“I was struggling personally,” said Samantha Finke, a life coach from Fort Wright, “and my friend who was also struggling with her anxiety, we were talking about how we were really struggling, and she’s like, I wish there was a support group.”
This was the beginning of a women’s support group that now meets twice a month at Granite World, a shop in Park Hills, to discuss issues facing women today. Finke is a certified life coach and does offer some services on a paid, but the group sessions themselves are free. Finke said that she hopes to add more monthly meetings next year, and the group has already started meeting outside of the normal session times for less formalized, more social outings.
“I think it was just nice to be in a group of women of different ages and experiences and sharing our perspectives on things,” said Lorraine Powell, a Park Hills resident who had attended the group for the first time when LINK nky visited on Nov. 1.
“I don’t know a lot of people here,” Powell said. “I don’t have a lot of friends and contacts, so it was really nice; I really enjoyed it… Now that I’m retired and of a certain age, you know, it’s become apparent to me how important is to have contacts and friends of any age.”
The topic of the meeting’s discussion was self-love, but the range of topics for discussion included everything from self-image to motherhood to marriage to stress management. Meetings are confidential, so LINK nky was not permitted to sit in on the session, but the attendees described some of the things they discussed in the session.
“It’s great exercises to really get yourself thinking about things that you don’t typically think about in your everyday life,” said Ashley Rohrbough, who has the distinction of never missing a session since the groups started to meet in July. “You’re too busy, you’re not thinking about it. You’re not even realizing how you’re reacting to certain things, and it kind of makes you take a step back and be a little bit mindful about what’s going on around you.”
Rohrbough is from Oxford, Ohio, originally and recalled how isolated she felt when first moving to Park Hills.
“I’m not from around here…,” Rohrbough said. “We [Rohrbough and her husband] didn’t have a ton of friends and stuff down here, and I just had a baby so it’s nice to be able to get out of the house and have some me-time and do it with a bunch of women who are supportive and have some similar issues. It makes you not feel so alone.”
After the first session with the group, Rohrbough said, “I left here feeling so refreshed.”
The group touts itself as a way for women to share their common struggles and experiences, but it’s also a place where women from varied backgrounds can trade advice on different situations.
“I think it’s great because it’s always just a different group of girls, and we all have different experiences,” Finke said.
“I think it’s nice to have different age groups,” Powell said, “because somebody might have some advice or wise words or something to share with somebody else.”
Rohrbough said she likes that she can learn from other’s perspectives, “Things that I haven’t even thought about to do, like if I have something that I’m talking about and somebody’s like, have you tried this?”
Finke said that group sessions can host up to 20 women sometimes, and she hopes to inspire others to start similar groups.
“I think in changing just your mindset in general, that’s what I think is so important,” Finke said. “And I think a lot of people in this group do change their mindsets.”
“I’m a lot more relaxed,” Rohrbough said when asked how her mindset has changed since she started attending. “… being able to talk about it and hear other people’s stories. It just kind of makes me a little bit more relaxed as to like where I am in life and be able to be more present in my family.”
The group will meet again at Granite World in Park Hills at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The group is free and open to women of all ages and backgrounds.
Learn more at the group’s Eventbrite page.
