Some common questions about DBSA Seattle

The website received a great email asking some questions about us. Since I’m sure these are questions that have occurred to others, I thought I’d post the questions and my replies here.

I am just curious about the whole thing…how it works…. We meet, we talk. More elaborately: at 7:00pm on the second and fourth Thursday’s of each month (except November when it conflicts with Thanksgiving, and sometimes December when it sometimes conflicts with Christmas) we get together at either the Harborview location (2nd Thursday) or UW Medical Center Cafeteria Conference Rooms (4th Thursday). The facilitator introduces themselves, and we begin with general introductions: ie, first names and briefly what brought us to the meeting (either generally, or for the evening). After introductions, we talk about whatever comes up. We take a bathroom break about halfway through, and finish the meeting just before 9:00pm.

How many people are in the support group…. We’ve had as few as 3 people (facilitator and 2 others) and as many as something over 20 come to our meetings. When we get to over 12 we like to break the meetings up into smaller sections to make conversation easier.

How welcoming is it? Generally, very welcoming. We are set up as support for those with bipolar, depression, and their friends and family. Everyone is at a different place along the way of learning about this illness and now to manage living with it.

Do you have a lot of personality conflicts? Personality conflicts can happen when people with personalities come together. People seem to be fairly charitable toward one another.

They meet twice a month on Thursdays? Yes, we do. See our “About” page. But only once each month at each location.

I saw there was a difference in the meetings…what is the difference? The only difference between the locations is the locations and the facilitators. (we have 2 facilitators at the moment) But I like to remind people that each meeting is different: in that even if the exact same people show up and we talk about the exact same topics, the opinions and discussion can take things in new directions.

Do I need to bring anything? Nope, just yourself.

If I get lost on my way there is there a phone number I can call? Sorry, if you get lost we don’t have an emergency number. My suggestion is to ask people in the building you’re at where either “Harborview Research and Training building” or “UW Medical Center Plaza Cafe” is located. (See “About” page for links to maps and links to driving directions)

Who runs the meetings and whats their background? DBSA Seattle organization is a peer-support organization. Meaning the facilitators share the same diagnosis. Our training process is relatively informal, and we’re always on the look out for people that would like to be back-up facilitators. If after attending a few meetings you think you might be up to it, just ask the facilitator and we’ll talk about it.

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