The holidays are times to visit and enjoy family and friends and share good will. For some, however, the holidays bring isolation, depression and financial pressure.

To help people cope with these dark feelings, Mountain Life Church is offering its annual “Making the Most of the Holidays” workshop on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The event was started three years ago as a partnership with the Park City Community Church, said Timothy Deer, chaplain and care coordinator at Mountain Life Church. In the past couple of years, Mountain Life has held the workshop on its own.

“The holiday season, for many people, can be a very tense and troubling time and our goal is to reach out to everyone, church goers or non-church goers of all faiths, in the community who have a difficult time during the holidays,” Deer said during an interview with The Park Record. “Some people just emotionally don’t do well during the holidays. Some may have emotional issues that the holidays aggravate or accentuate, and there are always relationship issues.”

Common catalysts for emotional turmoil during the holidays include family issues, the loss of a loved one or the breakup of a marriage.

“Others struggle because of finances,” Deer said. “Especially in these times we’re in now, the financial side can be very trying for some people.”

The workshop addresses all these concerns during specialized breakout discussions led by registered nurses, financial planners and others.

Starting the day off will be a complimentary continental breakfast and a keynote speech by Dr. Donn Peters, a licensed psychologist from Park City, Deer said.

“He will give his address on a more general topic about getting the most out of the holidays,” Deer explained. “Following that, we’ll do the break out sessions around 9:30 a.m.”

Sessions, which will be held in private rooms, will include the following:

“Enriching Your Relationships” led by Phyllis Rehn, a registered nurse and licensed professional counselor.

“Emotional Well-being” led by Melissa Litwiller, also a licensed professional counselor.

“Personal Finances and Creative Gift Giving,” with financial advisors Stan and Janet Plaiser and Mountain Life Church’s “personal gift guru” Carol Clark.

“Grief,” led by Deer.

“Divorce Care,” led by Dale and Sara Clark.

“The ‘Grief’ session, led by myself, is a portion of the full grief program we have offered at Mountain Life for the last four or five years, and the divorce care session is a portion of the divorce care program we have been offering at Mountain Life as well,” Deer said.

All the sessions are warm, encouraging and helpful discussions that feature video instruction and group input, he said.

“We seem to be improving the program each year and hope the community responds again this year,” Deer said. “The first year we included sessions that dealt with grief and one that dealt with emotional well-being. Last year we added the enriching the relationships and divorce care and this year, the new session is the one about finances.”

People will have the opportunity to choose which breakout session to attend when they get to the venue.

“After hearing Dr. Peters’ talk, they can decided if they want to switch sessions or not, however, once the sessions start, we would rather they remain in the session than wander from room to room,” Deer said.

Not surprisingly, some of the sessions and discussions do get emotional, he said.

“We have seen people change their attitudes and life in the grief and divorce sessions,” Deer said. “However, these are not therapy sessions. We’re not therapists or claim to be therapists. We’re facilitators and facilitate a group discussion. Also, all that is said or revealed in the sessions is confidential.”

The workshop is a way for Mountain Life Church to show its support to the community.

“We really care about our community and this is one way we can show we care about the people here,” he said.

Mountain Life Church, 7365 N. Silver Creek Rd., will hold its annual “Making the Most of the Holidays” morning workshop on Saturday, Nov. 19, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The event is free, although registration is suggested. To register, call (435) 647-5855 or email [email protected] . Childcare can be made available if requested during registration. The event is free.