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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 107 to 131 of 232. Go back in thread:
Posted by Deneb on December 8, 2005, at 12:01:29
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting » Deneb, posted by fallsfall on December 7, 2005, at 20:42:48
> I'm just going to talk about how Babble works in my life and to answer questions if I can. And if I can't answer the questions I'll say "Gee, I don't know".
OK, "Gee, I don't know." That's a good idea for when I freeze up and can't think of the answer.
> I don't know what I'll wear. Maybe something nice, but not a linen suit or anything. Maybe I'll wear my jeans. I don't think that will matter much.
It's good to know that. I don't have any suits.
> I talk about Babble a lot with many people who I know. So I'm pretty used to talking about Babble. This time it will just be with people who I don't know (and who I'll never see again ever in my life, and who won't know my real name).
I've never talked to anyone besides pdoc1 about Babble. I don't really talk to people on a regular basis because I don't have friends IRL. It's going to be scary for me, I hope I will be coherent.
> I guess I'll have a way to introduce myself to the small group (how long I've been on Babble, how I found it, how long I've been in therapy, what role Babble fills in my life).If I'm actually able to speak coherently, my stories will be quite shocking I think. How I found Babble eh?...Well, you see, I was trying to find message groups to post a request for someone to help me kill myself??? OMG. Oh yeah, did I mention that sometimes I'm obsessed with Dr. Bob and sometimes I e-mail inappropriate e-mails to him and I even threatened my life because I thought everyone at Babble was against me?? OMG.
I will try my best. I hope I will be interesting (assuming I will be able to speak of course).
Deneb
Posted by fallsfall on December 8, 2005, at 15:26:38
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting » fallsfall, posted by Deneb on December 8, 2005, at 12:01:29
You know, Deneb, if we didn't each have an interesting story, we wouldn't be here.
Do you think that Babble has helped you to get a better handle on what is going on in your life, and helped you to identify behaviors that are helpful for you and ones that are not helpful? Did it help you to bring certain things up with your therapists? Do you consider us to be your friends? If so, why is it easier for you to connect with us than with people IRL?
You have a very interesting story to tell.
Posted by Dinah on December 8, 2005, at 18:31:12
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting » Deneb, posted by fallsfall on December 8, 2005, at 15:26:38
If individual posters talk to small groups, different small groups could come out with waaaaay different ideas about Babble. Like the blind men feeling the elephant.
But I suppose that's Dr. Bob's problem, not ours.
Posted by 10derHeart on December 8, 2005, at 19:27:01
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting, posted by Dinah on December 8, 2005, at 18:31:12
Good point.
I hadn't envisioned it happening quite that way, but then I could be confused about the poster to group ratio thing.
I guess I thought I'd wait and see if the concept sort of got fleshed out and more specific as this thread continued on.
Besides, wouldn't it be a bit disconcerting at the least, if not downright uncomfortable or worse (at least for some) to have only one poster with a small group? Not that I (or others) are particularly "afraid" of pdocs, so to speak, but do you know what I mean..?
Or else I'm totally off track and have misunderstood entirely. This feels like where Eeyore would say, "oh, bother..."
Posted by Dinah on December 8, 2005, at 20:21:07
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting » Dinah, posted by 10derHeart on December 8, 2005, at 19:27:01
Ah good. Yes, that would be much better. :)
Posted by Dr. Bob on December 8, 2005, at 21:26:09
In reply to Re: Anxiety about meeting, posted by Dinah on December 8, 2005, at 18:31:12
> If individual posters talk to small groups, different small groups could come out with waaaaay different ideas about Babble. Like the blind men feeling the elephant.
What if the psychiatrists didn't have to stick to one small group the whole time?
Bob
Posted by annierose on December 9, 2005, at 6:20:52
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by Dr. Bob on December 8, 2005, at 21:26:09
No one chooses to come to our forum? Or, it could be the babblers with just 1 or 2 attendees.
Maybe that would be a good thing?
Posted by muffled on December 9, 2005, at 9:59:31
In reply to Re: What if ..., posted by annierose on December 9, 2005, at 6:20:52
> No one chooses to come to our forum? Or, it could be the babblers with just 1 or 2 attendees.
> Maybe that would be a good thing?**Not that I'm going, but ya, what if you were sitting there and noone wanted to talk to you...YUCK! Perhaps this is just me and mt insecurities showing.
Muffled
Posted by Deneb on December 9, 2005, at 12:11:13
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by Dr. Bob on December 8, 2005, at 21:26:09
> > If individual posters talk to small groups, different small groups could come out with waaaaay different ideas about Babble. Like the blind men feeling the elephant.
>
> What if the psychiatrists didn't have to stick to one small group the whole time?
>
> BobThat's what I was thinking would happen. We could rotate the small groups. Each poster or posters would present several times to different groups.
Deneb
Posted by Deneb on December 9, 2005, at 12:34:37
In reply to Summary of info about Toronto APA meeting, posted by Deneb on December 7, 2005, at 14:23:53
> APA web-page about the meeting:
> http://psych.org/edu/ann_mtgs/am/06/
>
> Presenters
> Dr. Bob
> Kali Munro
> AuntieMel
> Annierose
> ClearSkies
> fallsfall
> Dinah (maybe)
> ghost
> Deneb
> 10derHeart (maybe)
> Poet>
> APA small groups presentation will take place on Mon. May 22 from 9-10:30 am at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
> > http://www.mtccc.com/parkingandmaps.cfm (ClearSkies)
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Online Peer Support Groups -- and Support Group Members
>
> The Internet empowers patients by connecting them not only to information, but also to each other. This workshop introduces participants to two specific online peer support groups, one small and private, the other large and public. The moderators of the groups explain how the groups function, including what the goals of the groups are, how the group members interact, what topics are discussed, how the moderators moderate, and what the pros and cons of the groups are. The focus of the session, however, is small group discussion with group members about their experiences with this type of resource. In this workshop, in other words, patients are empowered to teach doctors. All participants regroup for concluding questions and answers.
>
> If people who couldn't be there wanted to contribute something in writing, maybe we could work that in somehow? (Dr. Bob)Who cannot attend but wants to contribute something in writing? How would we work that in? Would posters make sense? If we do posters, you should probably have something by April. You can send what you write to someone on the committee and we can put it on poster paper for you. I volunteer to do this. I can even take a picture of the poster and post it online for you to see. :-) Hmmm...where would we put the posters during the presentation? Are there going to be walls or tables nearby?
RE: Handout
Lets write down things we want on the handout now and somehow put it together. Post what you want on the handout and we can discuss how we want to put it together.Deneb
Posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 17:08:34
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by Dr. Bob on December 8, 2005, at 21:26:09
I think I was hoping that your presentation would take up most of the time. :)
I'm not altogther sure I'm self confident enough for this. :(
Posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 18:57:47
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble » Dr. Bob, posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 17:08:34
I'm hoping that they will have questions for us. And we can just answer them the best we can. And if we don't know the answer we can say "I don't know". Or even "I'll ask that question on the board - you can look there for the answer".
We could have a set of generic "questions" to start with or if things get slow:
How did you find Babble?
How often do you read/post?
What role does Babble play in your life?
What has Babble helped you with?
What problems has Babble caused?
What is the difference between online support and IRL support?
Does your therapist know about Babble, what do they think of it?
What would you do if you didn't have Babble?
What do we talk about on Babble?We could each ask our own therapist/pdoc what questions they would want answered if they went to something like this.
We could have a whole list of these questions, so if they don't have any questions for us, we can get the conversation started.
We can also ask THEM if they have any experience with their patients reading things online.
When I think of it as a conversation rather than a presentation, it is a little less scary for me.
As for splitting up into groups:
I think that no poster should have to do a group by themself if they don't want to. Probably many of us would rather have at least 2 posters to a group. Maybe we should say that the "normal" number of posters in a group will be at least 2.
I don't like the idea of people wandering from one group to another. Too much potential for making one of us feel unloved. We don't need that!
Maybe we can come up with a couple of scenarios so that when we find out how many posters/attendees there are we will already have a plan:
1. If there are fewer than 10 attendees, we stay as one group.
2. If there are lots of attendees and not too many posters, we ask for subjects that they would like covered, and then posters who want to talk about that topic form a group around that.
3. Or the posters pair up (or whatever) and chose the topic that they would most like to talk about and then the attendees can go to the group that is most interesting to them.
4. Or if there are a few number of groups and the discussion time isn't too short, we could divide them into groups and have the poster teams rotate through the groups so they get to talk to more than one poster.
5. If a group feels like they are in "trouble", there should be some way to call Dr. Bob over and he should help get the discussion going (is that OK, Dr. Bob?)
Dr. Bob, when the time comes, can you find out how big a room they are giving us? That should say something about the maximum number of attendees.
If nobody comes we'll have our own party.
Dr. Bob can remind them before we split up that we come to Babble because we have mental health issues - so they should use their best doctor manners with us! And we ALWAYS have the right to refuse to answer a question if we are uncomfortable. I think that we and the doctors really will be wanting the same thing - to increase their understanding of online support groups - so we'll all be working in the same direction.
Posted by 10derHeart on December 9, 2005, at 20:12:31
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 18:57:47
Posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 20:13:27
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 18:57:47
Posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 20:15:34
In reply to Can I call dibs on your group? (nm) » fallsfall, posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 20:13:27
Sigh. You sound like you know what's going on. And I'm just lost in a sea of confusion. Every explanation Dr. Bob gives just sinks me further into blank idiocy.
Posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 21:43:55
In reply to Falls, posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 20:15:34
Posted by muffled on December 9, 2005, at 22:01:07
In reply to I really feel dense :( (nm), posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 21:43:55
Welcome to my world Dinah!!!
I think your brave.
Muffled
Posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 23:22:23
In reply to I really feel dense :( (nm), posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 21:43:55
Don't feel dense. None of us have done this before!
They'll love us! Because we are lovable!
Posted by gardenergirl on December 10, 2005, at 12:34:22
In reply to Re: I really feel dense :( » Dinah, posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 23:22:23
The small group discussions I have participated in at conferences and in classes have been more like conversations and regular discussions. There might be a list of suggested questions (as falls provided) that "should" be covered or can be covered. A lot of times, small groups break up to discuss something and then the entire group reforms, and someone from each group sort of summarizes the discussion for the main group.
So the small groups could all talk about the same general ideas and see where things go..remember, it's just a conversation. Then everyone could re-group and discuss the topic or topics as a whole.
Or, each small group could have a difference focus or set of general questions, and then when the whole group gets back together, each group reports, and the whole group benefits from hearing about the conversations of the other groups.
Usually the presenter, in this case Dr. Bob, will begin the session by giving a talk giving background etc. In this case, about Babble. Then he might suggest some structure or procedure for the small groups.
At least that's how my experience with this type of thing usually goes.
gg
Posted by Poet on December 10, 2005, at 16:49:24
In reply to Re: waaaaay different ideas about Babble, posted by fallsfall on December 9, 2005, at 18:57:47
Posted by Poet on December 10, 2005, at 17:07:44
In reply to I really feel dense :( (nm), posted by Dinah on December 9, 2005, at 21:43:55
Hi Dinah,
The small group discussion scares me, but what I'm telling myself is that I will be Poet, which gives me some anonymity. I don't have to reveal anything personal that I am not comfortable saying and no one will be pushing me to do it.
I don't think you are dense at all. You're nervous just like me and Deneb and everybody. We have lots of questions, because none of us (except GG) have done anything like this.
It's scary and it's not dense to be concerned about what we are getting into. Not dense at all.
Poet
Posted by sleepygirl on December 10, 2005, at 19:21:14
In reply to Re: What if ..., posted by annierose on December 9, 2005, at 6:20:52
Posted by Dinah on December 11, 2005, at 11:54:37
In reply to am I allowed to come? (nm), posted by sleepygirl on December 10, 2005, at 19:21:14
Posted by Dinah on December 11, 2005, at 11:58:03
In reply to Re: I really feel dense :( » Dinah, posted by Poet on December 10, 2005, at 17:07:44
To the point of not wanting to go to Toronto at all. Which is stupid, because no one is saying you have to do this if you go.
If I had seen what Dr. Bob was talking about before, I might not be so anxious. But this sort of thing is not part of the conferences I attend in the course of my work. If I had any comprehension at all of what he wants from us, I wouldn't feel so anxious. Maybe this is like one of those falling backwards exercises in trust. So why don't I trust that Dr. Bob won't ask us to do anything that will humiliate us?
Posted by Dinah on December 11, 2005, at 11:59:14
In reply to I am anxious I guess, posted by Dinah on December 11, 2005, at 11:58:03
Goodness only knows it isn't that I am not comfortable talking about Babble ad infinitum. :))
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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