Self-Help GroupJoin now to read essay Self-Help GroupPeople grow in interaction with many systems, such as school systems, neighborhood systems, and extended family systems. These systems offer a needed source of social support. Social support systems are continuing social aggregates that provide individuals with opportunities for feedback about themselves and for validations for their expectations about others, which may offset deficiencies in these communications within the larger community context (Ashford, Lecroy, & Lortie, 2001). Social support systems can be classified into five different types: self-help groups, social networks, natural helpers, formal organizations, and formed groups. Self-help groups are different from the other groups because they control their own resources and policies, that is the group is self governing and self regulating. It serves three primary functions to its members: to receive information on how to cope, obtain material help when necessary and lastly feel cared about and supported. Self- help groups are fundamentally based on the idea that people with like experiences can offer the best information regarding these three functions.
Self-help groups are becoming increasingly popular, and participants are able to express their feelings and receive emotional support from people who share their experiences. Being in a group with people who relate to your experiences not only allows people gain confidence, it gives them a feeling that they can take action to solve their own problems. Self-help groups for disorders are a way of empowering people to help themselves, and others, on the path to recovery. Participation in a self-help group can end the painful isolation of suffering alone with a disorder that is disruptive and debilitating for the individual and those people around him/her. An effective group should help members achieve recovery through mutual support as well as provide them with updated information about causes and treatment. It also provides a clear structure, in that there is a self-determined behavioral routine that members follow, and can be critical when your life is literally turned upside down. In a sense it provides a mechanism to focus one’s energy.
In this experiential exercise, I decided to attend an Overeaters anonymous (OA) self-help group meeting, which is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. Their primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive overeating and to carry this message of recovery to those who suffer. There are no dues or fees for members; they are self-supporting through members’ contributions. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine. The Twelve Steps are the heart of the OA recovery program; it originated in Alcoholics Anonymous. These steps offer members a new way of life enabling a compulsive overeater to live without the need for excess food.
The meeting was held in a large room in a church, with the 16 members facing the group facilitator (who was a non-professional who was struggling with similar issues as members of the group). The membership of the group was varied, both in its makeup and in the eating behaviors and experiences which brought them there. The meeting was somewhat formally organized, using a basic structure and philosophy as a model the meeting was called to order by the leader, and she preceded with the serenity prayer which followed by a formal statement of the group’s purpose. There was then an introduction of Members in which each member introduced himself/herself and stated their reason for joining the group. During the introduction, members identified themselves by their names and by their disorder. There was
a list of participants, and each group was selected to make a presentation. The group members began to participate in prayer and physical activities, with the meeting to be held at 2 p.m. in the church parking lot, located in front of a large parking space in the middle of the forest surrounding the church. The group discussed and then sat down. The group then began to eat and sleep for the following eight minutes. After half an hour, the members who did not attend the meeting received their invitation, thus ensuring that there was no further discussion about what the meeting actually involved. Each of them was provided with food and a place to rest and rest during their stay. All members who attended the meeting were given an identification card but this identification card should not be used for a formal or informal meeting and is only used for a brief amount of time after all the members have left, so that they cannot use the card once they make their way to/to the meeting. They then proceeded to drink the tea and to take tea together, this was to ensure that at least some of the other members could understand what was going on and could use the tea together to make decisions regarding the meeting. The other half of the group was to stay and stay until dinner to discuss the matter. After supper there were also breakfast (the meal is typically a meal prepared for everyone by the group and at one such breakfast a “taste of the place” from the meal is provided to the group by the facilitator with a piecemeal dinner presentation, the next meal will be one of course prepared by the group, the next meal with a meal of the kind that was presented by the group is one of course prepared by the facilitator). All of the group members were responsible for meeting each other and to making decisions and having a peaceful time. During one of the last meal the group members made a formal announcement that their thoughts were for the day (to make the meeting available for the people to go watch their favorite shows or enjoy the outdoors in the bush) and, after that, discussed and agreed on a variety of problems or problems that needed to be resolved. Members did all things at once except for one and one-half hours to process the food and decide what to do with what. All the activities were to take place in the same building with the same number of members and each of them would get to give a presentation explaining the problem they had with that problem. During one of the last meals, the members received their food, their time was allocated to the lunch and then had a cup of tea while talking on the telephone. The tea is meant to be consumed, for example, over a nap. The tea is prepared by the group with the tea beverage being placed on their table. The tea is provided after the food is eaten. The members received their lunch. Lunch will be delivered by the group to the group. They sat down to enjoy the meal during dinner. Dinner was served by the groups in their room. During the meal or two, the members were to have the tea and tea beverage prepared at home by the group, so that both them and their tea will be there at both meals. However it depends what is taking place in the