Meet with other local people with an exteme fear of social situations, social anxiety, and/or public speaking/performance anxiety. Offer support and understanding and share your story with others!  An excellent opportunity to meet new people that you can openly share your anxiety challenges with. This is a judgement free and low pressure environment.

If you prefer not to speak at all, no problem, just come and observe.   Please do not let the fear that you will have to speak hold you back from attending.  You can learn valuable information just from listening to others.   You will also realize that you are not alone, that you can relate to other people.

We meet in libraries in Bristol, Southington and Plainville, CT usually on weeknights and occassional Saturday afternoons.   Meetings may be rarely held in the New Haven area.  Usually, meetings run about an hour to an hour and a half.   On average, there are 2 meetings per month.

The meetings have been going great! It's a nice mixture of new and returning members.   There is no commitment involved; attend as you are able.

There is no solid structure to the meetings.  We usually share our stories, briefly or in detail, on a voluntary basis.   We speak about what is going on in our lives regarding social anxiety issues, what events we have coming up, treatments we have tried, and our thoughts and feelings in general regarding our experiences with SA.

This is a non-therapy group but we could do some behavioral activities if people feel comfortable enough to.   We have recently begun to go out to low key venues to socialize.

I enjoy meeting people that also have SA. Although I have made a lot of progress, I still struggle with it, and am very interested in hearing others experiences, and helping each other through it all.

What has helped me the most with my SA challenges is that I've been involved in a very effective support group for 5 years in which we practice Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.   At the Meet Up meetings, I share what I have learned, provide examples of how I  think about social situations using techniques that have changed my thoughts to more rational, healthy ones.

Eventually, I would like to raise more awareness somehow in communities about Social Anxiety and how it differs from: severe shyness, as well as the average, non-debilitating, fear of public speaking.  Social anxiety is a serious disorder that can significantly effect living your life to its fullest potential. 

For more information, please visit my website:  http://www.supportforsocialanxiety.com