requests to participate in decisions, not responding to attempts to communicate, and putting their children in the middle by telling them everything their mother says, however twisted to make her look uncaring and incompetent. Rose and I agreed that co-parenting was unlikely to happen, however parallel parenting was possible and likely. The goal was to use a simple “just the facts” method of communication and to develop her own rules and responsibilities with the children during her parenting time. Over the course of 8 sessions (2 packages) with between session support (many emails!), Rose went from a sense of helplessness and frustration to one of empowerment and confidence. The additional outcome has been a sustainable family experience with the children benefiting by observing their parents and how they approach parenting differently. https://growastrongfamily.org/divorce/
The second example involves a couple, “Ted and Alice” and their 26-year-old son who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder, Bipolar 1. His behavior was increasingly alarming and scary as he was drinking, punching walls, and ignoring any requests made by his parents. He refused to take his medications, and Ted and Alice were confused, angry, and excluded from teaming with his providers. In the course of our work together, I referred them to NAMI’s Family-to-Family program as a basic course in brain disease which I followed up with various exercises and conversations to guide their understanding of their feelings and the changes in their family unit. We focused on how to communicate more effectively, how to set limits, and how to maintain their family’s well-being moving forward. They found the information from https://growastrongfamily.org/ to be particularly helpful.
What is Family Life Education Coaching?
Family Life Education is the practice of equipping and empowering family members to develop knowledge and skills that enhance their well-being and strengthen their interpersonal relationships, all through an educational, preventive, and strengths-based approach.
Family Life Educators consider societal issues — parenting, relationships, economics, sexuality, and many more — within the context of the family and larger systems. They empower families themselves to apply knowledge about healthy family functioning to prevent or minimize problems.
Coaching is a short-term service designed to promote learning, improving quality of life, and supporting you in the process.
It is a “go to” service when beginning a new journey. “Now” focused. Skills based. Although coaching can be very therapeutic, it is not therapy.
The approach I take through Points to Ponder is to partner with you and develop a better understanding of the path you are now on. Together, we develop “SMART” goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based.
I offer two examples to clarify how coaching works and how it might benefit you and your situation. In one example, “Rose” was referred to me to assist her in co-parenting during a very difficult post-divorce period. Her ex was not interested in co-parenting, putting down her requests to participate in decisions, not responding to attempts to communicate, and putting their children in the middle by telling them everything their mother says, however twisted to make her look uncaring and incompetent. Rose and I agreed that co-parenting was unlikely to happen, however parallel parenting was possible and likely. The goal was to use a simple “just the facts” method of communication and to develop her own rules and responsibilities with the children during her parenting time. Over the course of 8 sessions (2 packages) with between session support (many emails!), Rose went from a sense of helplessness and frustration to one of empowerment and confidence. The additional outcome has been a sustainable family experience with the children benefiting by observing their parents and how they approach parenting differently. https://growastrongfamily.org/divorce/
The second example involves a couple, “Ted and Alice” and their 26-year-old son who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder, Bipolar 1. His behavior was increasingly alarming and scary as he was drinking, punching walls, and ignoring any requests made by his parents. He refused to take his medications, and Ted and Alice were confused, angry, and excluded from teaming with his providers. In the course of our work together, I referred them to NAMI’s Family-to-Family program as a basic course in brain disease which I followed up with various exercises and conversations to guide their understanding of their feelings and the changes in their family unit. We focused on how to communicate more effectively, how to set limits, and how to maintain their family’s well-being moving forward. They found the information from https://growastrongfamily.org/ to be particularly helpful.
