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Monthly Drop-in Meetings
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Following the Eight-Week Support Groups, men may continue to access support at monthly drop-in meetings. These are also free and professionally facilitated and focus on a topic that encourages recovery, sharing of experience and the building of resilience.
Each month, a reading for a particular topic is sent out to attendees before the meeting.
Topics may include:
- Managing Emotions
- Recognising and Managing Flashbacks
- Strategies for Coping with Conflict
- Building Strong Relationships
- Triggers & Flashbacks
- Disclosing
- Anger
- Coping Strategies
- Moving on in Recovery
Three monthly meetings are currently held online. This is dependent on changing COVID-19 restrictions and government health advice.
For me the eight-week group was about dealing with the past. The monthly meeting is about dealing with now and living a better life. The eight-week group showed me how to reach up for help. The monthly meeting helps me to reach out and learn from others. The eight-week group put my feet on the road to a better life. The monthly group keeps them there.
Lindsay
I have found the monthly meetings to be really useful as an ongoing way of connecting with others with similar experiences so that I don’t need to feel alone and ashamed anymore and for reminding myself that recovery is possible so that I don’t fall back into old and harmful ways of thinking.
Jonathan
The meetings with other survivors are great as I feel I can share private thoughts of pain, feelings of isolation, and feelings of hope, as I know members will not judge me and always offer encouragement for the future. Fellow members are men I know I can trust and not just tell me to get over it. I always leave the meetings feeling a greater sense of well-being and hope for a more positive future.
David
The monthly fellowship meeting provides an anchor point which builds on the eight-week course. In sharing the reading and hearing how others have been coping with the previous four weeks I find myself uncovering fresh insights something like peeling off the layers of an onion. Being heard without judgement or eliciting unwanted advice is great but as this process of disclosure occurs in ever deeper trust it is safe, secure and often quite profound. I find more fundamental support amongst peers than even with the expertise in professional counselling and mental health physicians.
Chris
The monthly meetings have been my salvation. I know about the other guy’s pets, their travels, their achievements, their setbacks. We even joke about each other in the way that only true mates can. From the talkative ones to the quiet ones, all equal and all in a safe place. These are my true family. My thanks to SAMSN for replacing what I lost.
Pete
I had not told anyone for 50 years. I opened up to a friend and she found SAMSN for me and got into their Eight-week Support Group. I was so surprised to know I was not alone. The group supported me in many ways and I still attend the Monthly Meetings. I am so grateful for SAMSN as I was in a very dark place.
Mark B
SAMSN has been the most healing space for me and my family. It’s the only space where I’ve learned the most about what happened to me.
Billy
