is that empathy?

Yesterday, was the first time, I stepped into what we could label politely as a 'secured' environment. If anyone thought that it's like a holiday camp, where you get free food and lodging and even a K9 'pet' then you could be fooled if you're visually impaired.

I have never done group therapy before, because I view that as some kind of membership, to which I do not have interest to be a part of. Group dynamics affect individual participation and although this was the choice route (precautionary) I felt that in order to be effective, training is of the essence. To run a successful group therapy, one must be very quick on the uptake, observant and be able to invite participation from all members - and the lead, must be able to engage them all. I was an observer only and wasn't confident that the person I was observing had it, and I was right.

I thought that I would detest the sessions, since I have drawn a line when it comes to counseling - however, once I walked into the hall, and met the counselees, all uniformed ie. in the same gear, my mind switched to alert mode and when they sat in a circle and helped me get a chair, I realised that I was walking in my comfortable shoes - may not be one I prefer, but one I was comfortable in.

Halfway, I was determined to get out of this and let this just be an experience because I had no patience for untrained people to be making verbal mistakes during group counseling, or any kind of counseling for that matter.

But by the time we finished, the counselees, in their own little way, changed my mind.

Is that empathy coming from me?

I am not able to establish the answer, but I can say that i'm an expert in putting things into labelled boxes so, when the need arises, I know which box to bring out and what tools I would need.

Too early to tell, but it's not too bad a way to begin a saturday.