Kindness Matters: Creating kindness, fostering connection and acting with compassion

By What Matters to Hatters Coalition on October 9, 2024.

What Matters to Hatters Coalition is excited to announce our third annual Kindness Campaign, October 2024 to April 2025.

We are pleased to share that we have partnered with the Medicine Hat Drug Coalition and aim to reduce stigmatizing language related to substance use and mental illness in our community.

The words we use have incredible power. When a person is struggling, the words we speak to them and about them can foster trust, invite conversation, and even encourage someone to seek support. Using kind words can make it easier for someone to speak up, to feel understood or to receive help.

There is not judgement but hope for a more compassionate community in our efforts to help people understand that words matter. We’re all learning to do better for so be patient with yourself and ask questions – it’s OK to not know what you’re supposed to say in certain situations.

How can we alter our language to be compassionate toward others? A concept called “person-first language” focuses on the person without spotlighting their physical or mental condition. For example, instead of saying “they are a drug user,” say “they are a person who uses drugs.” Instead of saying “they are mentally ill,” say “they are someone who is living with mental illness.”

You may need to enlist a friend or a coworker to mentor you as you work toward the shift of acting with compassion.

What Matters to Hatters is recognizing World Mental Health Day on Thursday from 10:45-11:45 a.m. downtown outside at 628 Second Street SE where we will host free listening at an event called Sidewalk Talk.

Can’t make it Thursday? We will be hosting another Sidewalk Talk on Nov. 13 for World Kindness Day! To learn more, follow us on Facebook and X (Twitter).

Kindness Champions we want to thank this month are Molly Hansen Nagel and Janice Dynes, listeners at our upcoming Sidewalk Talk event.

We asked Molly what motivated her to get involved in this initiative.

“I want people to not be afraid of connecting. I am out of my comfort zone but if I can move past my fears and connect, anyone can do it,” she said.

As for Janice, she said, “I am participating in this event on World Mental Health Day because in this very busy world, we need more listeners. I have the time to listen to anyone and by doing so hope to foster a better sense of community in our downtown.”

The Kindness Matters column is put together by members of the What Matters to Hatters Coalition and will run monthly throughout the organization’s annual Kindness Campaign

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