Hey Atheists, Godless Mom here. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty anxious these days. So is my co-founder, Bridget Gaudette. This week feels like it's lasted a year. Sometime near the beginning of it, someone asked me on Twitter, "How do atheists cope at a time like this? Without god or faith, how do you get by?". Of course, I was happy to respond by telling this person that I turn to my family and friends.





This exchange was immediately met with replies from other atheists. They were quick to remind me that I was lucky to be able to say that; that many atheists have been shunned, disowned, excommunicated, and they are coping with this crisis alone.





You know what? These people are right. Sometimes I don't immediately think about these things because I was privileged enough to grow up atheist. You're all right. For some atheists, isolation is the norm, and with this pandemic becoming increasingly scary each day, these atheists are suffering from the same anxiety I have, but they are doing it alone.





I immediately spoke to Bridget. I told her about the exchange and she quickly let me know she'd been thinking of something similar. You see, a friend of hers had recently lost someone important to him and was now facing isolation and grief at the same time. In a situation where he would normally be kept company by this person, he was now entirely alone. She told me we needed to help people like him and fast. So, in no time, we decided we needed to do something. That's when we decided to launch Humanist Humanitarian Hangouts.





Humanist Humanitarian Hangouts are online, face-to-face hangouts for atheists and apostates, each with a specified topic. We will also ensure a counselor or therapist is present in each hangout to keep the conversation on track. These are free to you, will host up to 8 of you each and are aimed at helping you connect with other people going through similar things as you.





Our first two will be on the topic of Coping with the anxiety of COVID-19, and we are hoping to add more as more counselors volunteer to run them.





It is important to note that these are not counseling sessions, and they are not group therapy, merely an online chat with like-minded people and a moderator.





If you would like to sign up for one of these two hangouts, click here . If you're a counselor, therapist or moderator who would like to run a future Humanitarian Humanist Hangout on any topic, click here . If you would like to send us topic ideas, drop us a line: info@internationalatheists.org



