Let's Pineapple! 🍍
The Big Pineapple is an in-person event series built to offer support to people facing mental health challenges, starting with survivors of Complex PTSD.The events provide a structured, facilitated approach to community – a cornerstone of the healing journey – where we can connect, express, be seen, offer mutual support, & share this difficult journey together.We offer The Big Pineapple for you to meet & connect in community with people who have a similar mental health experience to you.Events are held in NYC & soon beyond, and are produced by Pineapple AF.Join our newsletter to learn about next events.
Our Team
Jared Scheib 🍍 Founder
Jared is a survivor of Complex PTSD, film & theater director, storytelling & performance coach & artist, software engineer, entrepreneur, & founder of Pineapple AF, living in the big pineapple, NYC.A champion of mental health, in all its adversity, diversity, & beauty, Jared's core passion is healthy human relationships.His ambition is to build mental health-positive community for connection, creative expression, and mutual support in our healing journeys.
LaTimberly Johnson 🍍 Designer
Timmy is a Product Designer with an innate love for helping others and trying to better understand who we are as humans.She’s a believer in self-awareness and self-love as the starting point to creating better relationships with yourself, your friends, family, partners and all the humans in between.New favorite quote: "In a world full of apples. Be a pineapple!" (No offense to apples.)
Sam Variyam 🍍 Design Intern
Sam is an intern at Pineapple AF, currently studying communication design at Parsons School of Design.She works at the intersection of design and social, health, and environmental equity, designing creative solutions for tangible problems.She also loves mangoes and pineapples (obviously)!
Piney the Pineapple 🍍 Support
Piney is our support pineapple. She pines for your happiness, responding to help requests & always showing up with a smile.
How It Works
At The Big Pineapple events, we do a sequence of structured, facilitated activities:
welcome – facilitator intro, values, agreements, event overview
opening circle – personal intros & feelings check-in
breathwork – let go, sync up, & heighten our awareness about our inner experience
meditation – be present with our inner experience
journaling – reflect on our individual experience
verbal expression – share our experience & be witnessed
active listening – listen to & repeat back each other's expression
creative expression – connect with & honor our inner artist thru a simple, easeful activity
closing circle – reflect on our experience
farewell – facilitator outro, next steps
socializing (unstructured) – deepen our connection with each other
Together we share our experiences, difficulties, learnings, & journeys. To be acknowledged, heard, and seen, more deeply over the course of the event.If you've participated in a 12-step program, integration circle, group therapy, or just sat around with friends & really shared deeply & authentically of yourself, we think you'll feel at home. And inspired.We use facilitation to support you in connecting with & supporting each other, as we grow together.
Feel like a maybe?
We aim to build community for mental health, to provide structure, space, & support to help make your mental health journey an experience of self-realization and growth, in a trusting & safe environment, with people who get it.If you resonate with our mission, want to know more, and aren't ready to join us at The Big Pineapple, we'd love to hear from you.Take a first step in your The Big Pineapple journey by filling out a brief survey so we can learn about you and connect with you.
Pineapple, the App
Pineapple is our app that our community uses to connect before & outside of The Big Pineapple events.Pineapple is our app in Beta that brings people together in small groups through curiosity, introspection, & personal expression. The app aims to offer a form of our in-person experience, asynchronously, all over authentic selfie-video.Start or continue your The Big Pineapple journey with Pineapple for iOS, or start with one of our in-person events.
Question? Comment? Idea? 🍍
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