Conference Calls
LifeRing member Mona H., who also serves as our East Coast Coordinator of Outreach, has been using a combination of old and new technology to provide a new way for members to meet together and support one another. Using an Internet conference call website, interested members can dial a number on their telephone to get to the website’s automated system, and then enter a code to become part of the group call. Regular long-distance rates apply, but there is no extra charge for it being a conference call.
The “Sunday Call meeting” began 3 years ago within the LSRsafe e-mail group and runs in the same way as a ‘How was your Week’ Lifering FTF meeting. She’s expanded the concept to the LifeRing Convenor’s e-mail group, offering a chance for convenors to come together on the phone, exchange ideas, and support one another.
The LifeRing Board of Directors has recently been holding their monthly meetings by conference call and most participants seem to prefer it to the ‘chat’ (group instant-messaging) format that has been used in the past.
Mona publishes information about the calls a day or two ahead of time in the appropriate e-mail group to remind people of the time and phone number involved.The call format has been warmly received as an outreach for recovering people too far from Lifering meetings, yet needing contact with others in a more direct way than the internet allows. The participants feel more groups would benefit from this and encourage more convenors to start additional call times and convene more call meetings. Mona can be reached with questions or comments at LSR.East@gmail.com .
Dear Janet,
I am so sorry it took me such a long time to respond to you! I should check the questions more often! Please send me your e-mail and I would be happy to include you in our current Sunday call meeting, each week. Also , contact me directly and we can discuss how the calls work and how we can support you and your boyfriend! Sincerely, Mona H. – Conference call convenor
I am interested in this program. My boyfriend & I would like to attend other types of meetings, but we live out in the country and work in the city. We have a lot of commute time, making it hard to hang around until a meeting starts. These phone meetings sound like a good idea, because we have to do something with our lives. Do you have anything in the Texas area. We live outside of Houston, Texas. Thank you so very much. Janet