Support &
Learning Group
Anxiety Toolkit
Join the Intro Call
Join an introductory call over Zoom to learn more about this group. It will also be a nice opportunity to meet each other, answer your questions and share any thoughts you may have.
About this support & learning group
Anxiety is a difficult and often ongoing experience in the body and mind for a lot of us. The goal of this group is to create a safe environment for a small group of people going through challenges with anxiety, so we can try to heal together with a sense of support and community🙌 . I truly believe that getting together every week to learn, reflect and share in an environment that supports a common intention, usually has a soothing effect that supports our collective healing.
Group Meetings
- A new group will be starting in late September (subject to participation).
- We will meet virtually for 1hr 15 minutes every week for 5-6 weeks.
- Approximate Time: 9am PST | 12pm EST | 6pm CET
- Final day & time will be decided based on your input.
- You can attend for as many weeks as you find helpful, there are no hard commitments.
Course Completion
- Together we’ll complete a low cost course created by experienced psychotherapist, author & teacher – Andrea Wachter, hosted on Insight Timer.
- We will learn a variety of cognitive, psychological & spiritual tools to help decrease anxiety. These practical & user-friendly tools can be applied to our daily lives to help soothe our nervous system & experience more moments of peace.
- We’ll be relying on the course teacher for guidance through the Insight Timer platform.
Voluntary Initiative
- The group is free to join.
- The access to the course on Insight Timer can cost between $10 to $60, depending on location & account type. More details in FAQs.
- I have no affiliation to this platform or course.
- This is a voluntary initiative, motivated by my personal challenges & learnings. I will be hosting the group as well as participating.
- I have hosted similar groups for 2 years & I deeply care about this work. But I have no subject matter expertise or qualifications.
Learning Together
- We’ll spend our group meetings learning the course material, practicing the tools and sharing our challenges & insights.
- We’ll also have an optional chat group to stay connected between our meetings.
- No extra time commitment will be required.
- This peer group is meant to support your mental health. It isn’t suitable for severe challenges with anxiety.
About the course
The course we’ll follow is called “Your Anxiety Relief Toolkit” by Andrea Wachter, hosted on a platform called Insight Timer.
While I do not have any monetary affiliation to this platform or course, I believe the approach of this course is very incremental, insightful and deeply healing. The course teacher is an expert in her field and has built this course by bringing in learnings from her own healing journey and her vast experience helping her clients with the same. I am very familiar with her work and I would recommend it any day!
Course Details
“Your Anxiety Relief Toolkit” is a 10 day course which contains short 10-15 minute lessons to help us learn a variety of tools and exercises to slow things down, calm our overstimulated nervous systems and also help us transform our relationship with anxiety. We will structure this course into our weekly meetings.
Course Tools & Approach
Combining therapeutic techniques, scientific theory, writing exercises, guided meditations, and a good dose of humor, these 10 lessons will load you up with a variety of practical tools to decrease anxiety and increase peace. A detailed description of each lesson can be found in the course description.
Course Teacher
Andrea Wachter is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and teacher who uses professional expertise, personal recovery and humor to help others. She is passionate about helping people with anxiety, depression, body image, disordered eating, grief, and communication skills. She is also a regular contributor on The Huffington Post as well as numerous other publications.
Teacher Support
The course teacher responds to almost all questions/comments on Insight Timer which serves as a great guide to answer the queries and challenges that come up in the group. During every meeting, we’ll discuss any questions coming up in the group and I can help communicate them to the course teacher via Insight Timer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more details in this section
How do I know if this group is right for me?
This is a peer group hosted by a skilled facilitator but it isn’t suitable for severe challenges with anxiety. A mental health professional will NOT be present during the meetings. It shouldn’t be considered as a replacement for medical help or individual therapy with a professional. You agree to take full responsibility for your health during the meetings.
This support group would be great for you if:
- Your current state of anxiety is negatively affecting your life in some way.
- You are NOT currently going through severe challenges with anxiety.
- You’re looking for a peer group and would benefit from a sense of community to support your mental health.
- You are interested in learning about and incorporating long term self-care practices into your life.
- You are open to sharing a little about your learnings and struggles in a confidential setting during our meetings.
You can attend for as many weeks as you find helpful, there are no hard commitments.
Do I need to pay to join this group?
This group is a voluntary initiative and free to join. But the Insight Timer course itself is not free.
You can purchase the course directly on Insight Timer (roughly $20) and get unlimited access to it. Alternatively you can get a year-long subscription to Insight Timer (roughly $60 per year) or a month-to-month one, both of which would give you access to our course as well as other courses for as long as you have the subscription. They sometimes offer a 7 day free trial when you create an account. You can choose any of these options based on your preference.
Depending on where you’re located and how you’re accessing Insight timer, the prices and offers may vary and you may or may not see a monthly subscription option. In case this is all too confusing, please reach out and we’ll figure it out together.
Are you affiliated to Insight Timer or the course instructor?
I have no monetary affiliation to Insight Timer or the course instructor. As I started hosting these groups, I’ve become personally acquainted with the course instructor and she’s also offered some guidance to help me host groups better. I have also personally benefited from the guided meditations and courses on Insight Timer.
Where are the weekly meetings conducted?
What would be the number of participants per group?
I hope to have 10-20 people per group but the actual number will depend on participation. In my experience, a group roughly this size encourages a wide range of ideas and inputs while still being small enough to not be overwhelming. We will also be splitting up into smaller groups of 2-3 people during our meetings (using breakout rooms) to encourage more focused discussions.
What is the time commitment required?
Other than attending the group meetings, no other time commitment is required. But we’ll naturally try to reflect on the learnings and try to apply them in our lives.
What if I cannot make it to a meeting?
In case you miss a meeting, you can complete the lessons on your own by accessing the course on your Insight Timer account. But you would miss out on the group discussions and support. It is highly encouraged to attend as many meetings as possible to stay in touch with the ideas being shared as well as ensure the success of the whole group with your regular participation.
Who will answer the questions that come up in the group?
We will be mainly relying on the active Q&A forum of the course on Insight Timer to answer any questions. The questions are answered by the course teacher Andrea Wachter. I do not have any expertise in psychotherapy or nutrition and will be mainly focused on hosting and facilitation of the group.
What is the rough structure of a group meeting?
The following would be the rough structure of our weekly meetings (this is a loose plan and could evolve over time):
- A few minutes of intro
- Start with the first lesson of the day from the course (typically about 15 minutes)
- Complete any exercises that are part of the lesson, either a writing exercise, short meditation (3-5 min), visualization or reflection on tools shared.
- Discuss our thoughts from the lesson and anything else that comes up (either in break out rooms of 2-3 people or the full group).
- Complete one or two more lessons in a similar format as above.
- Discuss as a larger group towards the end about key insights that came out of the meeting as well as any questions that can be shared with the course teacher.
Have you hosted a group like this before?
Since August 2021, I have hosted very similar groups on other topics. But this is the first time I’m hosting a group on this topic.
About Me
Sneha Venkatesh Yelimeli
I’m a software engineer living in Zurich, Switzerland and I’m passionate about hosting support groups around topics of health and wellbeing. Having gone through several health challenges over many years, I am deeply interested in lifestyle based self-care methods for good health and wellbeing. Since August 2021, I have hosted several support groups around topics I really care about. I will be hosting and coordinating the meetings as well as participating in them. I do not have any expertise in psychotherapy. I am mainly doing this out of my own interest.
My Motivation
I have personally struggled with anxiety as a result of my health issues, constantly living in fear of chronic pain flare ups that significantly disrupt my life and often feeling unreliable and unable to commit to any long term projects. While there is no dearth of resources on the topic of anxiety, I have found that often the hardest part is integrating them into my life all by myself.
My participation in other group classes and communities made me realize the true value of learning in a group with a feeling of community support. While hosting these support groups, I have felt that I am not alone in my struggles and that together we can lean on each other and take small steps in a common direction. This has motivated me to host such groups and learn this course with others going through these challenges.
I hope that this work will help me heal my own trauma and remember these experiences as something that helped many of us learn and grow.
How do I sign up?
Please complete the form below to sign up and share time slots that work for you.
Have more questions?
Join the introductory call