Publisher's Synopsis
Coping with loss, ill health and change are part of everyday life. The best support and information often comes from those who have already gone through a similar experience. Professional care is much appreciated but is only part of the help needed û self help groups are another way of getting and giving help. They provide a different form of support when help from family, friends and professionals is not enough û or not available. There are now many thousands of groups in Britain, based on many different needs. - - Most professionals value self help groups, appreciating their special type of support and information. They want to work with them and are prepared to learn the best ways to do so. This book aims to help individual professionals working in health and social services to assess, extend or change how they work with self help groups on a day-to-day basis. It is a handbook, not a textbook, providing guidelines and checklists and illustrated with quotes from both professionals and members of groups. - - It aims to answer common questions, such as: How much can a professional be involved? How can I link my patients with self help groups? What do I do when things go wrong? Can I start a group? What will I do if they start commenting on what we do? - - Working with self help groups requires awareness, knowledge and skills. 'How to work with self help groups' is the first book published in Britain to provide broad guidance for a range of professionals who will find it useful. The book offers guidelines for five different ways in which professionals can effectively work with groups. And it draws common threads together, including the very real difficulties that go alongside opportunities to develop work with self help groups.
