Our First Support Group
Coming together to give and recieve support is paramount when it comes to finding ways of coping with a chronic illness.
Our first support group on 23rd July in New Haw in Surrey, was a fantastic launch group, and everyone gave really positive feedback, mentioning how they felt very welcome and supported.
I must admit, I was a bit nervous to start with, as I was the group facilitator and therefore it was my role to make sure the group was a safe and secure, supportive environment for everyone who attended.
There were about 12 of us in total, including two guest speakers who both had interesting things to talk about. One of our guests, Sharon, told us that she is a healer and therapist and also hosts a show on Radio Woking. Our other guest, Adam, spoke about how he's managed to turn his negative experience of illness, in to a positive experince by now helping others through teaching them healthier ways to eat in order to better their health and focus on recovery from illness.
It was a pleasure to hear from our guests and both of them mentioned they would like to come to future groups, as and when they can, to further discuss topics of interest with us all.
We had a nice mix of both male and females at our 1st group. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and everyone there was very open and honest about their struggles which helped, yet they all managed to put a positive spin on everything discussed.
I feel it's important in groups like these that whilst everyone is invited to get things off their chest and this is key to feeling better, that the group does not enter in to a depressed mode, and therefore push everyone to feel worse when the leave. There was absolutely no sign of this happening in our first group though, and it seemed that everyone was aware of each other's vulnerabilities, making sure to consider others when speaking about difficult issues.
What a lovely bunch of people indeed!
Some of the topics raised in our first group were - the link between mental and phsyical illness, coping strategies, meditation, adult colouring books, healing and pets and pets as therapy.
I am very much looking forward to next month's group, I hope others are too and it will be delightful if we even have half as good a group as the last :)
Thank you to everyone who attended and to those who helped in enabling the group to take place and make it a success.