Saturdays

Recently, I have taken up facilitating a women's only group at work... it's, obviously, a recovery based group, but within Drug Court. It has been such a success so far. Last week was my first one- I had been preparing for it for two weeks and still was nervous. I had my rules and regulations printed out and also another little worksheet that explains what I plan to do with the group and then asking members for ideas of stuff we could do or topics we could speak on in future groups. It was an amazing group. I did some research on women and early abuse and it's relation to substance abuse problems later in life. Each woman took a turn and kind of told the others how whatever type of abuse they survived affected them. I even shared a little about myself- you know, trust. It was amazing, like I said, and I never expected them to respond like they did. When I returned to work on Tuesday after that group, I got praise from my boss. He said that a few of the women told him that the group was good and that they were greatful for it. I began to get more input from the women... they had more ideas about what we could do in the future. They were looking forward to some time away from the guys. It's exactly what I had in mind: a bit of time away from guys to let it all "hang out"... and that's just what it feels like. Since today we had a birthday, one of our clients brought in cake, myself and the facilitator from the men's group agreed that we'd cut our groups short half an hour and come together to meet and sing to our client. So, I decided that today was the perfect day for RECOVERY PICTIONARY!! I put the ladies in groups of three (and one had four), explained the rules of the game and we were off. It started off a bit slow, they didn't really GET it for a few minutes, but after they did: it was great! They had to try to draw things like "recovery", "dance" and "bra"!! It was funny and it was fun. I think only one person in the whole group didn't get a chance to draw, but she wasn't worried about it. I ended the group, like always, in the Serenity Prayer, all of us with joined hands; we then trooped downstairs to the men's group for our b-day celebration. I have to say- I didn't think I'd be much good as facilitator, but I am. I know that I still have a ton to learn, but these clients are amazing teachers, and willing enough. I am the greatful one here. Each week will be a new opportunity for me to help the women either learn something new, gain some knowledge, share and help their peers, laugh a bit and maybe even do some good in the community. Everyone wins.