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Welcome to the Find the Light
Online
Support Group. The mission of this website is to provide
online
peer support for adults that are suffering
from mental illnesses such as anxiety, mood disorders
(bipolar, depressive disorders). We offer information and
links to other addiction/substance abuse groups now and no
longer have a major focus within the group on addictions.
If you need referrals for addictions please see our
resources below.
With that in mind, addictions and substance abuse (or any
maladaptive behavior such as stress eating, shopping, etc,
where we are looking OUTSIDE ourselves for relief) are
simply manifestations of deep underlying issues. Most people
with substance abuse or addictions also have some kind of
underlying mental illness. Many times we find we try to
"self-medicate" with these behaviors.
Find the Light provides accurate, credible information relating to various mental health issues.
We also welcome
caregivers and/or parents
of children and adults with these crippling disorders. There
is a strong connection between good mental and physical
health (mind/body). We offer tips and support for those that
are suffering from both. We all have been there and
understand. We encourage you to try our support group. It
can be life changing. Here are a few testimonies:
Stories from the heart.
Enter Support Group Here
Here is a wonderful testimony from a long-time member of
Find the Light. Name withheld for anonymity.
Testimonial for Find the Light
When I was diagnosed with bipolar, my world suddenly made
sense, and simultaneously I suddenly felt very, very lonely.
I had no one to talk with about my condition but my doctor.
Neither family nor friends had a basis for understanding my
experience and day-to-day struggle. My doctor and I decided
that I needed to be part of a bipolar support group, in a
safe environment with people who were going through the same
experiences.
I searched for a support group within driving distance, but
there were none. None of the major national organizations
for mental health and bipolar – the National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Depression and Bipolar Support
Alliance (DBSA) – had meetings in my area. The area
hospitals were equally bereft of support for people with
bipolar – although they had support for other mental
illnesses. It is a kind of hell when there is no one in your
life to whom you can talk about what you go through every
day; how vigilant you have to be to make it to the next.
The only place I'd not looked was online, but I was
skeptical given the stories I'd heard about squatters who
monopolized the chat forums. But, at that point I was
desperate. So I searched on Google for ‘bipolar support
group’, and the first organization that popped up was Find
the Light (FTL).
I liked the home page. It felt right. It was clear that this
was not sponsored by an organization that had an agenda, nor
was it sponsored by folks who simply wanted to brag and
gripe about how tough and crazy their lives were. It felt
like the people inside would know what I was talking about;
they would understand my language. So I signed up, and six
years later I'm still a member.
FTL quickly became an integral part of my journey to
stability. As I've gone through life-changing experiences,
the members of FTL have been right there with me, giving me
guidance, council, and support. In time, I became stable
enough to give back in kind: a blessing; a first.
As with any community, there is a core group who sustain the
energy continuity of the larger group, around which others
come and go. After an initial, intense period of a few
years, I've come and gone a few times, becoming one of many
'second tier' core members who keep coming back and
re-connecting with the core group and each other. No matter
how long I am away (not long), I always need to return and
visit my online family, share my experiences, and provide
support for other members as they share theirs. And each
time I return, I am glad, and give thanks for the good
fortune (and great SEO* strategy!) that led me to FTL.
*SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization
NEW-Mindfulness
for Stress and Anxiety page has been added. Mindfulness has greatly reduced my
personal stress, chronic pain, and anxiety levels to almost
nothing. Learn how you can also. Read on for further
resources and information on stress, anxiety, and our
support group.
If you are currently suffering from stress and anxiety I
suggest the article located on
MSNBC. Find the Light is mentioned in the
article, "Why Are Anxiety Disorders for Women
on the Rise?". It was originated by Glamour
writer, Shaun
Dreisbach in
the September issue with a Cover Story, "The Female
Stress Crisis, Solved!", as part of a holistic
(well-rounded) approach to managing stress and
anxiety.
Come see
for yourself how an online support group can be
of benefit to you and give support for this type
of holistic lifestyle. Just enter our online support group
by clicking the link below to get the sign up
process started!
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If you are in need of talking with others with the same
illnesses, every day challenges, parenting, anything, you
will enjoy our group. It is a relaxing atmosphere of
positive support. There is a give and take nature about
groups that becomes helpful for all involved. would
like some advice and good ideas on managing your illness why
not give online peer support a try? The value is tremendous when one thinks about the
convenience of accessing the group from a convenient place. Additionally, it has also been found
helpful to reach out to others in their time of need. The
free exchange, the mutual giving and receiving of support, is
the essence of any peer support group.
Which Online Support
Group?
So, perhaps you have decided to try
an
online support group
and found your way here to Find the Light. Chances are you
were referred by word of mouth, or any of the above
mentioned professionals, or, you found our private group via the search engines (Google,
MSN, etc). Regardless of the keywords used (depression
support group,
anxiety support,
bipolar support, etc),
chances are also good that you found many results for these
keywords and wondered to yourself
which online support group to choose. In my opinion that has to be a personal
choice. You will have different needs than others. Some
groups are very large and
vast, with many members, and heavily moderated (monitored),
and can be very busy. Some are smaller to mid-size. Any
credible website that has an online support group will have
contact information for you to ask any questions you may
have.
I will say, that without a doubt, this group, is one of the
most private and close-knit. What this would mean to you is that none of the messages created within the
private forum will be seen in ANY search engine. (Enter
the FTL
Online Support Forum/Group Here).
In addition to privacy, Find the Light continues to strive
to be one of the best on the net for support.
Find the Light Online Support
Group provides a small screening
process for your protection and
privacy. Unless you are an accepted member you will gain
access to the other part of this website, which is the
online peer support group. The general public cannot access
the group, thus cannot see your username or messages. It is an
anonymous (you may choose any username), special, close-knit group that allows the
free exchange of feelings, moods, happenings, and thoughts
without judgment. On a final note about selecting a group
online, you will find that with some online support groups, if not many,
your messages can be seen in Google and aren't private.
If you don't want your messages to be made public then I
would suggest giving us a try, or be diligent in your search
for the best group that may be a fit for you. It may take a couple of
groups to
figure it out, but it certainly is
worth it to find that fit for yourself. Here are some of our
Find the Light member testimonials.
If you have direct questions please don't hesitate to
contact me. If you care to
find out more about Find the Light and want to join, please,
read on. Thanks for your interest!
Why Online Support?
Find the Light
Online Support Group is pioneer in the field of online
mental health. Launched in 2003, it was one of the very
first to not only show up on the net but to maintain it's
position in rankings, popularity, and credibility. The site
is upheld to the
highest personal and professional standards. For more on me,
please click
here, There are many theories
in psychology that purport effective techniques for treating
mental illnesses. If you suspect you have
anxiety or one of the
mood disorders please take
the time to look around the site for some education. If you
are indulging in a little too much of alcohol or drugs, even food
or nicotine, please, I URGE you, to do educate yourself and
find a local
AA or
Celebrate Recovery
(Christ-Centered) group in your area. Healthy
recovery is possible. Next, I
strongly encourage you to seek professional help if at all
possible. If you currently are suicidal please dial 911
immediately or call the
National Suicide Prevention Hotline
(in the US). We are not equipped to handle suicidal
ideations in the group. Remember, education is the key
to empowerment. There is also a slow shift in thinking
away from dependency on the medical field towards
personal responsibility and prevention. We can be a great
first step!
Paradigm Shift
There is a paradigm shift in process as we speak in the health
field, primarily medical. Instead of treating various
illness of the body (let's take chronic pain or cancer for
example) as separate from the mind, astute (in my
opinion) practitioners are realizing that the mind and body
are one. We simply cannot attempt to treat a physical
illness only with medicine. Our thoughts,
environment, social situations, etc, all play a part in
whether or not we suffer needlessly. Our DIET plays a huge
part in how we are feeling both mentally and physically.
Chronic stress leads to deadly, not to mention, extremely
debilitating illnesses spiritually, physically, emotionally,
and socially. When we reach the point of no control and are
spiraling we are left wondering where in the world to start.
In my experience it had to start with this paradigm. This new paradigm is
based in part on the "Bio-psycho-social
Model"*, coined by
psychiatrist, George Engel, in 1977. 1977! I have suffered for
nearly fifteen years from almost daily pain in my head and
neck. Not only that, I was living in fear my whole life,
which led to substance abuse to mask the pain of the
terrible anxiety I felt. No fun! Anyway, as you can imagine, it
isn't exactly mainstream in medicine yet, for various
reasons that I will not go into here. If you would like to
read more about how to get out of the spiral of anything
that has your life out of control,
Mindfulness
can be a
wonderful start.
The point
is that FTL (Find the Light) is part of this "social" component.
In line with the consensus statement mentioned below, and
this bio-psycho-social model, socialization, and most particularly,
online support, can be very
therapeutic for many of us. The beautiful thing about
gaining support from those that know
and understand what you are going through, is that it opens doorways to
greater health in many ways. Group peer support is invaluable as a supplement for therapy.
It is not
meant to be a substitute for therapy or medication.
The
consensus statement unveiled by SAMHSA has
revealed that peer support is essential to recovery of
mental illness. If you are suffering from these disorders
(or any other) welcome
to
Find the Light! I am quite
sure you will find comfort, solace, and the very important
support that you want and need. Please visit and sign up for the
online support group!
(For more info on healing with the new paradigm, please
visit
Jon Kabat-Zinn's website on
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction)
We also have our own page on
Mindfulness here. It is
based on
Jon Kabat-Zinn's program
and ground-breaking book,
"The Full Catastrophe Living". It changed my life!
*Lakhan, S. (2006, August 3). The Biopsychosocial Model of
Health and Illness. Retrieved from the Connexions Web site:
http://cnx.org/content/m13589/1.2/
Are you contemplating
SUICIDE? If so, please call 1-800-784-2433 in the US.
Click here to download a
free e-book on suicide. If you are a teen, please call
1-877-YOUTHLINE (968-8454)
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are typically
classified and identified by a person's mood. For instance,
Major Depression is probably the most common mood disorder
but
Bipolar I is also common. With
Major Depression, the
primary symptoms are very low mood, lack of sleep or too
much sleep, appetite changes, suicidal ideations, loss of
interest and pleasure. Most of us experience depressing
times when we experience a loss or something devastating. We
usually move past these things by working through and
resolving our grief, and time passing. It is when someone
becomes depressed for no apparent reason and/or when
depression lasts longer than two weeks. For an official
diagnosis of Major Depression, certain criteria must be
present. These are noted in the DSM-IV, the manual that all
mental health professionals reference for assessment and
diagnosis. People with depression simply can't "just snap
out of it".
Anxiety
Anxiety is an
emotional state in
which leads us to feel uneasy, apprehensive, or fearful. People
usually experience anxiety about events they cannot control
or predict, or about events that seem threatening or
dangerous. Various types of anxiety disorders are as
follows:
Though this site should
NOT be substituted for professional help, I think it is very
important to have social support when someone is suffering
from these disorders.
Click here for member testimonials.
If you are hurting please find someone to talk
with-maybe a pastor, friend, parent, 12 Step group,
counselor, etc. If you don't have anyone give our support
group a try. Click
here for access. The loneliness and isolation is so terribly
self-destructing that if you don't reach out for help you
could suffer greatly. This is that serious!
So please enjoy this site
for any information you may need and for all of the support
and care you desire. Hope to see you in the group.
Tristine Barry, MS, CTT+
Founder
memberservices@findthelight.net
Related Links
CELEBRATE RECOVERY!
Christ-Centered Recovery Program for ALL!
AA 12 Step Program for Alcoholics
Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
Online Support for the
Recovery Community
Addiction Resources and
Information
Suicide Information
Online Therapy at Psychcafe
Mental Health Foundation of the
UK-Great Resource!
Center for Therapy and
Stress Management-Tampa Bay Area
Need a hotline? Click here!
If you are feeling suicidal please
call
1-800-273-TALK
Youth: 1-877-YOUTHLINE (968-8454)
National Institute of Mental Health's Anxiety
Hotline-
1-888-826-9438
National Drug and
Alcohol Abuse Referrals: (800) 662-HELP (4357) (English and
Español)
(800) 487-4889 (TDD)
*********
Last Update: November 14, 2011
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