How can we support and nurture the development of a mentally healthy community?

Session 1: 11 - 12:30
Convener: Marge Allende - mafellowship@yahoo.com

Participants: Moses Boone, Bernard Brennan, Allan Brison, Randy Domina, Sara Kirschner, Estela Lopez, Meg Rudne, Theresa Burgher, Terry Hawles, Maria Tupper, Chris Zurcher, Ethan Drozd

Discussion and recommendations:
Discussion centered on ways to bring people together in mutually supportive, interactive ways.
Recommendations were numerous, some of which are as follows:

Developing a mutual aid culture

Establish a wide variety of exercise outlets that encourage community involvement (eg. grinding grain, biking, walking, gardening, mow lawn on own steam, sports related pick-up games, etc,) and find way to list meeting times and places so people have interactive choices

Find ways to increase awareness of outdoor places of "beauty" in one's own community

Start a Walker's Club and advertise it in the Advocate

Support development of mental health services that include both Western and Eastern types of "medicine" and "treatments"

Create "healthy spaces" (ie. places where people of all ages can gather with others who are looking for safe, interesting, educational, recreational, etc. activities and/or opportunities for interaction

Develop "Discover your city" activities

Find ways to cultivate community motivation to interact

Establish "Supper clubs" for the purpose of eating and talking together

Set up "Walking tours" (to learn about own community/ nature areas/ revisit familiar places and observe changes/ nature in general)

Find ways to encourage curiosity about information nature provides (eg. knowledge about birds could replace the need for a calendar - How? Come and find out)

Share skills - Tap into community "genius"

Get the Q House opened again

Promote block parties and intergenerational gatherings (paper airplane contests, pick-up games, dances hire local bands, pot lucks)

Advertise where/when activities are happening

Decrease isolation by emphasizing the importance of relationships to others and self