Group Therapy

Group therapy;  have you ever been a part of one such group? Today I am sharing a letter written to a group of addicts who are in an IOP (Intensive Outpatient therapy) program, by a woman who attended on family night at The Bradford. It was time to say her good-byes, however, she was speechless when the time came. She went home to reflect on the time spent with perfect strangers who had found a place in her heart.

Here is what she said:

I didn’t get the chance to say the things I wanted to say, the things that were in my heart on my last night of group therapy. I went home and wrote my thoughts down in hopes of getting this letter to the facilitator, for her to read to you. Greetings to you IOPers. It appears I  do have something to say to you after all. I was honored to listen to your thoughts, feelings and opinions during the seven weeks of family night. I appreciate the opportunity to get to know you in a small way as you each talked about your stuff.

Here’s the thing, during that seven week period, people showed up, but they never came back. You guys DID  come back, and you are still coming back, and that speaks volumes about who you are and where you want to go. Your dedication to recovery is admirable. I don’t know your futures-I don’t even know mine- but I do know mine includes a lifetime of discovering who I really am, and learning to relate in healthy ways.

I wish the same for you because y’all are “effing great”!

.

Peace.

I don’t know about you but I can identify with those words in that letter. Addictions, rotten childhood, abuses, divorce, job loss, none of those things are who we are; they are all just things that happen to us.

Don’t let those things define who you are either.

In the words of The Help: “You is kind. You is good. You is important.”

Therapy comes in many shapes and sizes. I wrote about another group here: Don’t Miss Out.