ESSAY August 2023 - Not So Unique After All - Michael J., Texas, USA

Back around 2003, at my old home group in Philadelphia, we developed an orientation meeting for newcomers. We had written to a number of intergroups around the world, asking if they did orientation meetings for newcomers. Many wrote back sharing their orientations, and we combined ideas that we received in order to create one that we felt worked best for us. Our goal was to help the newcomer feel as welcome as possible and reduce any apprehension that he or she might have. After all, we would tell them, from our own experience, we were all well-aware that the hardest thing they may have ever done was to get out of their car, walk across that parking lot and open the door to ask for help.