Peer Support Groups: Encounter New Friends

Peer Support Groups are regular meetings with individuals that have a disability that generally pertain to a specific type of subject matter. For instance, you may find a group that is specialized towards mental health, or perhaps one that is specific for people with spinal cord injury. Since these support groups have a condensed topic, it allows an individual to find people that may share similar experiences and troubles. Alongside these situations, comes solutions to problems that a person may be facing. Maybe another group member has experienced your concern before and found a way to work around it. Maybe the opposite is true, allowing you to disclose your own solutions as advice for others. The peer support group becomes a forum of knowledge on how to not let your disability keep you down.

Fortunately, we live in a world of technology. Finding a peer support group is not too difficult. Often times, non-profit organizations, like The Whole Person, will have their own set of peer support groups. Though, if you are looking for a wider range of groups, then just go to your favorite search engine, like Google or Bing, and search with your disability, followed by the words “peer support group.” For example, if I am wanting to find a support group for autism, I would simply search “autism peer support group.” The results show up and I learn that there are quite a few nearby. There are also websites that have a helpful list of groups for you to find, like Psychology Today. Whatever approach you take, know that there are a lot of resources that let you find the group that works for you.

Now that you know about peer support groups, you should think about why these groups are important. There are many benefits to joining a group, including:

• Assisting Mental Health: Knowing that you are not alone in a specific situation can make it easier to tolerate any troublesome concerns.
• Building Relationships: Having an outlet to talk about your experiences to a group that actually understands the situation prevents the awkward need to over-explain an issue that can occur with other individuals.
• Advocacy: Groups allow you to band together and fight for a common cause. You should not always need to just “deal with the ongoing problem.” Sometimes there are ways to remove the problem entirely.

Peer Support Groups are a fantastic activity to partake in. Find ways to overcome obstacles that your disability presents, while also forming new friendships with one another. Get started by checking out the groups provided by The Whole Person and find the group that you will enjoy.