TIPS ON HOW TO
USE FREE SOCIAL
PHOBICS ANONYMOUS/SOCIAL ANXIETY ANONYMOUS TELEPHONE SUPPORT GROUPS:
HOW TO CALL IN:
CALLING IN FROM
The telephone number and access code for
our phone support groups are (712) 432-0075
(
NOTE: Enter the PIN "936-308#" S-L-O-W-L-Y or the system may drop you out
Calling in from Europe, the
Middle East, Africa, Asia,
00+1+ (712) 432-0075 AND
(in either case),
WHEN
PROMPTED Enter The PIN NUMBER: "936-308# "S-L-O-W-L-Y
Telephone Group Meeting Times (listed in
North American Time, Please Convert to Your Own Time Zone)
A few more helpful
pointers on using the conference call support groups—
1)
WHAT IF I DON’T HEAR ANYTHING WHEN I CALL IN?
Remember that because these are Social Anxiety
Support Groups, sometimes there are long silences (because people are shy).
So if you call in during a silence, don’t worry, just wait up to 5
minutes to see if people start talking again (or you can say
“Hello” if you like). **If you hear a silence
lasting longer than 5 minutes, there may be a technical problem, in which case,
try hanging-up and calling back in.
2)
Telephone Commands for Conference call Users:
TO TALK: Press Star (*) and then
“3” on your telephone.
TO MUTE: Press Star (*) and then “2” on your telephone. (Please always mute yourself when not speaking to keep
background noise in the call to a minimum. Remember to Un-mute yourself when
you want to speak again)
IF THE COMMANDS DON'T WORK OR IF YOU CAN'T GET INTO THE CONFERENCE CALL:: Wait 30 seconds and enter commands again more
slowly. If they still don't work; Or if
you can't get into the conference, Call 720.882.8976 for technical
assistance (if calling from outside of North America we can only provide technical support by email at-- healsocialanxiety@hotmail.com .
3)
DO I HAVE TO REGISTER OR PAY ANYTHING TO USE THE
SERVICE? NO. There is no
registration and it really is free (you pay nothing to be in the groups,
we are a not-for profit peer-led organization). But it does
take a normal long distance call to reach the service (average North American long distance charges are 5 cents a minute) **Unless you call in using Free or Unlimited Calling On your Cell
phone. **If calling from Outside of the
4) DO I HAVE TO TALK WHEN I CALL IN? WHAT IF I AM AFRAID TO TALK ON
THE PHONE? You don't have to talk. It's OK to just listen. **If your anxiety
makes it difficult for you to talk on the phone, you can still get a lot out of
the groups by just calling in and listening. We are happy to have you do that. These groups are gentle
and non-pressuring and very healing. You don't have to talk until you are ready
to try. **It can however be very
helpful to talk; So If you are at all
able to talk— We suggest that you do try— at least a
little— as this will aid your recovery even further. But if you
can’t talk, don’t beat yourself up, just keep calling in and listening each week, and
you can still learn a lot about how to help your social anxiety.
5)
DO I HAVE TO COME EACH WEEK? NO. BUT keep in mind
that regular attendance will provide the best help for your Social Anxiety
problems. (We don't take attendance, though-- you come when it works for you
and that's fine). **Nevertheless, people who get the best results make one or
more groups a part of their life on a long-term basis (Recovery from social
anxiety is a gradual process for most of us). **We do get better though, and
there are people in the groups who have gotten rid of the large majority of
their symptoms. So it does work!)
6)
I Prefer a Local (Face-to-face) Group. We DO have such groups
in some areas. **However you can get just as much healing in a telephone group.
We have found that “exposure” (alone) is NOT the key to recovery
from Social Anxiety. Rather, using various self-help tools internally, which we learn through coming to the groups on a
regular basis, is the key to making our recovery work. Opportunities for
exposure are always all around us— but exposure won’t work until we
learn effective self-help tools and concepts which are abundantly available in
our telephone support groups. A
list of our local groups is listed on our Main SPA Web Page
7)
Does SPA/SoCAA have
any Literature? YES, we have a great deal of free literature and also recommend literature
from a few other 12 Step Programs. Information on our literature can be found
here— www.spalibrary.info
8)
I would like to start a local group. New local SPA groups are always welcome. Information
on how to start a local Social Phobic’s Anonymous/ Social Anxiety
Anonymous Support Group Can be found at:
http://healsocialanxiety.com/howtostartaspagroup.html
9)
Are there rules of conduct in SPA/SoCAA groups? No more so
than most other 12 Step programs— Being respectful of
others, respecting the group meeting format (which is explained each week at
the start of the group) and expressing ones needs in a constructive manner are
all that is required to be accepted in the groups. In such matters, patterns
of disruptive or abusive behavior rather than isolated incidents usually determine
whether or not someone might be asked to seek help elsewhere; criminal or
violent behavior (or speech) being unacceptable even once.
10)
Are there any problems that SPA/ SoCAA can NOT help? SPA/SoCAA
provides free, peer-led (non-professional and 12 Step-oriented) help to people with Social
Anxiety, Shyness or Social Phobia Problems. We do this with limited volunteer-provided
resources. **We are not capable of clinically evaluating group members, but the
following self-assessed (or professionally assessed) problems are beyond the capability of our groups to help and may
even be disruptive to our support groups—
A)
Active
Drug or Alcohol Addictions [NOTE: properly prescribed medications are NOT
what we are talking about here, and you ARE WELCOME to attend our groups if you
are taking Doctor-prescribed medication and believe that you are not actively addicted
to it]
**We recommend that
people with ACTIVE drug or alcohol problems seek help elsewhere until they are at
least 6 (six) months ‘clean’ from their addictive substance and are also getting
ongoing help from other support groups
or professionals who specialize in these areas) **SPA will NOT be
of any real help to people who are still active in their addictions-- and
these individuals may also be disruptive to the well-being of our groups until
they have stable, 6-month-plus (or even more) recovery from their addiction
problem, along with ongoing guidance from professionals or sponsors
specializing in that area. SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR Various
kinds of addictions.
B)
Borderline
Personality Disorder (BPD) Although this problem appears
(on the surface) to include social anxiety symptoms, it is actually a very
different syndrome and many studies show that BPD itself is NOT very responsive to approaches that help regular Social Anxiety. **However there ARE scientifically-proven
therapies that CAN help this problem and we encourage people with BPD to seek professional
help that will be most effective for their needs. It should also be noted
that people with BPD can (eventually, sometimes after a honeymoon period)
become very abusive and disruptive in support group settings that are not professionally supervised.This is another reason
why SPA asks that people with Borderline Personality Disorder NOT attend our groups.
**BPD Social Anxiety operates according to very different dynamics.We wish people with BPD
well, but we encourage them to seek the professional help that can make a real
difference for their problems. SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR
BPD
11)
NON-DIAGNOSIS. In SPA we do NOT
diagnose others as having drug/alcohol or BPD problems. We simply ask that
people make PERSONAL choices to come or not to come to our groups based on the
above information. HOWEVER— Patterns of disruptive or abusive behavior in our groups will not be tolerated and offending individuals will be asked to leave, criminal or violent speech or behavior being unacceptable even once.
12)
Alternatives to SPA/ SoCAA
& Resources for Other Problems: There are many alternatives for people seeking
help for social anxiety or other problems. A few such alternatives are listed
here, the Internet and professional guidance being other ways to find out about
such resources:
Resources for Drug/Alcohol Addiction (Does
NOT include Benzodiazepine addiction, which has different recovery needs):
Alcoholics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Cocaine Anonymous
Resource for Benzodiazepine addiction, which has VERY DIFFERENT recovery needs from other types of drug addiction (note there are about 20 drugs in the benzodiazapine family and each has its own seperate name this link will help you determine if your medication is a benzo and if you have a benzo addiction):
Benzo Island
Resources for
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD):
A list of Common BPD Symptoms: (Doesn't mention difficulty being alone but mentions most other primary symptoms) NOTE: Having Some of these Symptoms Does Not Automatically Mean that One Has BPD; Getting A Professional Diagnosis Is Important if One Thinks that they Might Have BPD.
RETURN TO SOCIAL PHOBICS
ANONYMOUS/ SOCIAL ANXIETY ANONYMOUS HOME PAGE
SOCIAL PHOBICS
ANONYMOUS LITERATURE
FINDING SPA/SoCAA SUPPORT GROUPS and their MEETING TIMES (Both telephone
groups and local groups)
