FCB Patients- ? about the support groups

Is there a difference between the free support groups and the ones that you have to pay for? I've only been to the free ones, but that's because it happened to work that way with my schedule. Do you know why they charge for one group and not the other? Do you like one group over the other? Just trying to get some ideas, hoping to try the "paying" group, but it hasn't worked out with my schedule yet. Hope to meet some of you at the groups! Lisa

Lisa: The ones run by Mary Ziller (early in the month) are "pay-to-play"; the ones by Anne Mata (end of the month) are free. Not sure why - it may just be the deal that Mary has with them. For me, it's a fine line of which I like better. I'd say the ones with Mary, since a lot of Anne's have speakers that I am not interested in, but also I feel like my personality and Mary's seem to click better. Bette

Hi Lisa~ They are different for me. I like both and try to attend both each month. Support is paramount for me to make this journey successful long-term. As Bette said... Anne has presenters, then leaving us time to talk about a topic or any issues we might have. I find them interesting and informative. Mary offers up a topic (most times) and we then get into the nitty gritty of it. A bit deeper in exploring our emotions and actions when it comes to food/living issues. I find her groups to be very helpful. Worth the money. For me, they both fill a need. Hope to see you soon when your schedule allows it. T.

Thanks so much for the clarification. The first one that I went to was with Anne, which was OK but the topic discussed turned pretty nasty (in my opinion) with 2 people really going at it. It's hard for me to be subjective on it as I know one of the people who was involved personally (didn't know he would be there) but I was kind of put off by that whole meeting and could see that Anne was getting antsy about it. The 2nd meeting that I went to was with the nutritionist, Nancy Murphy, and it was informative, but I happened to have a follow up with her the week before, so it was really just a review for me. I think that if I hadn't seen Nancy for awhile it would have been much better for me. I'm glad to know that Mary runs the other one, I really enjoyed speaking with her for my pre-op and think that the more in-depth discussions would be beneficial for me. Thanks for letting me know the difference between the two groups!