Support over Christmas period for WP members?

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As Christmas draws nearer, I find myself thinking more and more about the fact that this is a very hard time of the year for anyone who is suffering from anguish of any kind. The sense of isolation from others is often at is most intense, and suicidal feelings peak over the Christmas/New Year period. I am concerned about the members here who will find this brings them to crisis point.

For the rest of the year, people in crisis seek contact in The Haven, on a one to one basis, which is great. I'm wondering whether there will be so many of these OPs seeking crisis support during the crazy season that their concerns will be largely unmet as the overload can get too hard to keep up for people who want to offer support.

So I would like to float an idea here, in the General Forum: members who are in a generally good space and who are interested in offering support over this period could register on a stickied thread (and maybe a roster of availability). The thread could have a "twin" thread for people seeking immediate support online, which supporters could check regularly.

If this is a good idea - should those threads be in the Haven or here? Who can set up stickied threads? Or do you have other thoughts or suggestions? If set up, the threads probably need to be prominent and easily accessible. Also the stickies should include a list of crisis support services, online numbers etc.

Thoughts? Improvements you could suggest to these basic brainstorm ideas??

Yep....I think support is needed.

A woman has barricaded herself next door to me. She's having a psychotic episode. Three cop cars, an ambulance, and a utility truck were called. The cops might kick in the door--they're negotiating.

Support is needed during this stressful holiday season.

PS: The above is no lie. I'm not out there because those neighbors are total strangers to me.

The woman was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. As far as I know, nobody was hurt.

Well, I could use some support. I'm on my own. My only family is my elderly mother who lives in a senior's building. It can't be over soon enough. It is almost painful. A worldwide celebration of what I don't have. And everyone is so stressed. Like something important is actually happening. Nothing is happening! Chill out! It's like people are trying to stuff a whole year into one day so as to vindicate their lives.

I'm not thrilled with Christmas, either.

At least on WP, there are lots of people, including me, who could identify with you.

At least you have that, plus the entire corpus of classical literature a Google inquiry away.

Yes, thank God for books (and dogs.)

I just keep telling myself it will be over soon. I love the peace and quiet of post Christmas.

Me too!

You have Boxing Day....we don't

I'm in a good place this Christmas season. I had a rough NYE a couple years ago where, even though the NYE party was in this house, I stayed in my room and avoided the world - so I Get how difficult the holidays can be for some, even when the party is mere feet away from you vs. being isolated and lonely. But I'm in a pretty happy healthy position now and don't foresee that changing any - except for the better as I continue to achieve new goals and reach new milestones.

If anyone Needs to pm someone, they can feel free to message me about anything and I'll get back to you when I'm next online.

Otherwise I'd suggest that if they're OK with posting publicly, and if they need an immediate response, they should just make a new thread in the general forum as has been done each holiday season by others in their own times of Need. That way whoever is online & has the time and ability to respond and help appropriately can do so.

Trying to structure this sort of thing with a buddy system sounds nice and all.. but I'm not so sure a rigid structure for something like this would work ideally. Maybe others like myself can post in this thread & anyone who feels like pm'ing any one of us can feel free to do so? Then anything that's more of an urgent (or anxious) need can just be posted as a new thread for anyone who's online to respond to.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Yes, posting in this thread would work. People can contribute resources they know of in their area in the meantime too, perhaps, for anyone in dire straits.

It doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Personally I think Christmas goes on for way too long and is way too hyped. I'll be extremely glad when it's over. I'm not in the mood for eating and drinking and I'm certainly not in the mood for socialising. However, I'm not in dire staits: well, I am, but no more so than usual... :-/

It will be the 26th here in New Zealand when Christmas begins in the Northern Hemisphere, so it will be convenient for me to keep visiting this thread during the Northern Hemisphere's Christmas Day and night.

I just received the bizarre message that I have been permanently banned because of spam. I have never had anything to do with spam other than reporting it on a couple of occasions. Nevertheless, I went back to my inbox, clicked on an old link, and got back in. So if you don't hear from me, I've been banned, totally unfairly but there you are. So if I am not around from here on, that's why.

sorry to see you go, but merry christmas anyway.

B19, I reported it to the Moderator's attention sticky,
hope, they take care of it.

Hey B19,

I've gotten the same message. It has to be taken care of.

But you won't be banned! It's a glitch in the website.

No one but spammers have been banned lately. If you are posting here, you obviously haven't been banned!

I'll check some more IPs but you surely haven't been banned by any of the mods having banhammer.