18-29 May 2009, Ozd, Therapy Centre

I’m toying with the idea of how fifteen strangers can become, after twelve days, a group--that is to say, a community. Because during the Short Term Therapy program in May I was again facing a familiar situation. As at other times, the meeting when we sit together for the first time is supper. It always seems peculiar to me: what we are doing here, such different people, from so many different different places... The first hardships we have to get over are the accommodations (how the individuals react to the new circumstances, how they get along with their room-mate, the program, etc.), the package check, the suffering caused by physical withdrawal symptoms, all these are difficult things to handle. During the first day the ice usually breaks – this is how it happened this time again: the first devotional was tuned to the atmosphere, a common field was created and the participants started to become familiar with one another. This is a very important moment: when each one tells something about himself/herself. Do they dare to show something about themselves or do they just talk to hide behind the words? If the participants open themselves, it is always a gift, and it happened this time too--they opened up and presented themselves honestly. The guests, our healed addicted friends, we invited to confess about their own life stories helped a lot in this opening, in facing the participants themselves.

Many times these confessions meant the most in the course of change, as people usually tell us later. In this therapy program I was touched the most when, during a group discussion, one participant shared his problems and many of the others responded to it. They started to talk about many personal things which meant real support and help. That initiator could experience the feeling that he was a part of an accepting family where he received something he hadn’t got at home before – and this has a healing effect.

In my opinion, the essence and the aim of a group is that the group members turn toward each other, to support each other and the group leader should only provide the framework, but not the solutions; he/she should mainly help the members to respond to each other. During the closure of the group and the so called “self out-presentation” each participant could express again what the time spent together during the therapy meant for them.

It is hard to write about this - it’s something one should experience. One should take part in this process where change happens in everybody. Actually this is the sign of life. That’s why it was worth it for me too to take part in this therapy.

Tünde Geréb, Staff Member, Odorheiu Secuiesc