When I read that NEAFAST is organizing a peer support group online, I was intrigued and excited. I thought, "This is exactly what I need at this moment."
My experience through the years with different support groups, both in the US and overseas, was positive and enriching. It helped further my clinical learning, combat professional isolation, and make friends. I could write on and on about how beneficial, on so many levels, peer support groups are, and also how challenging they can be to sustain.
The difference now is that we and our clients are socially isolated, therefore bringing new and different content and processes to our group discussion. During our initial meeting on Friday, May 1, I learned once again how supportive it can be talking to other professionals with similar experiences about what is happening in our world.
After the meeting, I felt lighter and more energized. Just discussing self-care for therapists working in isolation helped motivate me to try different ways of doing things in my personal life.
The NEAFAST Peer Support Group will meet every other Friday from 12-1:30 on Zoom for the foreseeable future. I look forward to the next meeting on May 15, and hope to see a lot of new faces. I am curious to see what will come out of our next encounter. I love to be part of building a community and professional network.
Malgorzata Frajnt Zielinska is a marriage and family therapist who has experience working in Poland and England, and currently works in Arlington.
Image by Clay Banks via Unsplash