I realized I routinely find people with trauma and that they tend to open up to me rather quickly. My own dire circumstances required that I quickly figure out how to not only handle but process those kinds of experiences, making it feel natural for me to share my experiences and what’s worked for me as someone who is often further along in the healing process. To that end, I started an informal support group out of my apartment around mid-September with a few friends.
All of the founding members had rough childhoods, which comes with a mess of mixed feelings and behaviors that were once protective but eventually became more isolating. While we were talking about what we needed as a group, I told them about how awkward it was the first time I had dinner with my honorary sister’s family, particularly since I didn’t really have any experience with that healthy of a dynamic.
We decided to include dinner as the start of our meetings, and we started calling it “fucked-up family dinner.” I usually finish making dinner as they head over, and we eat and catch-up about the previous week. After dinner, we would have tea and maybe sweets brought by other members as we switched to talking to more traditional support group type questions.
As this academic year 2025-26 comes to a close and two of us graduate, we’ve elected to allow the current group to dissolve. We all learned a lot over the course of this group, and we plan to keep in touch.
Brendan Moore 