Hey everyone, they say addiction is a bad replacement for a lack of connection. This is what my rebbe told me and I believe it's true. 

This addiction is so full of shame, especially as a frum yid, it's hard to open up with folks sometimes. How would they understand what I'm going through? it's so embarassing!

I believe that sharing with others, especially those who can relate to you, is a really important step in recovery. It's what we're doing here.

I asked my therapist if he thought I should do a 12-step program, and he said no, because folks there tend to have a far worse addiction than me and it wouldn't be appropriate for me.. but I still like the idea of having a group I can go to for support and chizuk on a regular basis. I think at least weekly, if not daily check-ins (at least early on) would help people.

I'm not a trained recovery expert nor have I overcome this fully myself, but I think just connecting with other people who are going through it with you can help, especially if we could be joined by someone who has made the journey and can act as a "sponsor" for us. 

I'm curious if anyone here is interested in starting something like this, or if GYE has any plans to do so? I know Muttel said he's working on something like this with the GYE folks, but I'd like to start a thread here as well to gauge interest.

It could be anonymous zoom meetings or phone calls, things like that. 

Open to ideas, just thought I'd share. I want to continue forging relationships here and growing together. 

Bro genius idea

Check out this thread. guardyoureyes.com/forum/1-Break-Free/415753-A-Modest-Proposal

We are actively working on this with the good folks at GYE and hope to roll it out in the immediate future. 

Awesome! I didn't mean to steal your thunder on this one, I hadn't seen the thread until you linked it. 

I'm definitely interested and am trying to actively connect with folks now in the meantime. 

Are you open to connecting over the phone to chat? I'm interested in chatting through the struggle with someone (like I said in my post) and it seems like you're interested in this as well. We could also talk about our ideas for the groups, I'd like to get involved on this project if possible, either as a member of it or helping facilitate meetings, etc.

Let me know, we can take the convo to the PMs 

My email is in my signature and I'm pm'in you my phone number. Happy to schmooze (about this idea or anything).

And it's not stealing my thunder at all. It's a collaborative idea and anyone who can help make it happen is more than welcome to please help do so.