GROW Support Group is one of the most personal initiatives I have created through Talk Mental Health Indonesia. I often think of my role not simply as someone who builds programs, but as someone who keeps listening closely to what pain, healing, and community are quietly teaching us.
A lot of what I create through Talk Mental Health Indonesia does not begin from theory alone. It begins from being present sitting with young people in circles, holding space when words feel difficult, and paying attention to my own journey through grief, silence, emotional survival, and the slow process of healing with others. In that spirit, GROW Support Group was created as a space that feels deeply personal to me.
In that spirit, I want to share something we are launching through TMH.id that feels deeply personal to me: GROW (Grief-informed Resilience, Ownership, and Wellbeing).
Grief That Lives in Quiet Places
There is a common assumption that grief only belongs to big, visible loss death, separation, heartbreak.
But what I keep seeing, both in myself and in many young people, is that grief often lives in quieter places too: in the loss of safety, in the self you had to abandon to survive, in painful family dynamics, in relationships that changed you, in dreams that did not happen, and in the slow disconnection from yourself.
What makes this heavier is that it often goes unnamed. And when something remains unnamed, it becomes harder to hold, share, and process.
As outlined in Grief and Prolonged Grief Disorder (StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf), grief is not only associated with death, but can also be understood as a response to loss more broadly. That is why grief may show up not only as sadness, but also as numbness, withdrawal, confusion, or feeling disconnected from yourself.
When this goes unrecognized, people are often told they are overthinking, too sensitive, or need to move on. But unrecognized grief does not simply disappear. It settles into the body, patterns, and the way we relate to ourselves and others.
Where Healing Begins
What I have come to understand is this:
healing does not always begin with fixing.
Sometimes, it begins with finally having a space that feels safe enough to pause.
Safe enough to notice what has been sitting quietly underneath the surface.
To name what has felt confusing.
To feel what has long been suppressed.
To express what has been difficult to carry alone.
And sometimes, healing begins with something even simpler but deeply important:
realizing that you do not have to hold everything by yourself.
That understanding is part of why we created GROW.
About GROW
GROW is a 6-week group support program for young women in Yogyakarta.
It is designed as a grief-informed space that gently supports participants in understanding and processing different forms of loss especially the kinds of loss that are often invisible, unspoken, or difficult to explain.
Through the process, participants are invited to explore:
- naming what hurts
- expressing emotions without shame
- listening to what the body has been holding
- reconnecting through nature
- rediscovering values, strengths, and a more honest inner compass
The journey is supported through reflective practice, expressive arts, body-based awareness, and shared connection with others.
The space is held together with psychologists, peer facilitators, and access to peer counselors because we believe healing becomes more possible when there is enough safety, enough structure, and enough human presence around it.
Beyond Information, Toward Human Spaces
For me, GROW is not just a program.
It is an expression of something I deeply believe in.
That young people need more than mental health information.
They also need spaces that feel human.
Spaces that do not rush them to be okay.
Spaces that do not force clarity before they are ready.
Spaces where expression is not limited to words but can happen through art, silence, movement, reflection, and connection.
Because not everyone knows how to explain what they feel right away.
Sometimes the body speaks first.
Sometimes emotions emerge through creativity.
Sometimes being with others, without pressure, is already part of the healing.
I believe young people need spaces where they can begin to meet themselves with a little more honesty, and a little less shame.
What Change Can Look Like
I do not believe six weeks will resolve everything someone carries.
But I do believe that something meaningful can shift when a space is held with care, consistency, and enough gentleness.
Sometimes the shift is not dramatic.
Sometimes it sounds like:
“I understand myself a little better now.”
“I feel less alone.”
“I have one small tool I didn’t have before.”
“I can finally name what I have been carrying.”
Sometimes the change is quiet.
But quiet does not mean small.
Because even a small shift in how someone understands themselves can become the beginning of a different relationship with their emotions, their body, and their life.
And sometimes, that is where growth begins.
Moving Forward
We are opening GROW Batch #1, starting 18 April 2026.
This program carries so much of what I hope to keep building through Talk Mental Health Indonesia: mental health support that is more accessible, more grounded, more creative, and more rooted in community.
If this resonates with you, I’d be grateful if you help us share it or simply hold this work in your awareness as it begins.
Take Your First Step
If this space feels relevant to you, we warmly invite you to be part of the GROW journey.
Detailed information about the program is available on Instagram and on the TMH.id support group page, where you can learn more about the sessions, the approach, and the latest updates.
More information:
Visit our Instagram for program details, the feel of the sessions, and recent updates.
If you feel ready to join, you can register here: Open Call GROW Session.
