© 2001, HOPE and Ken Hamilton, MD

A HOPE guide works with proven methods of communication, listening, rapport building, image making, and the development of personal metaphors. S/he knows how to accept a person and his or her story without judgment. S/he is a student and practitioner of compassion, humbly accepting people for what they are and not what someone else thinks they might be. S/he may not be a facilitator in the true sense of the word because she may challenge the other to reach into the core of her or his being. S/he is a fierce, empowering protector of the individual’s right to be her or himself. S/he supports and defends the sharing, caring nature of the group, aware that these two qualities opens the door to a healing transformation of self. The typical guide assumes an active, helping role in a group; coaching and encouraging each participant toward the discovery of his or her own truth. HOPE guides are a part of the group themselves, modeling the work of being on the path of discovery and recovery. They find that this contributes to their health!

HOPE groups meet weekly for two hours. The meeting opens with a shared reading of The Golden Book©. It contains the HOPE Group Opening, the context for the meeting; the Principles of Attitudinal Healing, twelve powerful, spiritual affirmations; and the HOPE Group Guidelines, a verbal agreement on the group’s conduct for the next two hours. The group then spends this time sharing their experiences and the thoughts and feelings they have about them. The guide helps the participants maintain their focus on The Golden Book. The last twenty to thirty minutes are sometimes spent in guided relaxation, according to the group’s inclination.

HOPE Groups are ongoing and remain open to new members, always remaining confidential. A HOPE group of from ten to fifteen participants creates meetings of six to twelve on a regular basis. Groups have decided to split when they have exceeded these numbers.

The groups discuss whatever develops as a matter of group consensus. As open attendance brings about fluctuations in group size and mix, so the agenda changes from meeting to meeting. The founder’s experience in a Quaker college and later as a member of the Religious Society of Friends leads us to believe in the spontaneous development of a “sense of the meeting” for each session. We are continuously pleased and surprised to see how often it appears that a particularly important topic comes up when just those who need to talk about it are present in the meeting.

Another Quaker practice gives profound support to the HOPE Group relationships…the “clearness committee.” Quakers have used the clearness committee to conduct pastoral affairs since their founding in the middle of the 17th-century. A clearness committee comes together at an individual’s request in order to address a concern. (It is fair to say that everyone in a HOPE Group has a concern.) The committee consists of a small group of supporting acquaintances whose role is to listen, to ask questions for clarification, to reflect on what is heard without judgment, criticism, or advice; and to affirm the convener, knowing that s/he has, inside her or him, the answers s/he seeks.

The prime directive for HOPE Group function has two parts: the first is, Primam, non nocere; “First of all, do no harm.” We conduct our groups in complete confidentiality, and with mutual care, consideration, and support. (If a breach of confidence takes place, the guide knows to allow the mistake once, but to point out that a repeat will result in the individual being asked to leave the group.) The second part is, “Do good; benefit someone.” So, clearness committee practices are perfect for HOPE Groups.

HOPE groups create an attitude of care and love that nurtures valuable, close relationships. Many participants find that their HOPE experience creates an enthusiastic anticipation of each meeting. There is so much much humor, including the gallows kind, in a HOPE group that when new people ask a receptionist where the HOPE group is meeting, they are told, “Just follow the sound of the laughter!”

We encourage participants to develop comprehensive personal health programs. There is evidence that “alternative” methods of healing such as nutrition, massage, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, energy work in its many forms, yoga, and astrology actually complement conventional medical therapies. We keep track of individual experiences with these methods, and share these experiences on an anecdotal basis. Our groups have invited many special therapists and authors to speak to them. HOPE encourages these activities.

We do not look at a HOPE group as a conventional form of counseling or psychotherapy. We believe that every guide is an active participant in his or her own group. With this attitude, we invite gifted individuals from various backgrounds to become guides. We do not consider it necessary for a potential guide to have taken specialized counseling training. We require intelligence, compassion, caring, concern, and, above all, love to guide our groups. All those who run HOPE groups are motivated to help people develop the ultimate personal realization that life has meaning, purpose, and value.