Starting and Maintaing Support Groups Library

"How-To" Handouts

The SHARE (Self-Help Answer and Resource Exchange) "How-To" library provides over 60 handouts to leaders of existing self-help groups and to persons wishing to start new groups. The handouts contain very concrete lists, guidelines, and tips on a wide variety of topics such as developing group goals and guidelines, publicizing your group, and professional involvement in self-help groups. Handouts are available for viewing in a PDF format. To view it just click the "PDF File Icon" for that handout. If a PDF file does not open on the first attempt, click the "refresh" button above your web browser. Special thanks to self-help clearinghouses throughout the United States for contributing to the "How-To" library. Original sources are indicated on the materials.

To view PDF files, you will need to have Adobe's Acrobat Reader™ installed on your computer. 

Introduction to Self-Help Groups

• Self-Help Groups: Are They Effective?

• Self-Help Groups: Toward a Definition

• Why Self-Help Groups Work

Starting and Organizing a Self-Help Group

• The Effective Self-Help Group

• Helpful Hints For a Successful 1st Meeting

• The Importance of Community Support Groups

• Keeping a Support Group Going: 5 Things You Should Remember

• National Self-Help Organizations: To Affiliate or Not to Affiliate

• Principles For Organizing Community Support Groups

• Resource Bibliography

• Group Goals and Guidelines

• Self-Help Group Resource Bibliography

• Starting a Support Group: 5 Things You Need to Know

• Starting a Support Group: Some Important Decisions to Consider

• Suggested Techniques For Recruiting Group Members

• Suggestions on Locating a Meeting Place

• Ten Ways to Guarantee That Your Support Group Will Fail

• Program Ideas For Your Self-Help Group

Publicizing Your Self-Help Group

• Learn to Blow Your Own Horn: Ways to Publicize your Self-Help Group

• Sample News Release to Radio, Newspaper & TV Stations

• Public Relations Strategies

Professional Involvement in Self-Help Groups

• Professionals & Self-Help Groups: A Reading Sampler

• Professional Involvement in Community Support Groups

• Starting a Self-Help Group: Suggestions For Professionals

• Ways Professionals Can Support You in Your Efforts

• Working With Professionals: Suggested Guidelines For Self-Helpers

Internal Group Issues

• Advice: If it Feels So Good to Give, How Could it Be Bad?

• Evaluating Communication in Your Self-Help Group

• For Your Ears Only: Keeping Confidentiality in Self-Help Groups

• Group Maintenance Strategies: Ways to Strengthen Your Group When Problems Arise

• Maintaining Confidentiality in Rural Self-Help Groups

• On Dealing with Personal Anger in Self-Help Groups

• Problem Solving vs. Advice Giving

• Responsibility of Group Members to Each Other

• Strategies For How to Cope with Distress & Manage a Crisis in Group

• Dealing with Challenges

• When Talking Gets in the Way of Helping

Special Issues

• Advocacy Tools & Strategies

• The Clearinghouse Advisor on Fund Raising

• Considerations For Nonprofit Status

• Developing a Phone Network For Your Group

• Self-Help Groups: Managing Your Resources

• Suggestions on Evaluating a Self-Help Group

• Tips For Starting Rural Self-Help Groups

• Self-Help Groups: Shelters From the Storms of Rural Life

• Formation of a Nonprofit Corporation

Self-Help Leadership and Facilitation

• The Art of Active Listening

• Asking "Good" Questions

• Basic Helping Skills: Techniques For Active Listening

• Discussion Questions

• Disengagement Strategies

• Facilitating a Support Group: 5 Basic Goals

• How Can I Be an Effective Contact Person For My Group

• How to Build Shared Leadership

• Key Characteristics of an Effective Support Group Leader

• Preventing Burnout Among Self-Help Group Leaders

• Resource Bibliography For Self-Help Group Leaders

• Some Help For the Helper: A Guide For the Self-Help Group Contact Person

• 10 Ways to Increase Your Choices of Motivating Others

• Welcoming a New Member to Your Group

• Listening to Understand

Self-Help Groups For Special Concerns

• Developing a Self-Help Support Network For Persons With a Rare Illness

• How to Start a Self-Help/Advocacy Group of Mental Health Consumers

• New Self-Help Guide Offers Help, Hope For Caregivers

• Starting a Self-Help Group For Youth

• Substance Abuse & Self-Help: Issues & Resource Bibliography

• The 12 Steps of AA: a Model For Self-Help Groups

• Self-Help: Women's Ways of Sharing Their Knowledge