# Are there any Florida support groups out there??



## awr730

hey everyone. suffering from SA here. i was wondering if there were any support groups here in florida. i live in Fort Myers. the closest one that i could find so far was Tampa but thats like 3 hours away and i'd prob. get lost trying to get there. haha. so if anyone knows about anything, just let me know! :sas 

Alex


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## Gabriellabos

I don't know about support groups, but I live in fort myers too! I dunno, I was just easily amused I guess. lol But if you find any let me know!


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## awr730

oh cool someone else in fort myers thats great! well we'll have to keep our eyes open for any kinda support thing that would be closer i guess


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## altrdperception

Florida doesn't have enough SA'rs! I'm in North Florida about 3 hours from Orlando.


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## danamelinda

We live in the FL Panhandle....I have a 19 yr old son has SAD and he is very lonely/depressed, but desires friendships. 
A few years ago his counselor placed an ad in the local newspaper announcing that a group for adolescents with SAD was forming, with her ph. number. No one responded. It is so 'sad' that most with SAD don't make an effort when CBT's effectiveness has been proven. 
Fortunately a group of young Christian singles are reaching out to him, but he feels very 'different' and awkward with he is with them.


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## awr730

*yeah its tough cause i would go to youth group once in a rare while at church with my sister and we both felt very awkward as well. and i am religious lol. so i do understand. i hope you have better luck finding people to form a support group in the pan handle area. i think its extremely important that SA sufferer's get support from other people who have it cause thats the only way in my opinion that someone with SA will feel comfortable and the support and advice will be better. people without SA that try to offer support mean well but somehow for me it just doesnt do anything to help. but when i talk to someone with SA problems its like i instantly feel some relief just knowing im not alone and they totally know bout everything im describing.*


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## Tallman

I am in the Fl Panhandle also. I have SA and my mid 20s son has SA. We are in the Destin area and have not found a professional who is competent in treating SAD, nor have I found others with SA who are interested in a support group online or in real life. I know there are SA people out there, but how do we get them together?

I opened an email address strictly for the purpose of finding people with SAD who want to discuss SA or develop online or real life support groups. If anyone is interested and sends me an email, I will keep a spreadsheet of email addresses, city, state, age, gender, and other pertinent information I receive. I will periodically send a copy to everyone who is on the list so we can discuss how to form a group that provides help and support to SAD people in the area. If we are lucky and get enough people we may decide to form several groups.

If this idea seems reasonable and anyone is interested, email me at

[email protected]

with information you are comfortable having on a list that is circulated to others on the list. I will not include last names or any other information that you ask me not to include. I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas anyone would like to pass on and any other information you wish you send. Make sure that it is clear what you are comfortable having on a list going to other SAD people.

Because of the people who are trying to play games with the Internet, I went to gmail.com to open a separate email address for this purpose. I suggest that you consider setting up a separate address to use for this group. There is no guarantee on the Internet that someone will not hack the system in some way just to get personal information.

I plan to post this address on all the social anxiety sites that I am familiar with. If you are familiar with other SAD sites, feel free to post a notice on them for people to send their information to you (and you forward the pertinent information to me) or if you prefer post my email address and ask them to send the information there.

I will maintain a list of all social anxiety support websites that I am familiar with and circulate it to the list. I would appreciate it if you would send me addresses of any social anxiety support sites you are familiar with to be added to this list. I do ask that you contact the sites you are familiar with since the time I can devote to this is limited and contacting all the social anxiety sites on the Internet would be an onerous task.

This is my first time posting this proposal. If anyone has any suggestions to improve it or a better way to do it, I would appreciate hearing from you.


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## Gian

This one is in Fort Lauderdale:

http://shyness.meetup.com/139/?gj=sj8


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## danamelinda

Destin is about an hour and 15 min. drive for us. We live near Pensacola. You sound as frustrated as I am about not finding group therapy. Philip Kendal is a psychologist who has written manuals for therapists on how to conduct groups and what type of activities to do, and how to address specific fears (I located his manuals online and ordered a couple). Since SAD is so common, one would think that counselors would be willing to lead a group. FEAR is such a prison, and fear of social situations can be debilitating and lead to depression. My 19 yr old son is depressed because girls pay him absolutely no attention and most of the guys his age think he is too 'juvenile' for them. He feels there is nobody in the world like him! In the past he went to the theater alone, now he stays home most of the time or drives to Walmart, by his lonesome. :eek


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## altrdperception

Gian said:


> This one is in Fort Lauderdale:
> 
> http://shyness.meetup.com/139/?gj=sj8


Oh GREAT, once i move from south fl! I was 15 min from fort Laud a yr ago! *crys*


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## IMOO

awr730 said:


> i was wondering if there were any support groups here in florida. i live in Fort Myers. the closest one that i could find so far was Tampa
> 
> Alex


Do you have any details/ info for the support group you found in Tampa? That's where I live and I would greatly appreciate any info you may have.

Thanks


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## johnw38

Hi, I'm in St.Petersburg and I'm also interested in some details about a Tampa support group. Anyone know when and where they meet?


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## julee3232

Anyone interested in starting a group in Ft myers?


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## scorp1966

I live in cape coral and would be interested in starting a group.


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## slinky1023

Hi Everyone,

There is a new Anxiety Clinic that opened at Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale. We currently have one social anxiety group that is underway and would like to start another group soon. If you are interested please go to the following website for more information. Thank you

http://fortlauderdale.craigslist.org/ths/668559944.html


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