CHLOE MICHAEL, STUDENT REPORTER:
I'm Chloe Michael from the KAWC student newsroom. Have you ever found it difficult to find your place in the world? Like it's impossible to fit in? If the answer is yes, then you're not alone. Being human, it's in our nature to not only want, but to need to belong somewhere.
According to the American Psychological Association, being accepted within a community is important to your mental health. Feelings of anxiety, grief and depression can all tie back to feeling isolated, which could lead to harmful behaviors for anyone who is struggling to meet their social needs.
Founder of Circle of Friends, Diana Flermoen, understood this feeling all too well — not only for her son, but for other adults who are living with a disability. She believed that starting the social group can help them create friendships and give families a chance to relate to one another.
DIANA FLERMOEN, YUMA CIRCLE OF FRIENDS FOUNDER:
You know, and I hear it from the parents as a testimonial that their son or their daughter is out in the community with genuine friendships. Everybody that's a human being needs to know they belong somewhere.
MICHAEL:
After her son graduated high school, Flermoen noticed something was wrong. The community he once had was no longer there. This became the start of something greater.
FLERMOEN:
Started a long time ago because my son Adam just had come out of high school, and my friend and I noticed that our, that our kids were becoming depressed because they were no longer connected to community. They were home a lot and only just with their parents or with a few people.
So my friend and I said, 'Let's form a, a play group for our kids and let's come together,' because her and I were friends anyway. So we started connecting with other parents from Special Olympics and we asked them, 'Hey do you want to come out with us? And we'll play games with our kids. After that, maybe some of you guys would like to go out and eat with us.'
And that's how the ball rolled. And now my son is 40 years old, and it has been a successful community group.
MICHAEL:
Before she knew it, families started to resonate with her story. And thanks to Circle of Friends, nobody was going through it alone. Flermoen described this experience as a journey.
FLERMOEN:
But not just for him, but for others as I see other people in the same journey. And so that's why it was very easy for me to join with my friend, join with other people. I embraced the journey of, of not being like the rest of the world was passing me by.
MICHAEL:
After many years, they are still going strong, meeting up once a week, having annual events and even partnering up with the City of Yuma. But that doesn't stop there. Friends within the social group are now a part of each other's lives.
FLERMOEN:
What has happened, what has developed is that now we go to each other's birthday parties. We go to their house to swim. We go, you know, we go to the movies with genuine friends and our, our children are seeing the value of it. The parents see the value of it. It brings them, brings a participant out of depression because they know they have genuine friends and they have a community to go to with.
MICHAEL:
With what began with a mother looking for a way to make the world brighter for her son has now evolved into a space where a piece of our community has been changed for the better.
From the KAWC Student Newsroom, I'm Chloe Michael.
