Self Help & Support Groups

WAVOCC has formed a Partnership with Worcestershire County Council, NHS Worcestershire and Self Help Nottingham to bring you the Self Help Partnership. The Partnership is dedicated to the following:

To build a Self Help Groups community in Worcestershire
To help your group flourish and grow
To be able to showcase the importance and worth of the Worcestershire’s Self help Group Community
We need you to join this community to make it work!

The Self Help/Support Group (SHG) area aims to provide a toolkit for those wishing to start a SHG. At the bottom of this page there is a starter pack. Please also follow the below links for further advice for setting up and sustaining a SHG.

Finding your National Association
There is no single definitive list of all the National Associations (of which there are many thousands) however, the following links provide online searchable database where information about many of the Associations can be found and should provide a helpful start in your search.

http://www.patient.co.uk contains a lot of good quality information including the opportunity to search by condition or issue whereupon information about the relevant national association is usually available. After following the above link the path to follow is: click on ‘Directories’, then ‘Website Directories’, then the topics are organised alphabetically. Alternatively the direct link is: http://www.patient.co.uk/topics.asp
On the same site another alternative is to click on ‘Support groups’ then search by topic. The direct link is: http://www.patient.co.uk/selfhelp.asp

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) website has a searchable list of national associations that are members of NCVO. The list goes beyond organisations that would have self help groups but is comprehensive. Clicking the following link will take you to an alphabetical list of organisations by name (rather than topic) http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/umbrellas-directory; however, if you do not know the name of your umbrella organisation enter the condition or issue into the general search box in the home page http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk and this should bring up suitable options.

National Support
A national body exists for most medical conditions and many social welfare issues. They may offer:

• Advice to new groups, including advice on group structure etc.
• The chance to meet other groups in nearby areas
• Newsletters and other helpful publications
• Publicity material
• Training courses and conferences
• Approval for groups - that provides reassurance for new members
• Starter grants

A number of single issue, national organisations employ regional development workers to support specific groups in a particular locality. Most will give details of branch structures and support available to groups.

There are some potential limitations arising from working with a National Association. For instance, some national organisations will only work with groups which adopt a specific structure, constitution and fundraising agreement. This may suit some groups; others might find these constraints difficult to live with.

Help from a National Association can be time limited and there may be further expectations of the group e.g. participating in National events or fundraising activities. In addition, some National Associations may relate to a given condition but they may not have self help as their main aim or indeed understand or support the ethos of self help. However, there is need to rush into an agreement, sometimes waiting a while is the best course of action.