 Full house at the AntiLoneliness workshop "Find your Inner Peace"!!!
I'm concerned when people feel stressed, lost and confused. But I feel safe again when I see so many people looking for solutions, connecting with others, going to workshops, and reaching out. One way or another, we are work in progress and we learn every day better ways to handle big or small challenges. Thank you, Tetyana Benzeroual for inviting me, thank you Volunteer The Hague for the perfect organising! #volunteering #mentalhealth #innerpeace #support#antiloneliness #loneliness
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 This meeting was a daring one.
A discussion evening for those who dared to talk about the topic we all try to avoid: Life, Death and their Meaning. We tried to view life and death from a cultural, philosophical, or social perspective. How is our culture viewing death? How do we learn to communicate our grief within our family? How our lives changes after we experience the loss of a significant person? How easy is it to talk about it and/or to seek for support? Why nobody ever taught us some coping skills to deal with death and loss? Thank you all for daring and being present in this conversation!  Thank you all for joining another AntiLoneliness workshop for Safe. Trusting. Healthy. Balanced. Honest. Long-lasting. Relationships.
Looking forward to the next one!  Thank you for joining our workshop last Saturday! That was a fruitful meeting about Narcissism. Looking forward to the next one.
Stay tuned! #antiloneliness #support #narcissism #mentalhealth https://www.antiloneliness.com/workshops.html  "You can feel lonely even among a hundred people."
On June 14th, a group of expats from the Hague and the surrounding area gathered to discuss how we feel about Loneliness. In this monthly meeting we explored how we can feel less lonely and more connected with others, how we can break the vicious circle of loneliness, and if there is a part of loneliness that "is ok".  Honoured to be invited by therapist Maria Liakakou in order to give a workshop on the projective cards, The River and the Roads, as part of a 2-day training.
We enjoyed it a lot, and the same did our participants, who also bought a set of cards each in order to use them in their own practice. Exploring different ways of self-expression and healing is always exciting and we are glad we can spread the magic!  She is young, smart and daring. One day she emailed me and asked for an interview. About what? About everything!
Hiba Argane is a bachelor student in Psychology and she had so many questions on balancing your career and mental well-being, entrepreneurship and the highs and lows that come with running your own practice, that I couldn't say "no" to her request. Here is the link to the interview in the unique way that Hiba viewed and felt it. I'm curious to see the amazing future Hiba she will grow into!  A few days ago we received a beautiful testimonial from one of the participants of the workshop "The Traps of Perfectionism, The Gifts of Imperfection".
So happy to see that it is possible to help people feel less afraid to make changes, to take decisions, to claim and defend their dreams and to overcome their fears and unhealthy patterns! Looking forward to see more of you in the next workshop. Stay tuned!  What’s expat life really like after the initial sparkle fades away?
On May 17th a very lively group of expats living in the Hague gathered in order to discuss the challenges of Expat Life (Open Discussion evening organised by AntiLoneliness and Internations). Living the expatriate life can be exciting and at the same time challenging. And even making yourself "feel at home" may be challenging, no one can deny the excitement of meeting new people, new cultures and new traditions. We shared our stories, our adversities and our tips in order to help our transition as expats and to enhance our emotional resilience.  Children and Boundaries. Where to start?...
Jessica Zonneveld, a Childrens' Coach was invited to talk to parents that joined the information morning at AntiLoneliness, and she tried to make us feel a lit bit less guilty about our boundaries "issues". She also contributed with a great article to our blog. Thank you, Jessica, for your kind offer!  Thank you very much, Ute Limacher, for offering us your expertise today! The Multilingual Family is a topic that resonates with so many expats around the globe, and we got so much information today. Much appreciated!
Thank also all the parents that came today at the open event, part of the parenting series "The Good-Enough Parent".  Talking about relationships and emotions is not the easiest thing in the world. But Sue Johnson has made it more accessible to everyone. Dr. Sue Johnson is the developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy, and I was glad to participate in one of her trainings in Madrid last April. More ready now to support couples in their communication and expression!
 So excited to be for the first time in a newspaper!
And this time in Leiden's (my lovely city) daily newspaper. Me and the journalist Wilfred Simons talked about loneliness (of course), about depression, about therapy, about the Dutch and the Greek cultures, about social media, and also about Odysseus and his journey to Ithaca! If you bump into Leidsch Dagblad, give it a read (if your Dutch is good) . Or visit me in my office for a cup of tea and some newspaper-reading!  9 April was the date for the Open Day for the Anxiety & Depression Support Group. Anyone could come and ask their questions about Anxiety, Depression, Panic Attacks and Burnout, or about Support Groups and their goal. We were so proud to manage to connect so many people and to hear everyone's perspective on these so important mental-health topics of our days.
 For the first time, AntiLoneliness participated in the Haarlemmermeer Expat Fair and we were so excited to meet other business owners from that area. Moreover, Vassia Sarantopoulou, our psychologist, presented a short workshop on Self-Sabotage and we were happy to talk with visitors of our stand! Thank you for organising this beautiful event, and for inviting us to it!
 After the first successful social gathering for the members of the Divorce Support Groups in Leiden and the Hague, we decided to organise another one, but this time more artistic. We all gathered in the Hague and together with the help of the team of Paintbar, we pick up the brushes and started creating. In the beginning it was scary, but in the end, as everyone admitted, there was something healing in the whole process. Until next time then!
 To stop self-sabotage is not an easy job.
At least we started working on that, at our workshop "Stop Self-Sabotage, Let yourself Grow". And we discussed ways to discover the "victim", the "pleaser", the "perfectionist" and other self-sabotaging patterns. And to find new ways with which we can build more positive thinking and overcome self-doubts. Thank you all for your participation!  13 years ago I was starting my internship for my 1st Master in Psychology in Athens.
13 years later I am opening the AntiLoneliness' doors for the first time for students to do their internship in Clinical Psychology from Leiden University and from Utrecht University. I cannot express how unbelievable and mind-blowing that feels for me. Thank you ladies for joining AntiLoneliness! I hope I will give you the most I can. #antiloneliness #myteamrocks (#im_getting_old)  So happy to be participating to the Hague biggest expat fair "Feel at Home Fair" (the picture says it all).
I'm always excited to meet and talk to people and answer all possible questions on our counseling services and workshops. Until next time...  We love books and we made it part of our mission: to bring together people who love books and to help them connect with each other.
Each month, one topic, two books, one poll. The topic can be about relationships, grief, loneliness, expat life, etc. Participation in the poll is necessary as we need to choose only one book for each month. This year has a (book) plan!  We were so happy to spend a Christmas evening with the people that have supported each other throughout the year. Divorce is a hard time, but the members of the group know what it means to be grateful that somebody is here to listen to you and understand you. 2017 ended with some big smiles and hugs; that's promising for 2018, right?
 Today (21/11/17) was the last day of the "End Procrastination, Welcome Success" workshop. All participants set new goals, more concrete and more meaningful for their lives. And at the end of the workshop, they signed their own "I Will" manifesto to keep themselves motivated.
What a beautiful and inspiring journey we went together for 6 weeks! Until next time ;-)  Participating for the 3rd time at the IamExpat Fair in the Hague and I think I am already addicted to it. The preparation, the anticipation, your own stand, the last details with the organisers, the thousands of visitors and the short (or long) talks with some of them, the exhibitors at the next stand, the positive vibe, the "borrel" after the fair is over.
Until next year, AntiLoneliness has plenty of time to catch up with all the people we met and talked. Thank you all for such a wonderful event!  Thursday evening, as usual, there is a networking event at the Women's Business Initiative International (www.wbii.nl). This time, I was invited to speak about Loneliness within the business world, and especially about "The Lonely Entrepreneur". We talked about how to overcome feelings of isolation as an entrepreneur, how to build deep quality connections and network with like-minded people. Loneliness is not about a lack of social skills or being an introvert or a shy person. It's about missing the value in your relationships and feeling disconnected from them.
Me and the guests enjoyed the evening a lot! Looking forward to another talk like this!  In collaboration with BLOOM - House of Health in the Hague, we were invited to organise and facilitate a workshop in Relationships and help individuals to recognise and to replace toxic patterns with healthy communication within their relationships.
Looking forward to the next one! |
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