Clinical Corner
The Emotional and Spiritual Value of ET/Anomalous Support Groups: How they Contribute to Healing the Mind, Body, and Spirit
June R. Steiner, Ph.D, C.H.T.
Why would I go to an experiencer's support group?
When a person experiences things that are beyond his or her normal reality and understanding, that may not be accepted by society as "real" or appropriate, or that create fear or a feeling of lack of control over their own life, it is important that the person be provided with a safe and non-judgmental place to share, listen, and ask questions that will help him to integrate and come to terms with what has happened. One may never truly "understand" what happened or be able to say it will never happen again, but knowing that others have gone through a similar or identical experience, perhaps many times, helps them to come to terms with something they cannot erase, forget, or change no matter how much they may want that.
Talking about how others have looked at the experience, translated it's meaning, handled the fear (if there was fear), or found higher purpose (if they have), creates a way to help the psyche integrate the experience emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. When one can begin to acknowledge what happened and explore the "whys" of what it might mean, healing can take place. Whether the experience was traumatic or ecstatic (or both), there is a high level of stress that accompanies it at first. One wonders if he/she will be accepted by family, friends, work, and/or society as a whole. One may even question their own sanity. Was it imagination, a dream, or high drama? "Surely I'm making that up...".
If the person has tried to share their experience and been ridiculed, ignored, looked sideways at, or told she is crazy, she is likely to bury what happened and lose faith in herself and others. She may live in fear that it will happen again and there will be no support system to help her work through it.
In a typical support group of experiencers, with someone trained to guide the group, the person can just sit and listen for one or many meetings until he feels safe or comfortable enough to talk about his own experience. Other people's questions often bring forward answers that shed light on something someone else didn't know how to ask about. Seeing scars, hearing about implants, identifying the different species and types of ET's and descriptions of many kinds of ships will often assist someone in coming forward to check out if anyone else has had the same experience as they did.
Most people who have had their lives touched by the trauma and or/exquisite resonation often felt with the "beings", have developed open hearts and high empathy for others with similar experiences. There is a special nurturing quality to the meetings that helps people through their fear, and that eventually allows conversation to move into the "meaning" and responsibility (the ability to respond) of having these encounters in one's life. Those of like kind and experience find they can finally laugh with one another and release some of the tension that has been created.
In a healthy support group no-one tells you the way it is, what's "really" true, or what can happen or not. No-one tells you how to handle it or what it means. They encourage and support one another in finding each person's own truth and building personal trust. They offer a place to explore meaning, remember events, and find new ways to face, handle, and look at possible future happenings. They create a safe place to share experiences, support, trust, nurturing, and acceptance. This is healing on all levels of one's consciousness.