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Topics related to Care & Support
Self-help groups
What is a self-help group?
Try it! Taking part in a group, you can:
- speak about your worries or problems
- exchange information and experiences
- learn to deal with your difficulties from one another
- enjoy mutual encouragement and support
What are the benefits of joining a self-help group?
Visiting a self-help group can help to
overcome isolation.
- You might feel alone in your situation, but there are other people facing similar challenges. Getting in touch with people who share your experiences might be helpful.
You can get
new information and
find alternative ways to deal with your problem.
- You can meet people with the same illness or connect with people who also care for a family member.
Talking to others means that you can
experience sympathy.
- Everybody is different. No two people have the same destiny. However, in a self-help group you can at least meet people who understand your situation because they are facing similar experiences.
Being part of a group can help you
feel strongerand supported.
- Together, you realise you are not alone, gain new information, feel understood and get to know other people.
Are you unsure if a self-help group suits you?
Solve the crosswords and learn more about the characteristics of self-help groups that make them attractive to you! Just fill in the missing words and enjoy quizzing!
If you are not sure what you should expect at your first time going to a self-help group, you can watch our video pill here too:
How can I find a group?
Are you interested in a self-help group, but don’t know how to find one? You can find groups by searching the internet using keywords like self-help, self-help group and the topic you are looking for. You can combine that search with an area and find physical groups in your region. You can also look for online-groups without a local base.
You can ask for help too. If you suffer from a psychological illness, you might ask a psychologist, a social worker or hospital staff, to recommend a group. You can ask therapists, doctors, care services and social organisations that offer support to recommend groups on specific illnesses and disabilities. Patients’ associations can also provide useful advice because they focus on a number of issues related to illnesses, and disseminate relevant information to the public. In some countries, such as Germany, there might be special offices that provide information on self-help groups. Click here for further information about options in your country.
Have you not been able find a group focussing on your issue?
Maybe you can start your own group! Social organisations can help you with this project too. In some countries there are also special offices to support self-help groups and their founders. You can find them here. Often psychological services and social counselling also form groups to improve their offers for people with care needs and disabilities.
Take Stephanie from Germany as an example. Visiting her local Parkinson’s group, she felt that the members were much older than her and that she had to face completely different challenges in coping with her illness. Although she liked the people, she did not feel well understood on all points and did not get to hear others’ experiences on all the topics relevant to her. Thus, she founded her group for young Parkinson patients and got to know people in a similar situation. Together they talk about difficulties such as employment, family life and disability pension. Through its members, she received valuable tips regarding her retirement too. She has built a new network and they developed common activities such as the sports group “ping-pong Parkinson” and a regular meeting to play parlour games together. Their common activities are not only a social benefit. They also help to train coordination and brain skills and finally decelerate the course of disease.
Good Practices
Voluntary association that promotes and supports Self Mutual Aid
AMALO is an organisation dedicated to promoting Auto Mutuo Aiuto (AMA), or Self-Mutual Aid, by collaborating with other institutions to develop support networks and services within communities. It focuses on creating inclusive spaces where people facing similar challenges can share experiences, provide mutual support, and empower each other.
Mantelzorg centraal is a regional centre of expertise for informal carers. This centre works with several informal care organisations. Its platform includes news, information, personal stories, and helpful links to support services.
Finding and founding a self-help group with NAKOS
Nationale Kontakt- und Informationsstelle zur Anregung und Unterstützung von Selbsthilfegruppen (National contact and information centre to encourage and support self-help groups) or NAKOS has been the nationwide information and mediation centre for self-help in Germany since 1984. It works on fundamental issues of self-help work, self-help support and promotion. Among other things, it offers a database for finding self-help groups and information about local self-help contact centres. It also provides information on how to set up a self-help group and what needs to be considered in order to find a reputable online self-help group.
in.kontakt: an app for connecting family carers
The “Voice of Caregiving Relatives in Germany” is a nationwide lobby group for caregiving relatives and self-help organisations. Among other things, it offers an app called in.kontakt, which enables family carers to network with each other online. App name: in.kontakt.
Links: Android | Apple
Independent patient counselling
Unabhängige Patientenberatung Deutschland/ UPD (Independent patient counselling) is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to provide those seeking advice with comprehensive information and individual advice on health and health law issues free of charge. It can also provide information on appropriate patients’ organisation for you.
Overview of German self-help organisations
The patient participation unit of the Gemeinsamen Bundesausschuss (Joint Federal Committee) appoints four associations that represent the interests of patients and self-help organisations for chronically ill and people with disabilities at federal level in Germany.
This project offers personalised support for the caregiver through home visits by a multidisciplinary technical team consisting of a Social Worker, Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, and Physical Trainer. The team works with caregivers on tailored care strategies that takes into accounts the people they are caring for. The initiative also provides opportunities to join groups, where caregivers can exchange experiences and knowledge about caregiving and develop new relationships based on support and mutual help. This strengthens connections between caregivers and local communities, and enables them to make active use of existing resources in their area.
Projeto Cuidar de quem cuida [Caring for Carers Project]
In Santa Maria da Feira, the “Cuidar de quem cuida” project is part of the Network of Municipalities Caring for Informal Caregivers (RACCI). It focuses on informal caregivers of people with dementia and post-stroke conditions, aiming to empower local professionals for networked interventions, thereby enhancing the well-being of both caregivers and care recipients. As part of its initiatives, the project has established self-help groups to support caregivers in their roles.
The CARE4DEM project is an Erasmus+ initiative. Aproximar and Caso50+ are the Portuguese partner associations. The project aims to develop a new and innovative model of mutual support groups by introducing web-based tools and integrating them with other interventions to enhance caregiver satisfaction and reduce burnout. Additionally, the project seeks to expand the professional development of mutual support group facilitators by creating a network of mutual learning across Europe.
Lithuanian Society for the Care of People with Mental Disabilities
Founded in 1997, the Lithuanian Association for the Care of People with Mental Disabilities is the main umbrella organisation of the non-governmental sector, uniting people with mental disabilities, their families and communities throughout Lithuania.
Resources
How to start a peer contact group for informal carers?
MantelzorgNL offers interactive professional training to teach informal care consultants, social workers, and other professionals how to organise and coordinate a peer contact group for informal carers.
MantelzorgNL is the Dutch national informal care association. Its website features information on various topics, articles, tips and advice.
Mantelzorgelijk is a foundation promoting the interests of informal carers. It provides a platform where caregivers can share their knowledge, experiences, and feelings.
Mantelzorg centraal is a regional centre of expertise for informal carers. This centre works with several informal care organisations. Its platform includes news, information, personal stories, and helpful links to support services.
(National contact and information centre to encourage and support self-help groups)
Founded in 1984, NAKOS is the nationwide information and mediation body in the field of self-help in Germany. It works on fundamental issues of self-help work, self-help support and promotion. It also offers a database to find self-help groups and information on local services dealing with self-help groups.
Wir pflegen! e.V. (We care! e.V.)
Wir pflegen! e.V. is a nationwide interest group for family carers and self-help organisations. You can find details of this association here. Among other things, it has an app called in.kontakt, which carers can use to network online.
Manual de Grupos Auto-Ajuda e Ajuda Mútua [Manual for Self-Help and Mutual Aid Groups]
This manual aims to guide the integration of people with a diagnosis of Unipolar or Bipolar disorder and their families, step by step, in an assertive manner, with the aim of achieving better mental health. Self-help groups and mutual aid groups, are one of the therapeutic forms of psychosocial rehabilitation, allowing access to a space for sharing experiences and knowledge, combating stigma, loneliness and isolation, with a view to health gains and a better quality of life and active citizenship.
The “Vilnius Healthier” team offers self-help groups for carers of people with disabilities or with long-term care needs.
Association for Oncology Patient Support (POLA)
The Association for Oncology Patient Support represents and defends the interests of cancer patients before public authorities and institutions, and develops public awareness companies and educational programmes. It also provides targeted services to patients and their caregivers via the POLA card programme, so that people affected by serious health problems can receive the best possible and the most appropriate assistance and support.
Arthritis Association of Lithuania
Arthritis Association of Lithuania unites persons with arthritis and their family members.
This association brings together patients with central nervous system tumours and their relatives.
Society of Multiple Sclerosis “Feniksai”
This Society brings together multiple sclerosis patients and their relatives and tries to support them by providing information based on the latest scientific research. It also involves professionals of different fields like doctors, social workers, and others who give professional advice. The Society helps patients and their relatives to solve various problems relating to MS and its consequences.
This society brings together people with Parkinson’s disease and their families. It invites Parkinson’s patients, caregivers, friends, doctors, students and other people interested in Parkinson’s disease to join.