Helping others by emphasizing their strengths and talents
emphasis on the strengths and talents of the person who suffers a mental disorder
A conversation between Pura Sobriedad and Recupero Seguro could go something like this.
Recupero starts the conversation.
-I have no idea why my therapist only asks me about my symptoms, about how I feel, about my medications and whether I am attending therapy sessions.
-Well, that is the usual or traditional way to find out if you are better or not. Do not dwelve on that much. It will not serve you well.
-I wish she would ask me about how my music class is going. I have learned a lot on the piano and that fills me with joy. I also enjoy helping others who feel depressed.
-It will be a matter of time. Just tell your therapist about your music...also about the poems that you are writing. I read the last one about how children think about their parents and I liked it a lot.
Next session tell your therapist you do more than suffer symptoms.
(Pura has been a supportive person to many people with mental disorders at least since 1994 when I discovered her working as a volunteer in the alcoholism clinic. She has continued to help and has learned much about other models of suffering like bipolar illness and post traumatic stress disorder. Recupero is a patient in a large healthcare system. Recupero is not his real name but a pseudonym. Such is Pura Sobriedad too. Recupero is now an employee whose job is to provide support through his own example to other people to suffer mental disorders. He has been doing a great job according to the director of the peer support training program).
