I am going to start an adult diabetes support group in my town, and would like to speak with anyone who has experience starting a group like this. My main questions revolve around what the primary goals of your support group are, and what kind of activities you organize.
Please contact me at jimhuck AT gmail
dot com, or just click onto my profile.
Please post any wisdom or helpful information. I am interested in starting one in my community too.
I thought I’d posted a reply and now I don’t see it. I am planning on doing a diabetic support group. I have lots of experience in groups in general but this will be my first diabetic support group. I think it’s a great idea and much needed in our communities. I put a post on your comment wall with some of the questions to consider before starting any group and some of my thoughts about goals and activities. There is really almost unlimited ways to do it. First thing to decide I think is what you want your own role to be? Equal participant? Facilitator? It can be a bit confusing if you are both. One way to do that though is to have everyone be equal participants and then do a roster for a revolving person to serve as facilitator. Unfacilitated groups tend to be pretty unfocused imho so that is another option.
Zoe
Hi Jim! I’ve facilitated support groups (three in the three small communities I have lived) for a little over 20 years. I live in a rural community and have mostly T2s with one or two T1s. We have a blast. I would be glad to answer any questions. I also have some overall suggestions to get you started if you are interested.
I’ve thought about posting a discussion asking for ideas for support group topics.