The North Star, Polaris, has been a vital guiding light for celestial navigation since humans in the northern hemisphere started journeying to find new horizons. I consider NorthStar to be a terrestrial analogue for its members, telling us where we were, where we are and guiding us in our journey of recovery. It has been about 6 months since I first went into the NorthStar office. During this time, I have expressed appreciation to staff and other members about how the NorthStar experience has given me the opportunity to feel like a meaningful participant while contributing to a worthwhile organization.
I am grateful for the opportunity to describe my personal experience and hope that I am up to the task of explaining why an organization such as NorhStar is so vital to the lives of many like me who have first-hand experience with mental health anomalies. Also, I am interested in describing my NorthStar experience in the hopes that others may benefit and even be motivated to learn more about NorthStar.
Participation in NorthStar has provided me with an opportunity to participate in a productive group, and to make personal commitments to the organization that I cannot so easily blow off because of a negative mood swing. Although I hate to openly admit it, the “strength-based” approach at NorthStar emphasizes that I might possibly have skills and talents that are useful to others. After losing my identity as a gainfully employed person several years ago, and forsaking much of the social network that accompanies employment, I had many doubts that I could provide any value to a group outside of my family which only strengthened my life-long partnership with poor self-image and low self-esteem.
I’ve had the privilege of contributing to the organization by helping other members to update their resumes and resolve computer related issues. I’ve become an active participant in setting up the new NorthStar website, and updating NorthStar online calendar of events. I had the opportunity to create some 3d computer generated visualizations of the new office, and to even participate in the creation of the NorthStar logo. I’ve even had the opportunity to improve my physical fitness by helping to move tables and chairs to the NAMI picnic and to move the contributed furniture to the new office from the Archdiocese of Portland. In this way, it is a truly holistic approach to promoting wellness in the midst of recovery!
Let me not mislead you that motivating myself for each one of these activities was not fraught with anxiety and self-doubt that has accompanied participation in many activities for me. However, it is the hope that I am making a positive contribution that benefits the NorthStar organization and its members that eventually generates the fortitude within me to overcome my anxiety, discomfort and self-inflicted disillusionment and to show up at the office. As those of us with anxiety and depression related afflictions are well aware, it is overcoming the inertia of starting a task that is often the most difficult.
Coming to NorthStar also gives me opportunities for casual conversations and social interaction. It provides that coffee machine or water cooler space that many of us do not have without a NorthStar. I have the opportunity to meet and interact with people outside of my family and limited social sphere. In fact, I learned that one peer was a 6th grade classmate, that another was a student of my wife’s uncle, and that even another’s husband was our family’s foreign exchange student’s drumming instructor.
I have gained new insight into how others deal with life’s tribulations and anxieties, and I have also been humbled and truly awed by the resilience of other members who come to NorthStar amidst struggles that I cannot even imagine and am convinced I could not endure.
On a more personal level, I have a place to ride my bike to as well as a time-efficient way to get the vigorous physical exertion that is a great help for my mental wellness. Though not directly involved with NorthStar, the inspiration that arises from my NorthStar experience has even reinvigorated my commitment to refereeing youth soccer and maintaining my involvement with the soccer world since I no longer can provide unsolicited match analyses to my own kids.
Speaking of wellness, an informed and considerate member has arranged a weekly meeting to learn about the elements of wellness and how one might apply them to one’s own life. In this same class, I learned about the concept of “radical acceptance” from another participant. Such is an example of the depth of talent that on a daily basis inhabits NorthStar.
When the opportunity to prepare a description of my NorthStar experience arose, I had serious reservations that I could adequately describe my NorthStar experience. The encouragement and positive energy that accompany being a member of NorthStar spurred me to overcome my anxiety and reluctance in the hopes that hearing about my experience might be useful in understanding the value of NorthStar.
At NorthStar we help each other by contributing our experiences and skills to the work of the clubhouse. But we also help each other by sharing our expertise regarding our first hand-experience of how to deal with the effects of mental health anomalies on one’s life. When it comes to living with those effects, you’re dealing with the experts here. NorthStar provides a venue where each member can contribute and participate to their capacity, and also reap the benefits of participation as befits their unique needs and interests. NorthStar exemplifies and is an embodiment of the ten elements of recovery that I learned about in my peer support course. Compassionate interaction happens for real here.
If I were to express one major criticism of the NorthStar-type clubhouse model, it is that there are not more NorthStars and that potential members and the broader community are not awareness of our presence, mission and benefit. If my personal experience and what I have observed among other members is any indication, our world could only benefit from more NorthStars.
Thanks to our many supporters and the inspired efforts of staff, volunteers and members, all of this happens with no out of pocket cost to the member. This is a wonderfully novel and effective approach to promoting wellness for those with mental illness experience.
Although wellness, happiness and a sense of belonging may be difficult to quantify, if one were to systematically assess the cost to benefit ratio of NorthStar, I think that it would be hard to deny the positive impact that NorthStar has for its members and the broader community.
I am grateful for the opportunity to describe my personal experience and hope that I am up to the task of explaining why an organization such as NorhStar is so vital to the lives of many like me who have first-hand experience with mental health anomalies. Also, I am interested in describing my NorthStar experience in the hopes that others may benefit and even be motivated to learn more about NorthStar.
Participation in NorthStar has provided me with an opportunity to participate in a productive group, and to make personal commitments to the organization that I cannot so easily blow off because of a negative mood swing. Although I hate to openly admit it, the “strength-based” approach at NorthStar emphasizes that I might possibly have skills and talents that are useful to others. After losing my identity as a gainfully employed person several years ago, and forsaking much of the social network that accompanies employment, I had many doubts that I could provide any value to a group outside of my family which only strengthened my life-long partnership with poor self-image and low self-esteem.
I’ve had the privilege of contributing to the organization by helping other members to update their resumes and resolve computer related issues. I’ve become an active participant in setting up the new NorthStar website, and updating NorthStar online calendar of events. I had the opportunity to create some 3d computer generated visualizations of the new office, and to even participate in the creation of the NorthStar logo. I’ve even had the opportunity to improve my physical fitness by helping to move tables and chairs to the NAMI picnic and to move the contributed furniture to the new office from the Archdiocese of Portland. In this way, it is a truly holistic approach to promoting wellness in the midst of recovery!
Let me not mislead you that motivating myself for each one of these activities was not fraught with anxiety and self-doubt that has accompanied participation in many activities for me. However, it is the hope that I am making a positive contribution that benefits the NorthStar organization and its members that eventually generates the fortitude within me to overcome my anxiety, discomfort and self-inflicted disillusionment and to show up at the office. As those of us with anxiety and depression related afflictions are well aware, it is overcoming the inertia of starting a task that is often the most difficult.
Coming to NorthStar also gives me opportunities for casual conversations and social interaction. It provides that coffee machine or water cooler space that many of us do not have without a NorthStar. I have the opportunity to meet and interact with people outside of my family and limited social sphere. In fact, I learned that one peer was a 6th grade classmate, that another was a student of my wife’s uncle, and that even another’s husband was our family’s foreign exchange student’s drumming instructor.
I have gained new insight into how others deal with life’s tribulations and anxieties, and I have also been humbled and truly awed by the resilience of other members who come to NorthStar amidst struggles that I cannot even imagine and am convinced I could not endure.
On a more personal level, I have a place to ride my bike to as well as a time-efficient way to get the vigorous physical exertion that is a great help for my mental wellness. Though not directly involved with NorthStar, the inspiration that arises from my NorthStar experience has even reinvigorated my commitment to refereeing youth soccer and maintaining my involvement with the soccer world since I no longer can provide unsolicited match analyses to my own kids.
Speaking of wellness, an informed and considerate member has arranged a weekly meeting to learn about the elements of wellness and how one might apply them to one’s own life. In this same class, I learned about the concept of “radical acceptance” from another participant. Such is an example of the depth of talent that on a daily basis inhabits NorthStar.
When the opportunity to prepare a description of my NorthStar experience arose, I had serious reservations that I could adequately describe my NorthStar experience. The encouragement and positive energy that accompany being a member of NorthStar spurred me to overcome my anxiety and reluctance in the hopes that hearing about my experience might be useful in understanding the value of NorthStar.
At NorthStar we help each other by contributing our experiences and skills to the work of the clubhouse. But we also help each other by sharing our expertise regarding our first hand-experience of how to deal with the effects of mental health anomalies on one’s life. When it comes to living with those effects, you’re dealing with the experts here. NorthStar provides a venue where each member can contribute and participate to their capacity, and also reap the benefits of participation as befits their unique needs and interests. NorthStar exemplifies and is an embodiment of the ten elements of recovery that I learned about in my peer support course. Compassionate interaction happens for real here.
If I were to express one major criticism of the NorthStar-type clubhouse model, it is that there are not more NorthStars and that potential members and the broader community are not awareness of our presence, mission and benefit. If my personal experience and what I have observed among other members is any indication, our world could only benefit from more NorthStars.
Thanks to our many supporters and the inspired efforts of staff, volunteers and members, all of this happens with no out of pocket cost to the member. This is a wonderfully novel and effective approach to promoting wellness for those with mental illness experience.
Although wellness, happiness and a sense of belonging may be difficult to quantify, if one were to systematically assess the cost to benefit ratio of NorthStar, I think that it would be hard to deny the positive impact that NorthStar has for its members and the broader community.
