Starting and Conducting Support Groups

Support groups for a variety of needs have become quite popular in the past several years. People who share a common concern--weight loss, grief recovery, single parenting, abuse recovery--band together to encourage one another. The guiding philosophy for such groups is the "wounded healer" concept, the idea that an individual who has gone through a particular type of crisis can offer encouragement and counsel to others who are in the grips of the same type of crisis.

The groups may be sponsored by a church, a community agency, or by the individuals involved. Goals range from mutual encouragement to education of the members to advocacy. Some of the groups are short-term, others open-ended.

For individuals considering starting a support group, giving attention to several areas of concern will enhance the probability of successfully meeting the goals for which the group is started.

1. Define Your Goals

It seems obvious that the first step in starting a group of any kind would be defining the goals. Yet, too often people have some vague idea of a need and begin a group without a concrete concept of what they want the group to accomplish. A clear definition of goals is essential if the group is to be successful. There are at least three major types of goals, as suggested above.

• Mutual Encouragement Many support groups aim simply for a forum in which people who share common concerns can encourage one another by discussing the problems they individually have encountered and the solutions other members have found for those problems.
  
  There is value in the mutual encouragement group. If nothing else, we are often strengthened simply by knowing we are not alone--others have faced, and have successfully handled, problems similar to our own. Further, good information and advice can often result from the mutual sharing.
  
  The primary limitation of the mutual encouragement group is that members usually lack training in the field of concern and may not have the latest information available. Further, because members are not usually trained in group processes or emotional and mental health, it is possible to develop dependency rather than the desired interdependency.
  
  
• Education Although mutual encouragement is at the base of any support group, many desire more than simply the sharing of concerns. They want to educate themselves in the area of their mutual concern. Thus, they will utilize whatever resources may be available to them, both literature and people, who can help them to become more knowledgeable or more capable.
  
  These groups maintain the advantages of the mutual encouragement groups and minimize the disadvantages by discovering and drawing from outside resources. Further, they offer the members specific direction for meetings. A member can decide whether the topic for a particular meeting is of value and plan attendance accordingly.
  
  
• Advocacy Some groups seek not only to provide mutual encouragement and education for their members but also to function as advocates for causes related to their field of concern. An advocacy group would become informed of legislation before local, state, and national governing bodies and would lobby for their cause. They may become active in supporting candidates for office, or members may run for office themselves. They may seek opportunities to speak to civic, church, or school groups, or they may publish literature to support their cause.

2. Recognize Your Limitations

Part of defining what you do want to do is acknowledging what you do not want to do or cannot do. For example, unless a group meets under the guidance of a licensed counselor it cannot offer therapy for mental or emotional disturbances.

Another area of limitation may be in subject matter. Groups need to determine the range of a particular subject which they will cover (example--all types of abuse, or sexual abuse only).

There may be membership limitations imposed either by the size of the meeting place or by the goals of the group or both.

3. Research Existing Support Groups

Once goals and limitations are clearly identified, the first logical step is to determine whether there are already groups in the area pursuing the same or similar goals. If so, the best plan may be to join or at least to network with the existing group. Whether to join the existing group, network with it, or form a completely independent group would depend on several factors, including:

• The degree to which the goals of the existing group match the goals of the new group
• The size of the existing group and the anticipated size of the new group
• The location of the existing group in relationship to the location of potential members of the new group
• Whether meeting times are compatible
  Information about existing groups can be found through telephone directories, the local United Way office, the local Mental Health service, women's centers, and larger churches which may sponsor groups.

4. Discover Your Resources

Although discovering resources to aid in implementing the work of the group will be an ongoing task, the founders need to do some work at the outset to find both people and literature which will be valuable in meeting the group's goals.

Some persons who may be helpful either in setting up the group or as speakers for an education group include pastors and church staff members, the regional denominational office, chaplains in local hospitals, legal personnel, and counselors who specialize in the area of concern.

Government and private agencies often offer brochures free or at a nominal fee. Public libraries are good sources of information about such offerings, as are special interest newspaper columns.

5. Plan Your Organization

In keeping with the established goals for the group, the founders need to consider several aspects of organizational plan:

• Fees. Will there be fees for membership? How will these be set, and for what purposes will they be used? Will they be collected on a one-time basis, periodically, or meeting-by-meeting?
  
  
• Leadership. Will the group be totally self-directed, or will there be some outside leadership? Will responsibility for planning and leading meetings rotate, and on what basis, or will one person or committee be responsible over a stated period of time? What officers will be needed, what are their duties, how will they be elected, and how long will they serve?
  
  
• Meetings. When will meetings take place? How frequently--weekly, semi-monthly, monthly? How long will each meeting be?
  
  Where will meetings be held? If they are held in a home, what are the responsibilities of the host? If they are held in a church or other public facility, who is responsible for making sure the meeting room is opened, set up, cleaned up, and closed? If refreshments are served, what type of refreshments are desired and who is responsible?
  
  What format will the meetings have? Will some meetings be exclusively for mutual encouragement and others have a speaker or other program feature? Will these two formats be combined in all meetings, or will one be used exclusively? If there is a speaker or media presentation, who is responsible for necessary equipment, such as microphones, video player, or film projector?
  
  
• Confidentiality. What level of confidentiality is expected in the group, and how is this expectation communicated to group members? Will visitors be welcome at meetings? How will the expected confidentiality be communicated to them? How will breaches of confidentiality be handled?
  
  
• Evaluation. An evaluation procedure needs to be incorporated into the planning process. This may be in the form of a survey of members, evaluative discussions by a planning group, or some combination of these. Evaluation must be based on the stated goals of the group and focus on the extent to which those goals are being accomplished. It also needs to give attention to some of the more routine matters such as convenience of meeting time and place, because these eventually affect the accomplishment of the goals.

6. Remember the Spiritual Resources

Anyone can begin a support group and can offer some good service to members. Christians can provide an additional dimension which is not available in groups operated strictly on secular principles. Regardless of the area of concern, a relationship with God is the primary resource available to people.

A Christian support group would not advocate the concept of "just trust God and everything will be all right." Nevertheless, the Christian group can and should encourage members to seek through faith the wisdom to know God's direction in a given situation, the courage to act when they themselves have no courage, and the comfort of God's presence when there are no ready answers.

Information and training in starting Christian support groups is available from:
LifeWay Christian Resources
c/o Mic Morrow
One LifeWay Plaza
Nashville, TN 37234
Phone 615-251-2816.