Discussion Group Meetings?

I went to a group meeting for gays... it was the 'Gay Father's of Toronto' support group. I've been twice now. The people there were really friendly and supportive - they wouldnt' be there if they weren't that kind of person.

I imagine they all have a different approach. When I went, there was someone there to lead the meeting, and they had come prepared with an article from the newspaper to stimulate some discussion, as well as a question that he posed to the group to give people the opportunity to talk.

They made it clear that I could say as much or as little as I wanted to. They were willing to share their stories to make me feel more comfortable, but I wasn't to feel pressured into telling them anything that I didn't want to.

I hope you find it helpful. I sure did. If you're not comfortable talking about something, then just say so. Nobody's going to ask you to leave. I'm sure they'll be quite respectful.

 

I've been to a few up in Macon, and two down here in Perry. The meetings weren't that helpful to me because I feel secure with my sexuality, and I ended up speaking for a good part of the meeting. Anyway, I agree with Jim. They aren't going to ask you to share anything you don't want to. Be excited you have the opportunity!

 

All the gay discussion groups I've been to have been pretty good, but then I love hearing other people's stories and telling my own. My biggest struggle is that there is (invariably) always at least one blowhard/know-it-all person who likes to monopolise the group and thinks their issues are just so much more fascinating than anybody else's. Of course, as fate would have it, in reality their issues are usually the least interesting to me--and I'm pretty sure to the majority of people there. On the flipside, I have been able to pick up, from these pathetic creatures' sterling examples, exactly how NOT to be an ignorant, obnoxious prick, which is a fancy way of saying I developed much better listening skills by attending discussion groups... and I learned that it's really important to give people who aren't as likely as I am to speak out the space and time to do so. Basically the occasional silence during a group discussion is not something to be afraid of.

That being said, I tend to have a very low threshold for suffering fools, so if you're simply of average get-pissed-off-ability, you'll probably be fine. No matter how arrogant the occasional attendee, I've always come away richer rather than poorer from a good discussion about "gay stuff."

 

I have moved one post from here to the Group Addiction Recovery thread as requested by the poster (who accidentally posted in the wrong thread), removed one post that followed on from it, and edited a bit from Joey's post that was in response to that. Hopefully we're back on track now.

 

I think there is one of those, to a greater or lesser extent, in a lot of support/voluntary/whatever groups. There is one (though not too bad) in our local Linux Users Group, but the guy who runs it is good at keeping him under control.

It should be down to whoever is leading these group discussions to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak if they want to, and that the more vocal members do not monopolise the sessions.

 

That's cool... weird that everyone was so much older than you--guess I thought it was youth-focused but looking back I see you didn't specify that.

Listening is often a lot more beneficial than talking, even.