Self-help (Self'-help"), n: The act of aiding one's self, without depending on the aid of others.

The Norwegian Way

After several years of work in the area, the Anxiety Ring in Oslo settled for the following definition:

"Self-help means to grasp our potentialities, discover our resources, accept responsibility for our life and live it in the way we ourselves decide. Self-help means starting a process of change -- from being a passive recipient to becoming an active participant in one's own life."

This definition now represents the basis of most of the self-help work that is carried out in Norway today.

The model for self-help for individuals and groups can be of benefit to all people who have acknowledged that they have a life-problem and they have the will to work on it.

12 Pillars Of Self-Help

1. Self-help builds on the participant's own innate resources.
2. The starting point for self-help is the participants' acknowledged common problem.
3. Self-help is based on the need felt by the individual participant to work on his or her problem, that he or she has the motivation to do so, and has made a decision to participate actively.
4. Everybody participates at their own risk.
5. The groups are based on give-and-take, equal worth, and tolerance.
6. The groups are not based on patronizing or a top-down structure.
7. The groups are based on active participation, not on the role of a passive recipient.
8. The groups are based on the communication and expression of each participant's feelings and thoughts.
9. The work is based on openness, but not more openness than the participants want or are ready for.
10. The participants are bound to secrecy and have a duty to attend or report their absence.
11. The group's goal is helping each participant grow from the inside, not by someone coming in from the outside or above to lend a hand, counsel, or teach.
12. The group is an active working group.

Insufficient Funding

Two conferences have been held under the title of "Self-Help the Norwegian Way." These gatherings have drawn people from a wide selection of organizations which use self-help in some form as an aspect of their daily activities. One of the most important tasks for advocates of self-help programs is the dissemination of knowledge and the sharing of the experiences of self-help members.

For the past 2-3 years, the authorities in Norway, both centrally and locally, have increasingly acknowledged the benefits and usefulness of self-help. This has resulted in an increase in public allocations for programs in the field. In Los Angeles, there is support for self-help programs for People with AIDS. Yet funding is an issue. There are many opponents to the idea of "self-help" and some professionally driven services may even feel threatened by the notion, particularly when resources are scarce.

Ensuring Self-Help

• One of the tasks is to ensure that what is genuine and authentic in the ideology of self-help is further developed independently of any government-directed goal management of allocated funds. [This means, in our case, that PWAs and consumers of services must form coalitions and work independently of prompting by funding sources. Set our own objectives and remain focused on our mission and goals.]
• It is important to ensure that self-help does not become a government healthcare amenity, but that it remains accessible as an opportunity chosen by means of a purposeful decision.
• Public funding of self-help work may be exploited as a justification by the authorities to cut back on other essential public services. The community must be aware of these types of ploys and not be swayed by exploitation.
• When areas of the self-help field receive public funding, then money can be used to employ personnel when necessary to coordinate the work.
• Funding can ensure that self-help becomes known more widely and is accessible to a wider public by making funds available to publish informational and promotional materials.
• Public funding can contribute to the systematic gathering of knowledge and its dissemination.

A serious educational challenge confronting this work is to make self-help accessible to as many as possible.

Self-help increases the self-helper's quality of life and improves his or her ability to cope. The freeing of resources within the individual means that more resources are available to the community.

Strong and self-assured people create positive and strong communities. However, efforts to make self-help more widely known and accessible have been left without sufficient funding.

Community

• Motivation to work for change.
• Interaction with professional assistance: Self-help work can often be done alongside and in dialogue with professional workers.

Challenges of Self-Help

Based on our collective experiences, the following represent important issues for self-help work:

• Information and advice for individual people, groups, and organizations.
• The composition of the self-help groups and their size.
• Absenteeism and instability in the group's activities. [Especially when groups are formed around illness and comprised of those living with life-threatening diseases.]
• To listen, to understand -- to wonder: what is it people really are saying?
• Being a participant in a group without a leader is both strange and unfamiliar and requires that each individual accepts their share of the common responsibility.
• The lack of structure is peculiar, unfamiliar, and frightening for many, and therefore represents a great challenge in self-help work.

While it is of utmost importance to have a good time, our work does not cease there. In order to enjoy life to the fullest, we must continue to work on issues that may be problematic in the future. If developmental work in a group comes to a halt at a "having-a-good-time" plateau, then self-help work will have no further effect.

Knowledge and Skills

Support Groups

-- Alfred H. Katz & Eugine I. Bender 1976 -- The Strength in Us.

What Is a Self-Help Group?

We work largely with groups based on health, social or personal issues which are run by their members. Some self-help groups expand their activities. They may provide, for example, services for people who face a similar issue or life situation; or they may campaign for change. Professionals may sometimes take part in the group in various ways when asked to by the group.

Some groups will hold regular meetings -- on a weekly, monthly, quarterly basis. Meetings may be in public venues, such as community centers, or in members' homes. Other groups will maintain support through letter writing, a network of telephone contacts, Internet chat rooms, and e-mail.

This definition has been adopted to assist "Self-Help Nottingham" to clarify the boundaries of its work, not to imply that groups have to conform to this exact definition.

Starting a Group

How does a self-help group differ from other groups you may know?

A self-help group is made up of people sharing a common issue or experience, either directly or through their partners and families (e.g., chronic illness, bereavement, parents' support group). Self-help groups are different from other groups because they are run by and for their members. This means that members are responsible for organizing and running the group.

Who will the group be for and what might it do?

Will it be for people directly affected (by the illness, situation, etc.) or will partners and caregivers be welcome? Is there an age limit? Will it be for people in a particular area? Starting to think about and to answer some of these questions will begin to help you to plan the group and will influence how it is run. Wherever possible it is best if you can get one or two people to share the load of setting up the group.

Do you want links with professionals?

Are there any professionals who could help? Could you use contacts with, for example, an M.D., health counselor, or social worker? Think about what you might ask them to do -- put up a poster, come to give a talk, provide a meeting room, help with transportation or tell people about the group.

What other things do you need to think about?

Will you need to fundraise? How often will you meet and where? Will you want to advertise the group or offer telephone contact points? What will you do at meetings? Will you need a committee? How will you welcome new members?

There are probably more questions you can think of to ask and answering some or all of these will form a good foundation to decide whether or not to set up a self-help group.

But, before starting a group, we must become empowered.

Empowerment

The idea of empowerment is based on active participation by deciding to accept responsibility and, thereby, (re)gaining power over one's life. This may lead to the emergence of a sense of strength which allows the person to exert control and build up his or her self-confidence. In this manner resources such as the capacity to make individual decisions and opportunities to take part in community life become viable possibilities.

Online Self-Help Groups

• www.hivstopswithme.org
  
• www.posimages.org
  
• www.women-alive.org

Or simply call 1.888.600.4POS for a self-help chat group on the phone [a completely anonymous way to reach out]. New groups are springing up such as Pos Hetero Chat. It's great to see folks involved with community efforts and helping themselves live fuller lives.

To see an example of a Derby-based initiative which has extended its self-help contacts through online support, visit the Beyond Fear dental phobia self-help resource.

Hey, what ever happened to the positive living room? That was a great self-help chat room. Many self-help programs fall by the wayside when resources are scarce. An example is PWAC, NY -- they were great! Excellent newsletter and great people. They closed down a couple of years ago. Some may still remember the PWA-Rag, a newsletter by and for HIV-positive prisoners. I guess when Jimmy Magner got out of prison, this project ceased.

Keep Self-Help Alive!

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