I asked our Facebook friends yesterday what home meant to them. It was actually a question sparked by this post from our talented Mental Health Humor blogger Chato B. Stewart.

The reason I asked was that I truly believe that everyone needs a “home” to come home to. Finding a place where we feel safe, honored, trusted, respected and at peace is so important to our mental health. It hardly matters if home is our actual place of residence.

When I worked as a Marriage and Family therapist intern, I counseled kids with stories that broke my heart. I realized that for them a house was the place they lived, a home was where they felt accepted, loved and secure. For some, meeting me at noon every week was a secondary shelter. And I was happy and grateful to be able to provide that for them.

As adults, we’re no different. I realized that we all need a retreat. We need a place where it’s quiet enough that we can hear our own thoughts. We need a place where we can breathe. We need a place where people love and respect us for who we are and a space where we feel comfortable being ourselves. Without it, there is no exhale. There is no downtime, no peace.

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