Home-Based Recovery of Mental Health, Inc.
The Windhorse Journal’s mission is to inspire compassionate approaches to recovering sanity.
We do this by creating an evolving forum dedicated to exploring contemplative psychotherapy and the creation of therapeutic environments for the wellbeing of all persons involved. We envision this to be a rich dialogue among people with lived experience, family members, psychology professionals, and anyone interested in whole person-mental health and the diverse expressions of human sanity.
Dear Friends,
Welcome to today’s Journal entry, which begins with a heartfelt conversation among Windhorse Community Programs members—moderated by Chuck Knapp and JoAnn Burton—about coping with the pandemic from the perspective of the Hero’s Journey, a notion made popular by Joseph Campbell. In addition to the podcast, we’re so pleased to be offering a paper recently written by JoAnn Burton, titled, Hero’s Journey of Recovery: A New Narrative for People with Long Term Mental Health Issues. Between first-person accounts of our experiences of the “hero’s journey” in the podcast, and JoAnn’s paper, this entry presents an unusual opportunity to learn about what we know to be powerful help for those of us on a path of recovery. [Read more…]
Dear Listeners,
This week, we return to part two of the discussion published on May 16th, Lungta in the Time of Corona: Leadership During a Crisis. This recording took place on the first of May, 2020. That day I sat in my kitchen, about a month into this new “sanitized and separated” way of life, and pondered if my mountain internet was functioning enough to record a “Zoom podcast.” Nonetheless, I quickly became absorbed by this conversation that gracefully discusses the layers of vulnerability as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic: a consistent, invisible force, spreading throughout every aspect of life. This conversation exemplifies compassionate leadership—that holds space for reality while simultaneously offering seeds of hope. [Read more…]
Dear Listeners,
Community Programs is, by its very nature, a place for Windhorse clients and staff to connect, learn, and celebrate together. When COVID-19 hit our hometown of Boulder in early March, and we all dispersed to our homes to protect our physical health and that of those around us, Community Programs was called to re-invent itself. In the words of Laura Hale, Peer Support Specialist, facilitators and participants had to “find structure out of ether.” Connecting in person was no longer an option, yet the need to connect was of utmost importance. Many of our community members found the initial isolation and stay-at-home orders overwhelming and downright frightening. So, with the help of Zoom, and the flexibility and persistence of our staff and clients, Community Programs became virtual pretty much overnight. [Read more…]
Dear Friends,
It has been 8 weeks since we began responding as an organization to the threat of COVID-19, with significant alterations to how we go about our work. At that time, an already-scheduled visit and podcast recording with Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche proved to be auspicious. As a valued spiritual teacher, Rinpoche provided welcome words of inspiration and guidance on working with our worried minds while making practical decisions to ensure safety. (See Windhorse Journal entry #054 – “Taking Care in Pandemic: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s Reflections on our Mental Priorities”.) Indeed, what can be drawn upon is one’s life force—called windhorse (Tibetan: lungta) in Shambhala teachings: the unlimited energy of basic goodness and inherent wakefulness. And it’s at the heart of the following podcast discussion. [Read more…]
Dear Listeners,
We are returning to our brief series of papers and podcasts devoted to the revelatory life of Joanne Greenberg. I hope you have had the time and interest to read her text Entry #050 “Mountain Top Author”, and to listen to her podcast Entry #051 “Swimming Lessons.” Both of these posts have extensive introductions which are worth reading as they convey some of the personal impact of the open exploration which is being with Joanne.
As I listen to this final podcast, I hear a group that has matured through its process of relationship with Joanne. We have clearly grown more comfortable with each other, which helps to create the environment where Joanne and we can really shine. [Read more…]
Dear Friends,
In Joanne Greenberg’s piece “In Praise of Not Knowing” she writes that while on the one hand, she would like to know what the future holds, on the other, it would rob her of essential qualities of life.
“Not to know implies the need to learn more of what can be known, and that implies a struggle to grow and change. Not knowing is the call to courage. I admire us because of courage – the courage to wake up, wash up, dress, eat breakfast, and go out, unknowing, into what Alan Dugan, the poet, calls ‘the daily accident’. Knowing everything, we wouldn’t need seat belts, but the biggest victim of knowing would be the loss of our most prized possession: Hope.” [Read more…]
Dear Friends,
It’s again our privilege to present another podcast with Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This finds him in a conversation with Polly Banerjee Gallagher and Jack Gipple, primarily focusing on how to work with our minds and relationships in this time of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Rinpoche had been scheduled to record with us long before the various social restrictions came into play, and we found ourselves thinking how fortunate it was that he was doing these teachings at precisely this time—right when we need help with thinking about how to ride this avalanche of novel and threatening experiences. There’s so much potential for fear, confusion, and of closing one’s heart toward others—all of which is exactly what Rinpoche addresses. To say the least, these teachings are as timely as they are accurate. [Read more…]
Dear Friends,
We are pleased to continue to focus on our client Scott Klumb and his life with an autism diagnosis, which is documented in his autobiographical film. Our previous post featured a conversation between Scott and his psychotherapist, Jon Garson, prior to the March 10th release of that film. Scott spoke about how he came to be both filmmaker and subject, boosted by a serendipitous meeting with Temple Grandin, well-known for both her own autism and advocacy for others. Her advice about forging an identity beyond diagnostic labels is manifest in the film.
In this post, Scott’s current Windhorse Team Supervisor, Chuck Knapp, reflects on the growth he has observed in Scott—a result of personal determination and the willingness of a supportive team and family to ride out the bumps with him. [Read more…]
Dear Friends,
It’s a privilege to present this podcast, which displays a rare convergence of creativity with a remarkable recovery path. Scott Klumb, in dialogue with his psychotherapist Jon Garson, offers us a glimpse into his passion and creative process as a filmmaker. We also get to hear about his film, AUTISM: One Man’s Journey, which is his “coming out party” as a person with late-diagnosed autism. Now complete, this powerful film is about to premier in Denver on March 10th at the Sie Film Center, sponsored by the Autism Society of Colorado.
Adding further brilliance to this podcast is the presence of Temple Grandin, Scott’s newly found friend, whom he interviewed for the making of the film. [Read more…]
Dear Listeners,
It’s with great pleasure that we share these illuminating conversations with Joanne Greenberg. Though we’d felt a strong and warm connection with Joanne for many years, it wasn’t until the focus and depth of these recording sessions that we really started to experience her profundity. Interestingly, beyond the perspectives she shared, these far-ranging conversations appear to be taking us on an unexpected journey: one that’s inviting, positive, and affecting our creativity in an unmistakable way. Clearly, beyond what she knows, her life force is playful—and contagious.
Today’s podcast is the first of a three-part series, which we’ve titled, Swimming Lessons. Though our conversations were casual and often humorous in nature, they were set against Joanne’s personal experience of drowning in her mental illness. [Read more…]