Mental Health Peer Support Group, Bi-weekly

Moving to a new country, going through a breakup, a loss of a job, or living with mental conditions is very challenging. Yet, there’s no reason to suffer alone when one can choose to join hands with others and let the power of connection and group support heal us.

In the absence of such social support in Beijing, CandleX established an English speaking mental health peer support group in Oct 2015. It provides a safe environment for people living in Beijing to share personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings in small, confidential gatherings. This is a project provided by CandleX, an NGO in Beijing that focuses on the mental health by awareness raising on depression. This is a continuing effort to provide more support to our Beijing English speaking community.

To understand the demographics of our group members, and support results. Please read our 1st year support group review results.

Key Information

Participants: Our support groups are for people with any mental conditions ranging from depression, mania and severe anxiety. Note: The support group is especially effective for new comers who are in situations of lack of social support, or experiencing shame and guilt of having depression.

• Time: 19:30-21:00 every second and fourth Tuesday of the month

• Location: CBD in Chaoyang ( info available in our registration confirmation email)

• Language: English

• Max number: 7 people each session

• Fee: Free or donation based

• RSVP: long press to scan QR code. registration closes Monday 16:00 (or click on “read more” at the bottom of the post)
  

Content and Approach

During the meeting, the core elements are as follows:

• Share our stories and feelings, and let other help you to give you emotional support when dealing with the difficult emotions alone.

• Help each other recognize the importance of tending to and promoting our own self-care.

• The meeting is generally conducted in talking and sharing, but we offer other approaches to make sure that we feel relaxed and comfortable to share, including some guided meditation, breathing exercises, etc. There is one facilitator to throughout the workshop, monitor the progress of each session and facilitate group interactions.

Peer Group Principles

• We are all peers. There are no professionals in this group. If you are in a crisis, please seek professional immediate at the same time. We shall not be held responsible for group member’s safety.

• All information shared with the group is held confidential. We take our confidentiality very seriously. All new participants will need to register first for eligibility screening.

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CandleX’s Resources

Read  CandleX psychoeducation articles to learn essential knowledge on depression

CandleX Classroom

https://www.candlex.cn/classroom

Depression stories from our community members

CandleX Column | My Story with Depression

https://www.candlex.cn/my-story-with-depression

A CandleX’s production on Depression