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 Readers,
Welcome to Part Two of our Hero’s Journey podcast, where we delve into the different stages of the journey, such as the call, refusal of the call, meeting mentors and allies, befriending the dragon, and bringing back the elixir. One of the most vital aspect of these classes is that students are encouraged to define their journey in their own terms—which may or may not involve the medical model. During the course of a Hero’s Journey class, a shared humanity emerges between clients and staff—as both realize that they are “more human than otherwise,” and are capable of traveling the journey with deep courage and dignity. Students reflect on their lives, often moving from narratives of failure and desperation to feelings of worth and connectedness. Self-compassion emerges as the most potent tool to befriend our dragons.
If we take just a bit of time to contemplate our varied experiences of love, we’ll notice that this seemingly simple and attractive notion is actually a highly complex spectrum of phenomena. I’m currently preparing a conference presentation on love, and it’s such a subjective, profound, and vast topic that it’s not at all easy to wrap my mind around where and how to jump in. However, what is not confusing is the way Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche talks about love. And importantly, he speaks to how we can discern and cultivate experiences of love that lead away from confusion, toward more happiness and harmony in our world.
The beauty of these teachings is that they not only help us as individuals, but given the increasing interconnectedness of our world, they will be of benefit for our relationships, communities, and for the world as a whole. As he so clearly points out, at this time in our history, the need to do all we can for humankind at all levels cannot be overstated.
Dear Readers,
You’re in for a real treat with this week’s offering. What follows is a selection from the Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s new book, Training In Tenderness. This is one of those rare dharma gems that speaks from the deepest roots of human sanity and intelligence, while being accessible and immediately applicable to our day-to-day lives. Considering the difficulty of finding reference points of clarity amidst the powerful and often conflicting torrents of our daily experiences, not to mention within our social and political environments, these teachings could not be more timely.
Please note that today’s offering is a prelude for part one of a podcast that Rinpoche recorded with us, which will be published on July 20th.
Thank you for joining us, and we hope you find Rinpoche’s words as uplifting and beneficial as we do.
Happy Reading,
Chuck Knapp [Read more…]
This is part one of a series.
Be sure to listen to Podcast below named “Samantha’s Song”
There is strong research pointing to the effectiveness of meaningful activity, employment and social involvement inthe recovery process of people with mental health challenges,and these aspects can be addressed and fostered within the Home-based services at Windhorse Community Services (WCS)as part of the Recovery Plan. In recent years, and in response to the wishes of families and clients, Community Programs (CP) was created to offer structured programs that enhance social opportunities amongst the Windhorse larger community and provide more formalized supported employment and educational services. Community Programs, with its philosophy and practices evolving from Psychiatric Rehabilitation, was initially seen as a deviation from the traditional Home-based services at the core of the Windhorse Model of treatment. In exploring the relationship between Home-based services and CP,one gains a deeper understanding and appreciation of the similarities in their theoretical foundations within their diverse therapeutic environments and approaches (see Diagram #2) . Over the years, CP has evolved into a hybrid, more fluid program, fusing together elements of Psychiatric Rehabilitation (PR), the Windhorse therapeutic approach—which has its foundations in the research and writings of Dr. Ed Podvoll and Chogyam Trungpa—and the personal supportive counseling styles of each CP staff member. [Read more…]
Chuck, Ken, Deborah, Marta, Alan
This is part one of a series.
Dear Friends,
Our last entry featured an excerpt from Dr. Ken Pargament’s book, Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy. Dr. Pargament was the featured presenter at a conference organized by the Interfaith Network On Mental Illness, held May 16 – 18 in Boulder, titled Sacred Matters: Spirituality as a Vital Resource for Resilience, Health, and Well-Being. This week our podcast is of a lively dialogue recorded just prior to that conference, and includes Dr. Pargament, Windhorse Senior Clinician Marta Aarli, Rabbi Deborah, and Reverend Alan Johnson.