Facebook, twitter and other Social Media

We have been cautiously considering the possibility of having a page on Facebook, as well as a twitter account, to help promote the group. Even after almost four years in existence, the group still only has 66 members... in a state with almost 25 million people.

For the moment, we're playing it pretty low key. The challenge with using venues like Facebook and twitter is that (a) they are global, and we are a statewide group, and (b) HSPs are not necessarily comfortable with the idea if social media... and how "public" these venues are.

We will continue to discuss and consider. In the meantime, we will look at other ways to add new members to the group.

Our Growing Texas HSP Group!

Today-- May 22nd-- marks an annniversary of sorts, for the Texas HSP group.

Two years ago today, the first message was posted to our online forum on YahooGroups.

In the time since those tentative steps, the HSP Texas group has grown to 40+ members, and the "conversations" keep growing, month by month. Our group is actually on its way to becoming one of the most active "state level" HSP groups on the web! Which is saying quite a lot, given that the "original" Texas group for HSPs "went away" due to a lack of interest/activity.

Thank you to everyone who has joined and is now part of our group! Let's continue to build a supportive and safe online community for HSPs in the Lone Star State.

If YOU are a Highly Sensitive Person and are reading these words from a computer somewhere in the state of Texas, please consider joining our group. Just follow one of the links in the left margin, under "Where to find us."

How this got started: the old Austin HSP meetup

I got an email, asking how the Texas HSP group is listed as starting in December 2007, while I keep talking about the "Austin HSP group" and the year 2004.

Well, there was a previous Texas group for highly sensitive people which was active from 2003-06, and a group of Austin and Central Texas HSPs started a "meetup" out of that group. That group was partly made possible after Elaine Aron taught a weekend workshop at The Crossings in Austin, in the spring of 2004, based on her Highly Sensitive Person book.

With the combination of people from the workshop, the Texas group on Yahoo, and HSPs listing themselves as "interested in an Austin HSP meetup," we ended up with enough of a "base" to have local get-togethers. Fairly small, but none-the-less an HSP peer group in Austin.

The current group is an attempt to create something similar, but not as "Austin-centric," and hopefully with the outcome that there could also be local HSP groups formed in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, as well as in Austin.

So, that's the "short version" of the history behind this group.

As for the current "incarnation" of the Texas HSP Group, all things take time. The "old" Yahoo discussion group was active for 16 months before there was actually a get-together. I expect this group will also take a while to get going, even though the general level of awareness of high sensitivity as a trait is much higher in 2008, than it was in 2003.

Opening Remarks

This is the blog attached to the Texas HSP Group.

The Texas HSP Group is an online discussion and support group on Yahoo Groups for highly sensitive people living in the Lone Star State.

The blog is intended to serve as a space for group announcements, local meetings, events and other ongoing happenings, relating to the group. Information about the group will be posted as it becomes available.

If you're not sure what an "HSP" is, or you'd like to join the Texas HSP discussion group, please visit our group's web site for more information, both about high sensitivity, and the group itself.

To go directly to the group's home on YahooGroups, go here.