Forum Event: Recovery Month
Hi everyone! September is Recovery month. We were planning on hosting an event in general support, but given the fact that there are many issues we support on this site deal with the topic of recovery, we wanted to open it up to the whole community!
However, we are mindful that we are all volunteers and we don't want to overload everyone with a super labor intensive event like the 7 cups birthday, so we are opening up this thread for ideas! A few less labor intensive examples I was thinking of:
-- Forum Hunts - these are fairly easy on the organization side as it just requires gathering appropriate threads and letting those involved find their way through
-- Reply challenges - reply challenges usually consist of "answer 5 needs reply" or "reply to someone in x community." These are also fairly easy on the organization side as we just set up the challenges and direct others to complete them.
If there is something else you can think of to involve the whole community in recovery month, please let us know! The more cross-pollination between communities, the better!
Tagging forum team for brainstorming ideas:
Forum Ambassadors: @Anomalia @MelAllyouneedislove @MonBon
Forum Mentor/Teen Star Leaders: @Anggi @Emily619
Forum Project Agents: @Imogene @Keanan @PhoenixAsh @River
Global category leaders: @AffyAvo @AiluraBlaze @Alex @Anomalia @ASilentObserver @BeyondTheInvisible @bunnypants @CountryGirl1231 @Emily619 @emsworld @EvelyneRose @fluffyUnicorns84 @Hope @HopefulSprings @Ila @InspiringLee @InvaderStitch @ItsPreeti @JaydenIsHere @Jenna @Keanan @LadyLazarus1971 @LunaHecate @MelAllyouneedislove @MistyMagic @MonBon @PhoenixAsh @PoliteOcean @Power @RaCat @Rain45 @RideaRainbow @Rose @RumpleSteeleSkin @sailorelix @SilentSerenityy @SouthernFlame @tazcares @TortueDesBois
Community centered moderation category leaders: @AffyAvo @Alex @AnnaKateMillerLCSW @Anomalia @ArwaS @ASilentObserver @BeyondTheInvisible @bunnypants @countrygirl1231 @DaveMcGrath @Emily619 @emsworld @Erato @fluffyUnicorns84 @Hope @HopefulSprings @InvaderStitch @InspiringLee @ItsPreeti @JaydenIsHere @Jenna @Kate @Keanan @KimsonTheSteveFundYPOC @ladylazarus1971 @Laura @Lilium17 @LunaHecate @Mango3 @MelAllyouneedislove @MistyMagic @MonBon @PalmTreesNRainbows @PhoenixAsh @piercetheaiden @PoliteOcean @Power @River @RaCat @Rain45 @redmark @RideaRainbow @Rose @RumpleSteeleSkin @sailorelix @soulsings @SouthernFlame @summertimeSamness @tazcares @windflowers @YourFriendforever @Zammn
Forum supporters: @1Marg1 @AffyAvo @agreeableKite4304 @AiluraBlaze @Amandisa16 @AMusicalSilence @Anomalia @ASilentObserver @Aubrynn @BattyBallerina @bestVase7265 @BeyondTheInvisible @blossombreathe @Bonnieheart @BridgetAileen @BrilliantTurtle89 @BrooklynM @bunnypants @Busranurr @ButterflyPessimist @CaringBrit @Cheeney @Chels2002 @countrygirl1231 @DaisyLion @DanaMH @DaveMcGrath @DeborahUK @EmikoKokoro @Emily619 @Emmur @enbyemu @Erato @essdee @EvelyneRose @eviesweet @fluffyUnicorns84 @Harieo @Hope @Hope3729 @HopefulSprings @IcedEthan @Imogene @InspiringLee @InvaderStitch @ItsPreeti @Ivoryrose8311 @JaydenIsHere @Joshcrs101395 @juddskittycat @Kate @Keanan @Keewee0701 @kindSoul10 @ladylazarus1971 @Lilium17 @lovelyWhisper66 @LoyalFriend @Lucy @LunaHecate @Mango3 @MelAllyouneedislove @mimameid @MistyMagic @MonBon @NancySV1 @PalmTreesNRainbows @pamharley003 @peppermintlove @PhoenixAsh @piercetheaiden @politeCup86 @PoliteOcean @Power @QuirkyAnne @RaCat @Rain45 @RaspberryCheesecake @Raya501 @rebecca947 @redmark @Reececup1986 @reliablebutoftenforgotten @RideaRainbow @River @Rose @rozie @RumpleSteeleSkin @sailorelix @SaimaK @SilentSerenityy @soulsings @SouthernFlame @stuckintime92 @summertimeSamness @TaranWanderer @tazcares @terrytee @tinytea @TortueDesBois @VinylFly @warmheartedCity8277 @warmheartedSoul77 @windflowers @Wonderfulhart1330 @YourFriendforever @Zammn
SWAT/Needs Reply: @Emily619 @Imogene
Teenies! @Alex @BattyBallerina @blossombreathe @BrooklynM @Busranurr @ButterflyPessimist @Chels2002 @EmikoKokoro @Emily619 @Emmur @Harieo @Hope3729 @IcedEthan @Imogene @imsorryitry @Lucy @peppermintlove @PhoenixAsh @QuirkyAnne @River @stuckintime92 @summertimeSamness @tinytea @warmheartedCity8277 @windflowers @Zammn
@MonBon
This sounds fun OwO!!!
@MonBon discussions in the forums across the community ?
@CaringBrit
Something like that! forum activities across the site on recovery is what I was thinking. I am not against categories hosting group support discussions if they want, but would rather not personally organize them ^^
@MonBon no i meant forum based discussions :) example addictions & recovery trauma & recovery etc etc
@CaringBrit
Oh yeah! Those can be good :)
@CaringBrit @MonBon
could we try to make a forum hunt that covers several forum categories? That way it helps people find subcoms and interact with new ones
@JaydenIsHere
Yes that would be the idea!
@JaydenIsHere
Yup, definitely love that idea! I've seen the Self-Harm Recovery thread on what to do and understand that you've already got a forum hunt planned; if you'd like to do a cross-subcom event, are you happy to use what you have (with add-ons from other subcoms) or would you rather do it separately for Self-Harm Recovery only since you've worked on it?
@Imogene
@redmark has planned the forum hunt - I'll leave this up to them to decide ❤️
@JaydenIsHere @imogene
I mean, we can always re-work it in a way that multiple SCs will get involved. The thing we are working with afterall has eight parts to hide so like we could do something like 4 subcoms two hidden in each or...you know...we can figure it out. The thing is that I do not know other SCs that well so some help would be needed from there about where to hide things, but that's it :)
I am open to it anyways!
@redmark
We could definitely help you! We're still in the planning stages but thank you for your cooperation and suggestions 
I guess it would be best to post topic specific things in the respective forum to avoid triggering or overwhelming other participatants. So maybe same theme for all communities but different postings?
@kindSoul10
Maybe yeah!
@kindSoul10
That could work!
@MonBon
I have been discussing this with @PalmTreesNRainbows - obviously people can recover from anxiety or recover from depression but because once diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder it is very unlikely people ever recover unless misdiagnosed so we are wondering about the BP Subcoms involvement here without upsetting people?
@MistyMagic I can relate since it's most often not possible to recover from a disability.
Still I would argue it depends on the definition of recovery.
The Oxford English dictionary defines it as : A return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.
So I might not recover from my disability but from symptoms, like weakness, sadness, stress, ... And we have to understand that most recovery doesn't mean it there will be no fallbacks and it might be an ongoing process throughout our life.
@kindSoul10
That was my thought process too! Thank you and @MistyMagic for your points ^^
@kindSoul10 I think a discussion on recovery and how it applies to the members of the communities could fit in nicely.
Personally, sometimes I feel a bit of jealously about the mention of recovery as it's not going to be the same for me the way it is for someone with an addiction, self harm, etc. I still have recovery days though - it's just about getting me back to my 'baseline' not 'healthy'.
@AffyAvo
Yes Affy! I would love to focus on getting back to baseline in this month. I believe it's an important aspect of recovery that is often overlooked in favor of complete recovery, which is just not possible for everyone as @MistyMagic mentioned
@MistyMagic
I think Recovery is about finding acceptance within yourself and being able to move on with life, personally. Communities do not have to participate if they don't want to, of course, but I think limiting recovery to only apply to complete and total absence of mental or physical illness is extremely restricting, and it's also my understanding that mental and physical health is a constant battle.
One of my favorite thread topics is "Small Victories" which is a place to celebrate the little baby steps and small victories towards recovery since often we can get bogged down in looking at the full path ahead and ignore the progress we are making. Would love to see this sort of thread in more communities for this event!
@Anomalia
Thank you for the idea Ano!
@MonBon, I do my best to do the Needs Reply
@Reececup1986
Thank you for that Reece! Perhaps you'd be interested in joining the needs reply team?
Cc @emily619
@MonBon, I would be happy to join there, I feel that this area would be best for me. I dont do much on posting to the Forums or making them either
@Reececup1986
Great! I will let @Emily619 and @Imogene know so they can get in touch with you :D
@MonBon, sounds great
@MonBon what about a challenge where we sugges tto visit different categories that needs some attention and answer something there?
@RaCat
Sounds like my kind of event!
@RaCat
Yes, I love that! Any ideas on how this would work? Would we just make a masterpost and everyone would get cheers depending on how many posts they'd reply to?
@Imogene i think we could choose 10 or so communities and announce one every three days or so? Maybe we could do that on alerts (tricky) and we could have one main thread where we post on what can be done and what are the awards?
@RaCat
Yup, 10 and one every 3 days sounds great! I think the alert should go up for the masterpost, though I'm not sure if it can go up for the whole month 
And what do you think of cheers? Though you already get cheers for posting, we could give more?
@Imogene it might be possible... as for the alert, one alert can go to up to 3 days, i believe
Addiction support is planning on doing a forum hunt, a forum discussion, and some chatroom events 
@VinylFly
sounds fun!
@VinylFly @Monbon I do not think we ever really had a follow up on this Forum Hunt idea featuring multiple SCs so I will drop it once again here if anyone is interested in it.
Of course if not it is okay as well, we have a Forum Hunt prepared that can work only within the SHR SC as well, so no pressure, just curous. :)
@redmark
@Imogene and I are still planning, and will get back to you! My recommendation in the meantime is to continue planning as you are and we will try our best to work around you ^^
Edit: I am leaning toward a multiple subcom forum hunt of sorts!
@MonBon One of us will message you soon. Let me know if there's anything we can do to help
@VinylFly
great! Thank you ♥
@VinylFly great ideas!
@MonBon
I have some ideas!!
Self-care challenge
At the forum of course OwO. Participants will post a picture of their self care routine (reading a book, listening to music, making creative things) they won't be allowed to show their environment to prevent harassment, so if their self care routine involves going outside like walking, it's best to just write it down. I haven't given much thought about this :'3.
Story time game
It's like the story time text game where participants continue the previous sentence until it forms into a story.
Self-made quotes
Me and @BrooklynM have discussed about this but not sure where to put the event (well, I'm the one who's not sure :p). Participants shares their self-made quotes in the thread. The quotes can be turned into a picture (quotes pic?) And then we make another thread that's a showcase about the quotes (?).
Achievements
Participants will be asked to write down the things they achieved in 7 cups (or online) and/or real life.
@EmikoKokoro
I love these! It sounds like they're really positivity-based. Are you planning to host this for a specific subcommunity/forum category, or would you like to involve as many as possible?
@Imogene
Thanks!!! <3 Well, these are just some ideas for the September Recovery event here, but I would love to get as many participants as possible!
@EmikoKokoro
Thank you so much for these :D
@MonBon
Yayayay XD you're welcome!
Hi guys!
Saw this thread and would like to share my contributions!
For 35+ our general Question of the Week has a Recovery Month focus! Also am working on a group-chat discussion Series!
For 50+ we have a special Quotation-sharing Activity, also focused on the 2018 theme, different parts of it, per week!
Wishing everyone else a great time leading out various discussions and activities for Recovery Month!!
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Great! Thank you
@MonBon Thanks
