Unquiet Minds

          The Main Place has been promoting recovery and wellbeing for over 25 years. During that time our mission has always included: “By coming to together we are building better lives for ourselves”. In coming together we have learned about each other and our recovery journeys. Whether it has been seeking to over the impact of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, panic and anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma, etc…the common element to our recovery has been to learn to come to terms with unquiet minds.

Many of us have sought to achieve recovery and well-being that minimizes the use of med/somatic services. While we acknowledge the importance of treatment in our recovery journey, the process of coming to terms with our unquiet minds has been in large part a deeply personal, self-directed process. Along the way we have found certain things to be true:

1. Working a recovery plan is essential to getting and staying as well as possible.
2. Part of that plan should include what one does on a daily basis to maintain recovery and wellbeing, (a daily maintenance plan).
3. Many of us can point to a persons or persons who were instrumental in helping to navigate the journey.
4. Adopting a program that depends on principles and not personalities, and doesn’t require you ‘reinvent the wheel’, can be very helpful.
5. Getting and staying connected to a group of people who are working on their recovery increases the likelihood that we will recover.
6. Recovery makes possible whatever progress we make. Without recovery our progress in not sustainable.

Members of The Main Place have found numerous things helpful in learning to live with their unquiet minds. Some of these have included, finding someone who will listen and cares, prayer, meditation and/or relaxation, affirmation and positive self-talk, limiting the time you allow yourself to obsess, avoiding people, places and things that are not good for your recovery, learning impulse control, planfulness and responsibility, going to recovery groups and meetings, staying busy, spending time with your pets, listening to church music, and keeping a journal and reading it periodically to see how your thinking has changed.

Peer Support promotes recovery and well-being! At The Main Place we have implemented evidence-based programs like, WRAP, BRIDGES, Wellness-Management and Recovery and Get Connected recognizing that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’. We look forward to hearing from others about what works for them and hope that sharing ours provides hope and help with yours.