A client who'd been in aftercare for some time without sharing, suddenly stood up last night and left the circle in anger. He said later he left the group because the facilitator hadn't asked him to share.
This client had sat in the weekly group for months without participating. He would sit, arms crossed, staring at the ceiling, almost appearing to be asleep. During the first few meetings he attended he was asked to share, but declined. After that, the facilitator didn't call on him. Our policy at TLC is to allow clients to not participate in group – as long as they're not disruptive. Our philosophy is that even though someone is not contributing, they may hear something in group that'll help them. We have clients who today who are leaders in our program, who were completely shut down at one point.
In this case, the client is a member of a minority group. He'd expressed to other clients that because he was a minority he couldn't get the help he needed by participating in mainstream twelve-step programs. He didn't believe Anglo-centric recovery philosophy could him or his people. A few clients suggested that if his people were so important to his recovery, why wasn't he getting help from them instead of being at TLC. He didn't have an answer.
Because the client has been a long-term resident and should've known better, he was given a choice of consequences. He was told he could either leave - or he could start the program over.
To his credit, he decided to start over. He apologized to the manager and said that he knew he’d had a bad attitude for some time. He apologized to the group leader and said he would be back in a few months to start aftercare again.
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