Community mental health series coming Sept. 10

The Idyllwild Forest Health Project (IFHP) and its Mountain Communities Mutual Aid (MCMA) organization, working with local therapist Robyn Winks, will be bringing a roster of local mental health professionals to Town Hall for a series of six Saturday morning adult workshops to “help community members gain healthy, updated coping skills and practices to thrive during challenging times.” The workshops will run from Sept.10 to Oct. 15.

IFHP is a local nonprofit that views the health of the forest and the well-being of mountain residents as interconnected. At the start of the pandemic, the organization launched MCMA to address local food insecurity and other basic needs facing the community. “We view the polarization that has gripped the country as symptomatic of deeper systemic issues,” commented founding board member Mark Yardas. “It’s easy to lose sight of our common ground. We’re exploring practices that bridge divides and connect folks with one another and the environment.”

Board member Mara Schoner added, “We hope the mental hygiene series will help local residents develop greater trust and capacity to listen to one another. This will go a long way in addressing the complex challenges facing our mountain communities.”

Organizer Winks is a practicing marriage and family therapist (LMFT) working in Idyllwild and Palm Desert. In addition to private practice, her career experience includes a stint as director of Inpatient Services at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, where she also conducted workshops. Her practice melds neuroscience and family systems theory with mindfulness techniques like meditation.

The emphasis of the workshop series will be on the connection between individual mental health and the health of the community, not treating illness but “mental and emotional skill building for individual and community resilience.” Winks calls the program “… a community service being offered by MCMA and Idyllwild Forest Health Project.” This year’s six weeks of Saturday workshops builds on an eight-week program she facilitated at Rainbow Inn in 2008. “We got together and realized that the health of any community is dependent on the health of the individuals. As a mental health provider on the mountain for 22 years, I see the need. People are in distress, because of the pandemic, isolation, economic changes, political strife and basic uncertainty. Instead of trying to treat one person at a time, we are getting people together in a community environment to talk about tools for mental hygiene.”

“Mental hygiene” is not a new concept. At the end of the 19th century, doctors began to use the phrase to denote the connection between individual and community health. The early public health-minded physicians envisioned community institutions organized to meet the needs of people and foster mental health; community responses to recognize community needs. Modern use continues this interest in social structures, but also emphasizes personal psychological self-awareness.

Winks said, “We take care of our basic hygiene; we brush our teeth, we take a shower, but we forget about taking care of our minds, knowing our thoughts and feelings and being able to work with them and see when they are causing us pain, and working with it instead of being at its mercy. Because of years of brain research, we have very specific knowledge and tools that can help us build resilience.

The workshops at Town Hall will have one exception, the Sept. 24 session, which be at the Butterfield Amphitheater. Each week will deal with different issues, and the organizers hope participants will attend all six.

The first workshop, Sept. 10, and conducted by Winks herself, will be longer and will cover four topics: “Taming the ‘Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn’ Response: Gaining Tools to Manage Overwhelming Stress, Emotions and Defensiveness”; “Understanding Early Trauma and Its Effects on How We Experience Our Current Life Circumstances”; “Intimacy Training and Increasing Our Capacity for Self-Knowledge, Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion”; and “The Journey to a Sense of Belonging.”

The Sept. 17 program, with Nancy Waite-O’Brien, Ph.D., SEP, is titled “A Look at Common Assumptions That Can Make Us Unhappy: Exploring Ways to Manage Uncomfortable Feelings.”

Sept. 24 (in the Butterfield Amphitheater), Cindy Brooks,(((APPEND)))LMFT, SEP, will cover two topics: “Live Like a Mountain: Reconnect with Self, Reconnect with Others, Reconnect with the Natural Environment”; and “Experiencing Grief as a Natural Process.”

Oct. 1, Cara Wilkerson, LMFT, will present “Depression and Anxiety in Childhood, Adolescence and Adulthood: Effects on Relationships with Self, Others and Community.”

Oct. 8, Kent Weishaus, LCSW, will present “Feel Like You Need a Referee for the Committee in Your Head? Inner Conflicts and Critics are Normal and can be Harmonized with Good Tools! Find Peace in the Storm.”

The final session on Oct. 15 will be a panel discussion Winks will lead.

Winks sums up the challenges the workshops will address and the solutions offered: “The changes and the stress in the world aren’t stopping anytime soon; life is going to necessitate brushing our teeth and working with our minds, knowing what our minds are doing, on a daily, hourly basis. We are social animals, we survive because we gather and cooperate and this is also how we heal, together. Strong individuals make up a strong community.”

Dr. Tima Ivanova will facilitate a concurrent Experiential Children’s Program for ages 6 to 18. The cost for the programs will be $15 per workshop, but there will be a “sliding scale” and no one will be turned away. Donations are appreciated. Parents and guardians wishing to bring youngsters should contact her by email at [email protected].

Participation will be limited to 30 for each workshop, and 20 children. Although several of the speakers are licensed equine therapists, no ponies will appear at this set of workshops. All workshops are from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., except the first session, which will run to 1:30 p.m.

To reserve a seat, register in advance at www.idyllwise.org/mental-hygiene. For general information, call (951) 468-0110 or email [email protected].

For more information about the adult program, email Winks at [email protected].

These workshops are not intended as a substitute for psychotherapy or professional mental health treatment. If you’re having a mental health emergency, please call 911 or Riverside HELPline (951) 686-4357.