Evergreen

I go to an Evergreen support and accountability group. I will tell all of you what we told a new member in our group this week. It is a safe place, one where you can be yourself and be open. It is a place for support and friendship, a place of growth. Each person takes away something different from the experience. Knowing that everyone there has the same issue removes the worry about being found out, about how people will react, etc. It is a place for healthy male bonding. And it is something of a spiritual experience.

Each meeting opens and closes with a prayer, has a reading of the mission statement, and a lesson. This takes up about the first half hour. The rest of the meeting is for check-in. Each guy has a few minutes to talk about how his week has gone, and to talk about what he is struggling with that week (without any details-like places or websites-that might tempt someone else). He can choose to have feedback from the group, which is to be based on that person's experiences (not advice giving). Then, there after the closing prayer, most of the guys just hang around and visit for a while. There is usually a lot of hugging, if one is comfortable with that.

I come away from each of these meetings very charged up and uplifted. I feel supported and renewed (at the risk of sounding sappy). I have made some good friends, and it has been a very positive experience for me.