Aspire Indiana Health offering free community support virtual gatherings

Aspire Indiana Health announces Gatherings — Aspire Community Support, a free program of virtual community support meetings. These are regular hour-long video meetings open to people where they can receive information about the pandemic and discuss what they and their loved ones are going through.

These are not therapy sessions but peer support meetings where Hoosiers can share their experiences, listen to those of others, give/receive support and obtain information related to COVID-19.

Going forward the schedule will be:

  • Tuesdays, noon to 1 p.m.
  • Thursdays, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturdays, 2 to 3 p.m.

Anyone who wants to join Gatherings just has to click here during one of the scheduled sessions. Each will be moderated by Aspire mental health experts to facilitate the discussion and keep it on appropriate topics. Gatherings are conducted by video via Google Meet but participants have the option to turn their camera off if they have privacy concerns.

Gatherings – Aspire Community Support will continue for the foreseeable future and will remain free of charge or any obligation. Reservations are not required but moderators may limit the number of participants if it becomes necessary.

The community support meetings are a natural offshoot of another pandemic-related initiative, Connections – Aspire Warm Line, a non-urgent phone service for people experiencing distress related to COVID-19 where they can talk 1-on-1 with a behavioral health professional at no cost.

In evaluating its use, it was determined that many people are struggling with the social disconnect of stay-at-home orders. Gatherings will help them find a supportive community in a virtual setting.

Learn more about AspireIndiana.org.