VITAL Diary: Moving into phase two

Stacey and I are nearing the end of the first phase of the VITAL Health project and we're looking forward to the next steps. For the past month we've held four virtual flower-making workshops that also provided COVID-19 coping strategies from Kelsey Evans-Amalu, PhD.

Mailande Moran shared one of her creations from the VITAL Health workshop. Photo courtesy of Moran.

The purpose of these sessions started out as a way for all of us to honor our own mental health but as we've been creating flowers, community members have wanted to share their creations with family and friends to provide a bit of light in dark times. That's been beautiful to see.

We've learned so much from workshop participants about how the virus is affecting their day-to-day lives. We've also learned so much about ourselves and the growth we hope to see in our own lives in terms of mental health. One thing I've had to examine is my stress threshold, which Kelsey talks about in every session. How much stress can we actually handle? I'd never thought about it in that way but have been forced to consider that in 2020. Learning to manage stress has been tough and going through these workshops has been helpful. Kelsey has talked about prioritizing physical health as well as mental health, along with meditation and sleep. All of those can be tough when we're quarantined or practicing social distancing. I've had to reevaluate my priorities and refocus. I'm thankful to the community we've started to build through these workshops that has created an open and honest space for sharing and offering perspective.

We have our final flower-making workshop Thursday, June 25. All the slots are filled and we're excited as we end phase one and enter phase two, which is creating a performance piece on the subject with amazing creatives in our community. We’ll also be preparing for in-person workshops this fall where we will make flowers with the community that will be used for wreaths during the performance at Dix Park.

We hope you will continue to follow this VITAL Health journey and participate in the activations we're creating. Learn more on our Mission and Process pages and follow the hashtag #VITALHealthNC.

Thank you,

MSW