Anyone try this number yet? I might give it a try today. I would be interested in hearing anyone else's experiences first, though. I have found some other mentions of this group by searching "Social Phobics Anonymous" on SAS.
It is a structured call. Part of the meeting is for reading helpful material, part is for structured sharing, part is for sharing anything, etc. When the line was opened for general sharing, I wanted to speak so badly but I felt like I was frozen. The moderator kept reminding everyone that is was OK to not speak - listening helps too.
But, finally, I DID IT! I SPOKE! My anxiety level was so high that I was shaking and my throat was constricted. The voice coming out of my mouth didn't sound like me. I managed to say something like... "Hi, I'm Jocelyn. This is my first time calling in. I'm insanely anxious right now but wanted to thank you for hosting these meetings." I think I said something else but can't remember. Not groundbreaking stuff but I did it, lived through it, and feel good about it, and that's what is important.
At the end of the call, they open the lines for socializing. That was a very quiet social event. One person finally spoke and then I spoke again - with less anxiety that time. I did not say much, but again, the point is that I did it.
1. Thanks for all the encouragement!!!
2. To avoid long distance charges - use a cell phone.
3. To avoid using minutes - call in to the conference that is at a time when your cell phone company gives free minutes. For example, my minutes are free after 8pm on weekdays and all day on Saturday/Sunday.
Saw this on the main site. It wasn't mentioned by the OP, so I'll post it. Really good to know
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)
I tried it today. I didn't speak during the meeting. The meeting had a lot of silence, but three or four people other than the moderator spoke. The first part, where the mod wanted people to read material from the Social Phobic Anonymous website, was a little awkward. Only one person was willing to read. The mod didn't try to push any specific person into reading the material or anything like that. In the next part you could share a little about yourself or another topic. Most of the speaking occured during the sharing part. At the end of the meeting we were left to have an open discussion. No one talked, but this might have just been a bad day. I managed to say a hello after most of the people had left, but I didn't get a response.
I plan on calling in again sometime. I doubt I'll share anything, but maybe I'll be able to say more next time.
This past week, I called into two Recovery Inc. meetings, only listening in, and fearing that I hadn't managed to put it on "mute".
On Social Phobic Anonymous a message comes on when you put it on mute. Another one comes one when you take it off of mute. By pressing *4 you can also find out how many people are at the meeting.
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. I wanted to let everyone know that the phone number for this group has changed (and changes periodically).
To get the current phone number, go to:http://healsocialanxiety.com and scroll down.
I suggest bookmarking the page because the phone number does change from time to time.
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I called this a few times during the summer. I managed to talk a little bit once and I got a reply. I didn't like it that much...mostly with how it's set up, but I guess it could be helpful to some people.
i just called and it said "the high speed conferencing thing has been replaced, u may try the new one at so and so .com..." what's going on??? this is the first time I called and I was really anticipating and now it's been taken down???
I think the problem that you have told these problems happen only sometimes,
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