When it first came to me that persons depressed might possibly profit from  a 12 step group approach to overcoming depression, it was not in my wildest dreams which could  have prepared me for what has been unfolding  and continues to this day  in my life.

While experiencing the Hanbedeceya of the Dakota (Sioux) people’s version of the Vision Quest, I experienced the seed of a vision that  gradually  began to unfold in my life over time.

On a lonely South Dakota  hilltop back in 1977, I saw a large circle in the sky – the beginning  of a vision was beginning to unfold for me. This day was preceded by two days of total fast and without so much as a sip of water. The days spent without food and drink –days spent in prayer and waiting–gave me a vision that there was something for me to do with my life. I felt deeply for those suffering isolation and who felt they were all alone in their personal hour of agony. Those alone  in nursing homes and those incarcerated in their own feelings of helplessness and hopelessnesss and despai. Someow, fortuitously for me-gace happens -my direction would be that of helping others get comnected with with those still suffering from the same isolation as themselves. I realize that many times we can best determine god’s will for us by looking back over the events of our lives and see how God has led us to our present work. It was a personal joy to me that a person’s depression  would be greatly diminished if they shared their story with people who much like themselves come together and  learn to work the spiritual 12 step program together. Here they  learn to work the spiritual 12 Step program of Depresed Anonymous.

This is the amazing power of Depressed Anonymous. It is a program that is available 24 hours a day and not just during business hours. It is a program that is based on the suggested 12 step spiritual principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.

What is apparent is that our program is beginning to catch on and provide real lasting hope to more and more persons depressed and who  are discovering that to be connected to a Depressed Anonymous group is tantamount to connecting to hope itself.

I see now that the vision of the circle (1977) in those many years ago (now 2017)  is still gradually unfolding and forming more circles and that these circles of loving fellowship are  continuing to provide the hope  which eventually  will lead us out of the despair of our own depression.

“We made a decision to turn our  wills and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.”  (Step 3 of Depressed Anonymous.)

Hugh