The second component to "Friday Night CR"

OPEN SHARE GROUPS 8:00-9:00pm

• "Open share groups" are the second component to "Friday Night CR."
• They meet right after the "large group" at 8:00pm
• These groups are issue specific: See Issues/addictions for more information
• These groups are always gender specific: Men with men; women with women
• These groups are led by facilitators who have been trained to lead the "open share groups" and the CR program.
• We currently have two "open share groups" for men, and two for women. Even though your specific issue might not be listed in that group, we encourage you to find the group that would best define you and fit your need. Other groups will be added as we expand the program.
• In these groups we open up and share honestly about ourselves knowing that one of the keys to healing is being open about our hurts, hang-ups, and habits.
• We also understand that CR is a "safe place", what's shared in the group stays in the group, ALWAYS!
• Anonymity and confidentiality are the basic requirements. The only exception would be when someone threatens to injure themselves or others.
• The "open share group" is a time of expressing your thoughts and experiences with the others in the group. Remember; focus on your thoughts and feelings.
• Within the "open share groups" we abide by 5 specific guidelines set fourth at the beginning each group.

Celebrate Recovery Group Guidelines

1. Keep your sharing focused on your own thoughts and feelings. Limit your sharing to three to five minutes.
   
   
   • Focusing on one's own thoughts and feelings will keep sharing short, eliminate cross talk, and keep the person sharing from "wandering" to other people's problems or non-group related topics. Please be strict about the three to five minute rule. It is very frustrating for others in the group to miss an opportunity to share because someone else spoke for ten minutes or more. Come up with a signal, if necessary, and announce it at the start of the group. If anyone goes over his or her time, give the signal to stop so no one feels singled out.
   
   
2. There is NO cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in conversation excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her feelings without interruptions.
   
   
   • Cross talk can also be identified as someone making "I can relate to you because..." or "I can't relate to you because..." comments, laughing, asking questions, and so on. We don't have to be legalistic about it, but we must be very careful not to offend anyone. If this guideline is abused someone may get very hurt and give up on recovery altogether.
   
   
3. We are here to support one another, not "fix " another.
   
   
   • We all have wonderful intentions, and want to share the wisdom we have gained from being in this awesome program. Many times, however, a person is not at the proper emotional state to hear or understand. The members of your group are going to look to you to protect them and enforce this guideline. Fixing can be described as offering advice to solve a problem someone has shared, offering a Scripture, offering book referrals, or offering counselor referrals.
   
   
4. Anonymity and confidentiality are basic requirements. What is shared in the group stays in the group. The only exception is when someone threatens to injure themselves or others.
   
   
   • It can be very hurtful to discover that someone's sharing is being discussed outside of the small group time. Most of the people in recovery have never been able to "tell their secret"—they need to be assured that this is the safe place to do it. When making phone calls to members of your group, you must be careful about protecting anonymity when leaving a phone message.
   
   
5. Offensive language has no place in a Christ-centered recovery group.
   
   
   • Because many of us grew up hearing and/or using offensive language, this can be a painful trigger to members of our group. If we are growing in recovery and our walk with the Lord, we will never use foul language and will be diligent in enforcing this guideline to protect the members of our group.