We’ve been asking this question all month: AreYouFineWithFine? The most common answer has been: NO. But yet, what are we doing about it? How can we move away from “FINE?”
In order to move forward when it comes to most anything in life, we often need to work w others & build a common language in order to effectively communicate. Change almost never happens on our own, & a common language puts us all on the same page.
Imagine if when we drove up to a busy intersection, there were no traffic lights – no common understanding of what red, yellow & green meant. When it comes to MH & how we’re feeling, we currently have no common language to be able to best communicate. All we have are far-end of the spectrum results: diagnosis & labels.
Incredibly, the most common answers to the question, “How are you?”, prevent us from effectively communicating. Terms like “fine,” “ok,” “alright” give us no direction for “where we are” or “where we want to get.” They are the same as answering a “5” on a 1-10 scale, w respect to how we’re feeling. Not good, not bad.
This is why we created the #SameHere Scale App a tangible tool that provides common language & visuals to effectively communicate feelings we ALL experience at various times throughout any given day, week, month, etc. We designed the #SameHere Scale to offer simple options that help us see our feelings (& those of others) in a linear way.
The Scale uses:
*An even number of spots so there’s no “middle” response. In other words – no “fine” answer, & this helps us better understand whether we’re leaning in a positive direction or more headed on a downswing.
*Custom emojis & common colors that relate to specific feelings, so that it can be used at any age – even young children.
*Specific words to communicate how our feelings fluctuate along a continuum instead of just good or bad, sick or healthy.
W/ an understanding that everyone lives & moves on the scale, based on how events in our lives impact us, we can track that movement in a proactive way & intervene when we see challenging trends arise. Like the simplicity of the traffic light, once we’re all on the same page, we can better communicate w each other, ask better follow-up questions and dive deeper into the WHY we feel the way we do & start to work on our “stuff.”
We have already implemented the #SameHere Scale in offices and School Districts all over the country. These communities use the Scale either as posters on walls or in app form.
We recently launched a new Scale app designed for individual users. It’ll allow you to track your own feelings over time (similar to a personal check-in or journal) & add friends through the contacts in your phone, to check in separately w.
