First time at Refuge Recovery meetings. What actually happens?

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• saltvalley1774Aug 10, 2026Marked as the answer

  I went to my first Refuge Recovery meeting about 8 months ago with the same fear. It opens with 15 to 20 minutes of guided meditation, not silent sitting, so someone is talking you through it the whole time. After that there's a reading from the Refuge Recovery book and then open sharing, and nobody calls on you, you just raise your hand if you want to talk. I sat in the back and said nothing for my first 3 meetings and nobody blinked.

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• coastalpine88Aug 11, 2026

  Adding to what's already been said, the meditation part is shorter than people expect and some groups let you sit in a chair instead of on a cushion if your knees are like mine. I found the sharing afterward felt less structured than AA, more like a conversation going around the circle. Bring a notebook if you like taking notes, some people write down the reading passage.

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