This website has been helpful to me for years, and I wished to build on this experience, to step outside into actual meetings.
I wonder if others have experienced "real" support groups where they meet in person. I've been in many, but keep trying to go to one, to help with caregiving, without success.
What I was told about support groups is that they're like "the hungry trying to feed the hungry". In this group, the facilitator is okay for a couple of meetings, and then loses control. What I experience is that the members either attack me(I'm the weak one), or the leader does.
Yesterday, the leader got upset with me since she was defining a word, but the caregiver's mom was using a cheap drug, with a great alternative, which I'd just discovered. I didn't profess to be a pharmacist, but just suggested she have a conversation with her pharmacist.
The second mishap was I was sharply reprimanded for speaking after a short minute in a two hour period. Another member came along, late by 40 minutes, and spoke for 15 minutes, and then close to 10 minutes the second time.
I've spoken to the leader in the past about conflict in that group, and her response was that she wasn't aware of the dynamic I described.
How do I know it's me or if it's her or both of us? When the late member came into the group, I noticed she asked the leader how she was, and the facilitator stated she was '"loopy". I wonder if I should look for something else now, through a contact I have, since i want someone emotionally stable to be privy to my personal life, as would others, who have parents who are at the end of their lives.