When I started as president, I knew I was coming into a “dying” chapter. There were hardly anyone that came to the meetings, very few participated in activities. I had meetings and most of the time it was just me alone who would show up. I didn’t take this as defeat though. I found it as a challenge to tackle, I needed a secretary because mine quit! I had to do secretary’s job too and I didn’t have a president-elect. I continued to do my job as president, buying a little girl toys and clothes for Christmas, putting a basket together for AOCC conference it was nice to have my aunt to help me put that together!!

Then I thought what more could I do to generate interest in EOCA. That’s when I had the idea of having FREE CEU trainings for EOCA members and $10 for non-members hoping they would join. I put together the first meeting and training in December but only one person showed up… I thought maybe it was too close to the holidays. The next training I got a great response, I got a secretary !!!! After the next training I finally got a president-elect !!! I am continuing to have the meetings before the trainings and it is working out very well.

These CEU events have grown and I am having peop le ask if they can present there, at the EMDR seminar I got an offer for a CEU event from another chapter based on a grant they have so the presenter is free and I am so thankful. I am very hopeful the chapter will continue to become more active…I will continue to offer the trainings once I am no longer president if the president wants me to.

We are currently doing a fund raiser in conjunction with art Youngstown an art show and wine tasting. This is the first time doing a program like this and I’m hoping it will be successful.

I wanted to share my experience and encourage any “dying” chapter to persevere and continue trying eventually success will be right around the corner.

Kimberly Beck is a counselor with a special interest in Self-injury. Other interests are PTSD, trauma, and Borderline personality disorder.