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| What is Fibromyalgia? What is CFS? |
Tips on Starting a New Support Group | ||
| Children and Youth | Related Links |
Tips on Starting a New Support Group Links Preparing for that first meeting After that first meeting
BH CFS/FMS Support Group Links |
We try to set aside time for anyone who's having a crisis or just needs to talk. You may want to go around the room and let everyone have up to five minutes to share. It's not a bad idea to set up a time limit for each one to speak and a way to gently remind someone that they are going over their time limit. There may be times, however, when someone needs more time. It's nice to have a greeter and someone at the sign-in table. We usually have someone sitting at a sign-in table and another at the door. It adds to making new people feel welcome. Once we were established, we developed a support group e-mail list for members so that we could send out an e-mail each month to remind members of our meetings. We also use it to announce meeting changes, provide new information, query members, etc. Other support groups use a telephone tree. We never give out e-mail addresses or phone numbers without permission. We contacted the local Chamber of Commerce's Health and Human Services Committee -- we were asked to attend their monthly meetings and we participate in their health fairs each year. We've also put together a couple of CFS/FMS mini-health fairs. Each month we send out a news release to local newspapers and a public service announcement to local radio and television stations (we include our meeting time, the name of our speaker, etc.). We developed a brochure for our support group. We give them out at support group meetings and distribute them throughout the community. We have a policy that products cannot be sold at support group meetings. That's one reason we put together a CFS/FMS mini-health fair. We invited anyone who had ever wanted to sell a product to rent a space at our health fair. It was a win-win situation -- we were able to find out about their product and they were able to sell it. Continue to keep support group members involved -- keep asking for volunteers. Consider sending out a newsletter. Once we were established, we started sending out a newsletter twice a year. It contains the schedule of speakers for the next six months and articles pertaining to CFS/FMS. Consider becoming a non-profit organization. It's a lot of work to become a non-profit organization, but it's worth it if you send out a newsletter, etc. We were pretty well established before we even thought about it. We think it has been worthwhile. Updated on: March 12, 2003 |