When I started the first outreach group in OA, it was confusing for people. I had put together guidelines to keep the chat safe, and there was resistance. The time keeping guidelines, and the no posting other than outreach requests in the chat, were not necessarily understood. People didn’t really know how to use it and were shy. I was bringing this tool from another fellowship, where outreach was common place and used every day, so I was comfortable with it. At the beginning, it was very small, maybe 20 people that barely used it. Then, I met another fellow, who had herself started an outreach group, and we combined forces. Now, we had about 40 people who weren’t using it very much. We were both admins in our common Outreach group, and it slowly started gaining momentum over the next year as people experienced the benefits of it. When our group got full, as WhatsApp used to limit the groups to 257 participants, then another Outreach group was created.
Today, there are 6 outreach groups, that I know of, with over 2000 members. It is one of my favorite tool, and I imagine important to others. There are members from all over the world, and I can use it 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, because there is always a member in some part of the world that is awake. There are now many wonderful admins that give service and keep their chats safe, and each group is independent with their own set of guidelines.
If you have never used one, you may want to consider joining one? It’s simple. You post your outreach request with the number of minutes you want to share. You wait for an answer and call the person privately. It will look like”OR 3/3 or OR 2×2″. Meaning you want an outreach with 3 minutes each to share, or 2 minutes each. Someone will answer, “I can”, then you private message them, and use the call feature of WhatsApp to call them.
I can ask for Feedback (FB) or no Feedback. Feedback is reflecting back what I heard and identification. The concept is about making the other person feel heard, and identifying with something from their share. It’s not advice giving or what I would have done in that situation.
It’s a great tool that I use when I need it or to give service. Every time I outreach, I am reminded of the gift of this tool in my own recovery.
I invite you to join any of them and try it out? Below is the access. Please read and follow the guidelines when you enter the chat.
OA OR 1 – OA OR 2 – OA OR 3 – Global OA OR – OA OR 5 – OA step 10 call
