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Tips on Starting a New Support Group

You may live on a farm or in a small town or  you may be live in a large city.  Either way, you can still start a support group and people will come.

Here are some things that  worked for us:

One place to start is with your health care provider.   We let several health care providers in our community know that we wanted to start a support group for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia Syndrome.  We left our phone numbers so that others could call for information.

Get a sponsor.  It's not imperative that you have a sponsor, but it helps.  When we started out, we contacted the Education Department of our local hospital.  Not only do they provide us with a room in which to meet, but they also send out our newsletter once a year and print our support group brochure -- all free of charge.

Find a place to meet. Most groups have found that meeting in a public place is better than a private home.  Libraries, churches, hospitals, etc. usually have rooms set aside for public conferences and meetings.  In looking for a meeting site,  take into consideration the comfort of the room.  Is it heated and air conditioned?  Are the chairs comfortable?  Is the room so large as to be intimidating? Often it helps to have a casual environment where people can form their chairs in a circle, and some can even lie down if they need to.  Is it easily accessible?  Is it environmentally friendly?   We found that meeting in the hospital works best for us.

Contact the national organizations.  Contact the national CFS/FMS organizations to let them know that you are starting a new support group.  We have found them to be most helpful.  Most national organizations keep a list of support groups by state, and will refer others to your group.  Most national organizations will also send your new support group their brochures on CFS/FMS free of charge.  It's good to have a handout or two for that first meeting.

Set a time for the meeting. If you know other people with CFS/FMS, work together to come up with a good time to meet.  A daytime meeting usually works better.  If some members work, an early evening time may work too.  It's difficult for some with CFS/FMS to get going early in the morning, so setting it before 10 a.m. might not work.  A compromise might be to meet on a Saturday at either 10 a.m. or early afternoon.

Get the word out. Most newspapers are willing to do an article about a new support group forming.  In our case, they were willing to do a full page article about how CFS/FMS had affected the lives of two Rapid City women.  In the article they announced that a new support group was forming.  The announcement included the date, time, and place of the meeting and the telephone numbers of people to contact for more information.  You may also want to include an e-mail address.   We distributed flyers in the community (area doctor's offices, clinics,  libraries, hospitals, etc).  

Updated on:  March 12, 2003


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