I had been informed about a sports day that would take a lot of the participants away from the group, but to avoid people turning up and me not being there, we decided to still go ahead. I was secretly looking forward to a quieter group!
Three group members turned up; the atmosphere felt very calm….we began by doing another writing exercise, which we all did together, then we did doodle exercises with these words, which brought up unexpected things. Small groups always feel very different to larger ones; there is more space for people to talk and usually people feel more comfortable sharing in a more intimate group. I felt priviledged to be part of it; the sharing that happened felt really important. Experiences were shared and common ground was found, which led us to talking about feelings of shame. I have no experience of addiction, but talking about what to me is a core human feeling, has increased my understanding, so I feel I have greater empathy for an addict`s experience, so thank you!
It`s impossible to pinpoint exactly what brought about this sharing; lots of factors no doubt, but maybe writing feelings down as a small group was one of these factors. One group member said. “I have never felt this open in a group before; they`re always trying to get you to open up about how you feel.”
There was a hopeful feeling to the group, as they reflected on past events that brought them to this point, whilst looking to the future.
