The Importance of Support Groups

Support groups are important because they provide emotional support for people facing similar, tough situations. Support groups allow people to share information and openly discuss their problems without judgment, to process their feelings and to hear others talk about their situation. Participation can help people deal more effectively with their problems. The main thing support groups provide is the feeling that you are not alone.

Definition:

• A support group is a group of people who meet regularly over a certain length of time to discuss a common health issue, disease, disorder or difficult situation. It helps people to learn how to handle a specific challenge and offer effective solutions. A facilitator moderates a support group in a small-group setting.

Benefits:

• Support groups provide many benefits. They allow people to vent about their struggles and challenges among other people who know exactly what you're talking about. This type of support is not always available from family members and friends. Support groups offers encouragement from peers. It helps people to process their feelings about a tough situation. It also helps a participant to gain a deeper understanding of their situation and let go of resentment of the situation.

Goals:

• Each support group has a goal to accomplish. For example, a breast-cancer support group might accomplish how to cope with breast cancer. A trained moderator helps a support group stay on task, maintains orderly conduct and assigns weekly goals and sometimes homework assignments. Sessions are weekly for a minimum of one hour. A support group can last several weeks or be continuous.

Types of Support Groups:

• Support groups dealing with breast cancer, mood disorders, AIDS, divorce, eating disorders, alcoholism, infertility, grief and sexual abuse are just a few examples of the many different types of groups available. Self-help support groups typically are operated and facilitated by people who have personal experience on a subject such as alcoholism. Professionally operated support groups are facilitated by counselors, social workers and psychologists at a hospital or professional facility such as a drug-treatment center.

Online Support Groups:

• Many online communities act as support groups. Online communities offer mostly peer support virtually. Online support groups are in the form of message boards, forums and websites. An online moderator usually moderates the discussions. Online community members can read helpful, positive and negative information from other members on the message boards . Different members will then comment and offer constructive solutions.

Find a Support Group:

• There are many different places to look to find support groups. The first place to look is online. Local community newspapers and specialty health magazines advertise support groups in your area. Support groups are also offered at hospitals for patients and open to the community for a fee. Some support groups are free, but many support groups cost money. Typically online support groups are free.