Louisiana Emotional Healing Support Group

[kennedymoore]

Tonight was a big night in Louisiana for celiacs. Oh, yes it was.

Tonight is a big night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The state's first emotional healing support group for those living with celiac disease met tonight in Baton Rouge.

This emotional healing celiac group was facilitated by Johnny Patout, LCSW. Spouses and family members came to support their loved one as they opened up about the years of emotional pain, frustration and losses related to celiac disease. There were hugs, tears and just a general feeling of understanding.

For me it was like nothing I have every experience. The release that came from finally getting say how I truly feel was long overdue. Just hearing from others who have suffered like me soothed me. Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease I knew no one who had suffered from 20+ aliments. I thought I was the only one. Tonight I met people who have been bedridden, lonely, confused, near death, scared, angry, sad, depressed, and lost the lifestyle they cherished, along with friends and family. But we had more in common than just our suffering - we are all survivors!

The emotional healing support group for celiacs will me every Wednesday at the James Town Avenue Counseling Center of Baton Rouge. Jamestown Avenue Counseling Center is located at 4637 Jamestown Avenue, Baton Rouge, Suite B-1. Suite B-1 is upstairs.

The support group is free and open to everyone managing celiac disease.

[YoloGx]

  On 8/18/2011 at 6:08 AM, kennedymoore said:

Tonight was a big night in Louisiana for celiacs. Oh, yes it was.

Tonight is a big night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The state's first emotional healing support group for those living with celiac disease met tonight in Baton Rouge.

This emotional healing celiac group was facilitated by Johnny Patout, LCSW. Spouses and family members came to support their loved one as they opened up about the years of emotional pain, frustration and losses related to celiac disease. There were hugs, tears and just a general feeling of understanding.

For me it was like nothing I have every experience. The release that came from finally getting say how I truly feel was long overdue. Just hearing from others who have suffered like me soothed me. Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease I knew no one who had suffered from 20+ aliments. I thought I was the only one. Tonight I met people who have been bedridden, lonely, confused, near death, scared, angry, sad, depressed, and lost the lifestyle they cherished, along with friends and family. But we had more in common than just our suffering - we are all survivors!

The emotional healing support group for celiacs will me every Wednesday at the James Town Avenue Counseling Center of Baton Rouge. Jamestown Avenue Counseling Center is located at 4637 Jamestown Avenue, Baton Rouge, Suite B-1. Suite B-1 is upstairs.

The support group is free and open to everyone managing celiac disease.

How inspiring! Thank you for sharing. When the dust settles on several of my projects, I want to start something like that here in the San Jose, CA area. We have a lot to share, more than just recipes.

Bea

[thleensd]

That is wonderful! I'd love to see a meeting like that here... not just "this is a good recipe for rice bread". It is hard for many people to understand the emotional difficulties many of us face/have faced.

How many people were there at the meeting?

[kennedymoore]

8 people were there.

I was reading my post today and must apologize for all those typos. I was just so excited. I think there should be international celiac emotional healing support groups accessible to us all. I will keep posting our results.

We have to be the change that we want to see - I truly believe that. Those of us living with celiac disease have to support each other. AA started with one alcoholic needing another alcoholic to talk to and that is how we started in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is just the beginning, folks. I am going to keep updating you guys as we progress. We don't have a model on how to do this just right, but for right now we are meeting, talking to each other and that feels mighty good!

Thanks for your comments and support. When I was first diagnosed I spent days reading post right here on celiac.com - that was my support group. I was not looking for a recipe. Eating actually was not my first thought. I knew that meat, vegetables and fruit were gluten free so I was not going to starve. What I wanted was to meet someone like me. I so desperately wanted to hear someone say "that was me too". I began to improve so rapidly I was starting to wonder if it was all in my head. I could not grasp that the migraines that I had DAILY for 12 years were GONE in a matter of days. That the 20 plus medications that I took daily for years were never necessary and some contained gluten!

I really envision a day when celiac emotional healing support groups are held in various places and times in the same city. How nice would it be to get the diagnosis and be able to attend an emotional healing support group the next day, the same night or day? Oh, and what about if you travel to a new city and can look online to find a support group there, like we look up restaurants.

What I like is the consistency about the focus of the support group. The goal is emotional healing and support - period! There is no program, no agenda, there are no speakers, no food samples, no businesses pushing their products and __________ you fill in the blank. It is a solid hour of celiacs emotionally supporting celiacs. It is truly an hour of power! That sounds like a recipe for healing to me. To you?

[kennedymoore]

Guys, I could not help it. I had to re-post this with corrections.

Tonight was a big night in Louisiana for celiacs. Oh, yes it was.

The state's first emotional healing support group for those living with celiac disease met tonight in Baton Rouge.

This emotional healing celiac group was facilitated by Johnny Patout, LCSW. Spouses and family members came to support their loved one as they opened up about the years of emotional pain, frustration and losses related to celiac disease. There were hugs, tears and just a general feeling of understanding.

For me it was like nothing I have every experienced. The release that came from finally getting to say how I truly feel was long overdue. Just hearing from others who have suffered like me soothed me. Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease I knew no one who had suffered from 20+ aliments. I thought I was the only one. Tonight I met people who have been bedridden, lonely, confused, near death, scared, angry, sad, depressed, and lost the lifestyle they cherished, along with friends and family. But we had more in common than just our suffering - we are all survivors!

The emotional healing support group for celiacs will meet every Wednesday at the Jamestown Avenue Counseling Center of Baton Rouge. Jamestown Avenue Counseling Center is located at 4637 Jamestown Avenue, Baton Rouge, Suite B-1. Suite B-1 is upstairs.

The support group is free and open to everyone managing celiac disease. We meet from 6pm-7pm.

[YoloGx]

Again I say yes, Kennedy, it makes a lot of sense. The idea of celiac emotional support groups across the nation is fantastic. It would make the concept of travelling for one, far less daunting--or moving to a new city. Ravenwoodglass mourns her dog even more since he was the only support she had, her family just does not get it. Thankfully she has this online group, celiac.com. It helps, but real living in the flesh people that she could reach out to could help even more. So many of us face this--not only all the health problems we have had to overcome and lost opportunities, but also lack of understanding by bosses and workmates, family and many times too by friends who just seem not to be able to understand the problems we have. I stayed with a very good friend last year on vacation, and it really strained the relationship due to my seemingly neurotic requirements around food etc. Fortunately I have a boyfriend who also has celiac, so we have each other. But even so, the challenges we have had to face in the past and now social challenges due to the cross contamination of gluten issue continue--all of which have their deep emotional side too.