welcome, friend
i named my home for peer support after a practice i learned from buddhist teacher pema chodron called “just like me.” this practice holds a special place in my heart because it encouraged me to deeply feel my connection to humanity, to embody compassion and to surrender to my own imperfect human experience.
The Just Like Me Exercise
“there’s a practice i like called just like me. you go to a public place and sit there and look around. you zero in on one person and say to yourself things such as just like me, this person doesn’t want to feel uncomfortable. just like me, this person loses it sometimes. we can’t presume to know exactly what someone else is feeling and thinking, but still we do know a lot about each other. we know that most of us are hard on ourselves, that we often get emotionally triggered, but that we want to be of help in some way. we know that at the most basic level, every living being desires happiness and doesn’t want to suffer."
-pema chodron
when i think about the essence of what peer support means to me, it’s about the shared humanity of the concept of “just like me”.
i am here offering support because i have lived similar experiences to you and i want to use those experiences to be of help in some way.
just like me, abbie has experienced trauma
just like me, abbie lives with a chronic illness
just like me, abbie struggles with depression
just like me, abbie has attempted suicide
just like me, abbie is on a pmdd healing journey
just like me, abbie has been sexually assaulted
just like me, abbie can feel debilitating anxiety
just like me, abbie is a highly sensitive person
just like me, abbie is neurodivergent
introducing my two cats…
buddy and thor
since i work from home or “with home” i thought i would introduce you to these two characters early.
these are my two beautiful boys buddy and thor, both of whom like to come and say hi sometimes when i am in a support session!
my education
what i am capable of, and what i have the capacity for, are two very different measures for me. my health has not allowed me to participate in or complete much formal education or training. however, i am excited to announce that i will be starting a peer support training program with my local disability resource center soon!
if you are looking for someone with a degree and letters after their name, that is not me. but if you are looking for a human being who genuinely cares… that’s me!
i wonder if you can relate to having a history of working towards something only to watch it fall away or crumble because of your health issues?
