House Meetings: What to Discuss

It is up to an individual recovery home to set agendas and tasks to discuss at house meetings that are appropriate for residents, community and recovery home culture. 

The following are suggestions to help you get started with establishing an agenda for your house meetings:

• Start each meeting with a welcome and an affirmation.
• Take time to introduce any new residents and go over the general meeting practices with them.
• Remind all participants of any particular ground rules that are helpful for the meeting.
• If appropriate, you can write down the ground rules and display them during the meeting.

Basic ground rules may include:

• Allow others to finish speaking before you start speaking
• Listen when others are speaking instead of holding your own conversation
• Use respectful and inclusive language
• Engage in active listening with others
• Keep what you hear private
• Be open to learning new or different ideas