What are self help support groups?

Self help support groups provide a setting in which people who share similar experiences come together to offer practical and emotional support in a reciprocal and mutually beneficial manner. People go to self help support groups for many different reasons. Some simply want information and will then move on. Others may want to make sense of what is happening to them by sharing with those who have been through something similar.

Many groups provide support to people who are facing a transition in their life and are finding their changed circumstances difficult to cope with, for example:

• The death of a partner or family member
• The diagnosis of a life-threatening illness
• The onset of a long-term medical condition
• The loss of a valued role or work

Conversely there are those who use self help support groups as a route to change, for example:

• To take active steps in getting well again or learning to cope in a different way
• To end a negative lifestyle or habit, to put the past behind and start living in a more positive way
• To get a new angle on an old problem

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