Gary and Richard and I had a luncheon meeting yesterday and have decided on the basis of several other people's suggestion that we continue the support person group workshops in February.  This will begin on Sunday, February 1 at 3 PM at the Alachua Presbyterian Church there will be a second meeting on February 15 at 3 PM at same location.  Further meetings will be announced very soon.

     One thing that prompted me was an email from Joe :

Phil; everyone is in AA of sorts as their part of suffering the human condition 6 billion are unaware or have cancer of “iam” EGO.others are happy because 6 billion others are lying about their happiness, wholeness holiness, peace, serenity, etc……….
You my dear brother are , honest, humble, caring, wise, and a gifted teacher and counselor. So stop your cry babying, ask in your deepest self for Gods guidance, and press on..
Perhaps and bulletin flyer, your church, garys, others, where allowed and in counseling office and hospital and police station and school board and colleges. Other people care and can understand the value of such a group and promote it. If this works you owe me a fishing trip. I have my motives also.
Pax
joe

If that doesn’t get me off my self pity routine I don’t think anything will.

I am gratified to find that several folks have wanted the Supportive Person Workshops to continue and mentioned the Alachua Presbyterian Church meeting two weeks ago as a very good meeting.  I am reconsidering and have talked with Gary about the Presbyterian Church as possible meeting site for Feb 1 and 15^th at 3PM But I would like to say something about my concerns for the future:

1.    When I was in the hospital I had considerable guilt over four main issues:

a. I am concerned that I am getting too many volunteers from AA which bothers me because they may feel obligated to me and also I would like to know how this group works with non AA folks as well. So I need to drop back and find a way to get volunteers who will show up and also have compassion for their fellow human being.

b. I am concerned about AA folks giving up their anonymity while in the group

c. I know only by instinct that learning about “being supportive and   willingness to be supported”is a very good thing. It could be a waste of time.

d. Since I am planning on selling  a guidebook on supportive group work I am self conscious about my own motives.

So if you have ideas or specific folks who would be willing to be a volunteer in this endeavor please send me an email or respond to the blog.

Phil

  I am not certain as to what happened in Sunday's afternoon meeting at the Presbyterian Church.  It was very puzzling to me, but what I have gradually come to realize is that there is a suspicion about this format that is quite justifiable.  So I need to make certain corrections and make reassurance that I can deliver something that is both positive and useful.   There were many questions about what the subject was or could be.  There were questions about the previous groups and  how disjointed  they seemed to be.
The next group meeting will be at my home on Thursday, January 15 at 6:30 PM.  I think we will be  having chili but I have to con  some cooks into the idea of cooking chili.  Meanwhile I will be thinking about some of the suggestions that I have gotten from others after the group that we might do on that Thursday so as to make it easier and more acceptable to enter into the  supportive person process.
I think that it is time that we explore the support person group process because I see my friends and acquaintances as becoming more ego driven and therefore becoming more fearful.  But on the other hand they rightly fear being pulled into a cult or something too  unfamiliar  and too threatening to one's personal integrity.

In my humble opinion the support person group process is designed to help people who are becoming more ego driven and more insulated for a variety of reasons.  Some of this in a distrust of the group and particularly a group that is so ill-defined at this point  as the supportive person or group.  I understand that fear because I certainly have that fear as well.  But in the words of Pogo" we have met the enemy and it is us"

While in a meeting today and it occurred to me that during my life as a psychiatrist I came to realize that people who have considerable AA experience listen in a different way than other folks.  But I also remember that a monk said there is a total difference between listening with intention and listening with  attention.  So I put those things together and came up with the idea people learn to listen if they attended more than just a few meetings in their lifetime then they have listened and listened again.  One has to realize that this thing cannot be detected as such but we often realize which later when somebody has really heard us.  So for all the credits that are given to Bill W and the other founders to me the real credit lies with the listener who listens again and again with attention but without trying to make anything out of it.

Today is just as good a day as any to create a blog.  After losing several units of blood I think I am on the mend.  The family seems healthy and everyone enjoyed themselves yesterday at Christmas.  I was pretty weak so I stayed in my room a good  bit.  I went to a meeting this morning and enjoyed it.

So today I will begin the blog with the issue of how to develop and maintain a website concerning the supporting person group process.  This group process is the culmination of many years of fretting over details without really looking at the big picture.  What is necessary in a group format is that the egos involved are kept at bay.  I think this is particularly true of the leaders ego.  We have also fretted over the naming of this type of group and that is probably a fault.  For the time being we will call it the Janus group.  But it could be called the Springer Janus group.  One mullswith the idea that the group could be considered as the counter ego group.

The idea behind all this fretting is is that the group is designed to bring in a variety of ego presentations on the part of group members and effectively put in its place a balance of two individuals comprising a participant and a supportive person. this dyad is the central feature of the supporting person group.