We provide a mid-week Fellowship Drop-In for conference registrants every Thursday, 5-6pm pacific, 8-9pm eastern, etc, although the end time is flexible. The personal unique video conference links that conference registrants receive for Fellowship Drop-In are active 24/7 throughout the conference cycle.

 

We also host an International Fellowship Drop-In each week, which is scheduled to meet the combined needs of our international participants each cycle. For the current cycle, International Fellowship Drop-In is on Tuesdays, 10am Central European Time, which is GMT+1. (That is to support our fellows in the following locations: Australia; Austria; India, Senegal; and the UK.)

 

This virtual meeting space is available, first-come, first-served, except during our weekly workshops and these two scheduled conference events each week, plus up to a half hour before fellowship begins and up to an hour after the scheduled event time has ended. 

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More specifically, what Fellowship Drop-In is:

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Fellowship Drop-In is a planned time between each weekly workshop when participants are welcome to ask each other for support; to get to know one another; to share experience, strength, and hope; and to "hear" the Higher Power through one another’s voices.

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Fellowship Drop-In is a scheduled, optional adjunct to the weekly workshops, facilitated by members of the conference host group. These members have been solvent for at least six months (often longer), have completed at least one conference cycle, have taken the Steps using the conference materials, have submitted a survey, attended a wrap-up session, and are registered for and participating in the current conference cycle.

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Fellowship Drop-In is a place for specific support not only on the recovery and Step work we’re doing to maintain our solvency during the conference but also on specific BDA recovery pressures, members helping members in a spiritual framework. 

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The format for Fellowship Drop-In is:

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Up to 1 minute — Opening including the Serenity Prayer by our drop-in facilitator, who usually leads throughout one of our six-month conference cycles, with occasional substitution by a fellow host group member. (Sometimes the facilitator serves as timekeeper, sometimes a volunteer is requested for this service. That's up to the facilitator.)

 

NOTE: Throughout Fellowship Drop-In, the drop-in facilitator will call on people — by raised hands, alphabetically, or randomly. This — Fellowship Drop-In — is not a time to sit in silence. The whole point is to break out of isolation and to get our pressures out of our heads and into discussion with our fellows. The drop-in facilitator will keep things moving quickly.

 

Up to 2 minutes — Reading of the three paragraphs above, under the heading "More specifically, what Fellowship Drop-In is."

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Up to 16 minutes —

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For the first 4-8 weeks of each conference cycle: New registrants are encouraged to ask for experience, strength, and hope from experienced members who have completed a previous conference cycle, during which web pages from bdaworkshops.org (this link goes to the sitemap) may be shared onscreen. 

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Once new conference registrants are feeling acclimated: This is a time for one- or two-minute gratitude shares depending on how many peeps are present. Gratitude especially for DA and BDA recovery and for our Higher Powers. 

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Up to 40 minutes — Direct support for up to four drop-in participants as follows:

 

1-minute timed share on a current BDA pressure by a participant (two minutes if fewer than five people are present)

 

1-minute timed shares on the pressured participant's topic and in direct support of that participant by up to eight fellows (two minutes if fewer than five people are present). Our fellows are invited to share experience, strength, hope, support, and encouragement, NOT advice or opinions, please.

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1-minute timed wrap-up by the pressured participant, which usually takes the form of gratitude for support and new ideas

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Repeat the same 10-minute focus on individual participants three more times each week.

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NOTES: Limited by the one-hour format to direct support to four drop-in participants each week, it is unlikely that every participant can bring a pressure every week. Please be patient and take turns, and don't forget that your facilitator may want to seek support on some weeks too. The same is true for offering support. With a maximum of four to eight support shares, depending on whether those will be one-minute or two, there will not be time for full round robins each week. Again, please be patient and take turns, and use the raised hand function in zoom to support the drop-in facilitator in maintaining order and fairness. 

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Up to 1 minute — Moment of silence and closing prayer. While the facilitator will usually need to leave on time, participants are welcome to stay in the zoom meeting as long as you like.

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