First, this community does not live on Facebook. It lives on Mighty Networks. That difference means that what you share in this community enjoys much more data privacy than it would in a Facebook group. Another important difference here is that many Facebook groups for families have no structure and no moderation. There may be group guidelines, but there is very little enforcement. When I scroll through the posts in those kinds of groups, I see a ton of misinformation and uninformed opinions. And that undermines the ability of the group to serve as a genuine source of support because the lack of those things undermines safety. This community is moderated and offers training so all members are more informed about addiction and family addiction.

I hear you on this one. I participate in 12-Step family fellowships myself. The 12-Step process does offer many benefits, and I’m not here to say otherwise. If those groups are offering you all the support you need, this community may not be a good fit for you. But not everyone can embrace the spiritual approach used by the 12-Steps. And 12-Step groups do have limitations in that they only offer one approach to the problem, and the education they offer is primarily focused on that approach. This community offers broader education on addiction and family addiction, and it will help you look at multiple approaches to the problem. The weekly transformational coaching reflection questions are there to help you apply what you learn in a way that fits your values, your situation, and your needs.

There are a couple of important differences in this community. The first is our community guidelines state very clearly that while support can be given at any time, actual advice or feedback is not to be given unless it is explicitly asked for. And that if you want actual advice or feedback, you need to explicitly ask for it. Which is great practice for asking for what we need when we need it. Members are not to automatically assume that someone wants advice when they post. They may just want to be heard. So you should not be getting any unsolicited advice. And this community is moderated so if I or my team members see unsolicited advice, the commenter will be reminded of those community guidelines. Also, the monthly training offered in this community is intended to serve two purposes: to inform you, and to inform those who might be offering any feedback. So chances are higher that feedback offered in this group will not be misinformed. The intention behind this community is to be an antidote to the wild, wild west, free-for-all kind of environment I see in so many Facebook groups. I rarely see that kind of an environment producing any meaningful shifts in family members’ experiences.