First Night: Anxiety Support Group

What happens the first night of our group? Introductions and expectations are first. I then spend time establishing ground rules for safety and confidentiality. If people do not feel safe in a group they won't open up and do the work that they came to do! This includes cross-talk and giving advice without getting permission to do so. 

We go over handouts, which are usually an agenda of our two hours together and we spend time talking about the Autonomic Nervous System - Fight/Flight or Freeze - and how staying dysegulated and either in Fight/Flight or Freeze contributes to anxiety, depression and difficulties in life in general. Because one thing that is important to know is that when our bodies are at either end of the ANS spectrum, our brains and cognitive powers are almost literally 'off-line'. People report to me that when they are in Fight/Flight or Freeze they cannot think, their heads feel foggy, they cannot speak or get 'flooded' with emotions.

Often this begins before a person is born. And, regulating the system or helping people come back to the middle - thinking, calm, relaxed and yet alert - is what needs to happen. Below are two of the handouts with diagrams of the ANS and the body's response to Fight/Flight. We also learn TRE and I send them home with a list of resources.

If any of this fits for you, or if you are tired of feeling 'stuck', not able to think clearly, not dealing with life in ways that work for you and the people in your life, please consider joining us! We still have room. 

Read more and register here: www.zoewaggoner.com/anxiety-support-group.html

---