Will P. presented LifeRing to the staff of Cape Counseling in Cape May Court House, NJ. last month. We were contacted by them because of the fliers that Rosalie had sent out a few months back and we had met the head of staff at the fair we attended in October.
The head of staff wanted us to come down and talk to the staff so they could meet us and then maybe be in agreement on referring their patients to our group. They have offices in Court House, Wildwood, Marmora and Ocean City. There were 6 counselors and 2 young interns present. One of the counselors had contacted Marty awhile back looking for an alternative to AA. This was before we sent out our fliers. The rest of them seemed very open to us except one that made a point of telling us that she recovered in AA.
Will did a fine job in his presentation. He used their over head projector to explain the 3 S's to them. He also showed what his brain looked like at different times of the day in his addiction. The addicted part was small and the rational part large in the morning. By noon the addicted part had grown and by 4:00 or so it was over-powering the rational side.
Will didn't use any horror stories, he shared a little of his addiction, the fact that he was in AA but never used the steps or the higher power, told how our group could help other addicts and got a few giggles and one good belly laugh out of me and a couple of the counselors. My reasons for being there were to hear Will speak, provide him with support, hopefully learn some tips on how to speak to a group like this (or any for that matter!) and to pass out literature.
All of the counselors seemed excited when Will was done. They gathered around and scooped up all the pamphlets and fliers I had brought along. I think they will start referring their clients to us shortly. It was fun and I look forward to tagging along with my purple basket of literature to the next presentation.
Peace, Kathleen
12/2/00