In GROW Session 5, there was no new material introduced. No additional theories, no pressure to “fix” anything within ourselves.
Instead, we simply sat together with everything that had already been carried throughout the journey and slowly began asking:
Out of all of this, what actually matters most to you?
Session 5 became one of the most reflective spaces within the GROW journey. After weeks of exploring grief, emotions, the body, relationships, and personal experiences, participants were invited to move toward something more personal and grounding: discovering the values, strengths, and inner direction they want to carry forward beyond the program.
GROW Session 5: Recognizing the Values That Have Always Been There
The session began with a values card activity facilitated by Fransisca.
Participants received a stack of value cards and were invited to narrow them down:
from ten cards to five,
then from five to three.
At first glance, the activity seemed simple. But through the process of choosing, many participants began realizing that certain values had actually been present within them all along hidden beneath expectations, noise, survival, or the habit of constantly adapting to others.
The final three cards were more than just words.
They became small personal compasses:
helping participants recognize what truly matters to them, what they want to protect, and what kind of life they hope to build moving forward.
For some, it was the first time they had ever clearly named the values they had quietly lived by for years.
After exploring their values, participants were invited to choose 2–3 strengths cards. The values card activity in GROW Session 5 invited participants to slow down and identify the values that have quietly guided their lives for years.
But this session was not about strengths that sound impressive or admirable from the outside. Instead, participants were encouraged to recognize strengths that felt honest qualities that may have quietly carried them through difficult moments, even if they had never considered them “strengths” before.
Some recognized listening as a strength.
Others saw resilience in their ability to keep showing up despite exhaustion.
Some realized that softness, empathy, and care are also forms of strength.
Through this process, participants began viewing themselves from a gentler perspective. Not only through what feels lacking, but also through what has already existed within them all along.
This approach also reflects a growing understanding in mental health research: healing is not only about reducing distress, but also about helping people reconnect with their inner capacities and sense of self.
A recent study by King’s College London found that a therapist-guided digital therapy program significantly reduced anxiety and depression among people living with long-term health conditions by helping participants build emotional coping strategies, resilience, and self-understanding. The study highlighted how meaningful psychological support often comes not from “fixing” people, but from helping them recognize the strengths and resources they already carry within themselves.
In many ways, this part of GROW carried a similar spirit:
creating space for participants to see themselves not only through pain, survival, or limitation but also through the quiet strengths that have helped them continue moving forward.
GROW Session 5: Bringing Values Back Into the Body
In the embodying session facilitated by Agustin, reflection moved beyond thoughts and into the body. Through embodiment practices in GROW Session 5, participants explored what it feels like to physically live in alignment with their values.
What does your posture look like when you are truly living in alignment with your values?
How does your face soften?
How do you sit, move, or carry yourself?
Rather than imagining an idealized future version of themselves, participants were invited to connect with a version of themselves that may already exist, a version simply waiting for more permission to be present.
In this space, the body became a place of possibility.
A reminder that transformation does not always need to be dramatic. Sometimes growth begins through small acts of allowing ourselves to fully exist as we are.
GROW Session 5: Hearing Ourselves Through Other People’s Stories
The session continued with small group reflections facilitated by Clessya.
Within these groups, participants shared their reflections on the GROW journey:
what had shifted,
what still feels unfinished,
and what they hope to carry home after the program ends.
The conversations felt calm, open, and deeply human. There was no pressure to appear strong or fully healed. Just people learning how to better understand themselves while witnessing one another’s experiences.
Sometimes, listening to someone else’s story helped participants hear their own inner voice more clearly. The small group reflections in GROW Session 5 reminded participants that sometimes being listened to helps us better hear ourselves.
And in that moment, the power of collective space became visible: being deeply listened to can help someone finally listen to themselves.
Being Seen, Even Briefly
Toward the end of the session, participants engaged in one final simple practice.
Each person turned to the participant sitting beside them and offered a genuine appreciation.
It did not need to be long.
It did not need to sound perfect.
It only needed to be sincere.
Some shared their words with smiles.
Others with eyes quietly filled with tears.
Because sometimes, hearing a simple sentence like:
“I see you.”
can feel profoundly healing.
Especially for those who have spent so much of their lives feeling unseen or carrying things alone. Toward the end of GROW Session 5, participants exchanged simple but sincere words of appreciation with one another.
GROW Session 5: Carrying the Journey Forward
Session 5 became a space to pause and look back on everything that had been experienced throughout the GROW journey so far. Not to search for perfect answers, but to begin recognizing a more personal sense of direction.
There is still one final session before Batch #1 officially closes together.
But before that, participants are carrying home three value cards, newly recognized strengths, and a clearer image of the person they are slowly becoming.
Maybe not fully complete yet.
Maybe still unfolding.
But closer than before.
More than just another weekly gathering, GROW Session 5 became a space to pause, reflect, and recognize how much had shifted internally throughout the journey.
A Sentence Still Waiting to Be Written
Before leaving the session, participants were invited to sit with one unfinished reflection:
“After all of this, I now know that I…”
A simple sentence but perhaps one that carries an entirely new relationship with themselves.
Toward the Final Session of GROW Batch #1
As Session 5 came to an end, participants also began approaching the final chapter of GROW Batch #1 together.
Over the past weeks, GROW has become more than just a program. It has been a shared space to reflect, reconnect, and slowly understand ourselves more honestly — through emotions, relationships, values, strengths, and the body.
Session 6 will become the closing session of this first GROW journey.
Not simply to “finish” the program, but to pause and honor everything that has shifted along the way:
the stories shared,
the courage to be vulnerable,
and the small but meaningful growth that often happens quietly.
Because sometimes, growth does not arrive as a dramatic transformation.
Sometimes, it simply begins with finally feeling seen by others, and by ourselves.
If you would like to explore more stories and reflections from GROW Batch 1, visit our TMH.id Event & Programme Blog to read recaps from previous sessions and other community wellbeing activities.
Stay tuned for the next GROW programme and future community wellbeing initiatives.
