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written by Linda Shepherd, President of the Poitou Charentes
Support Group
www.cancersupportfrance.info
Setting up a Support group
I think there are basically 6 key steps to take. At least
this is how we have approached the project, and it seems to work.
At this stage in your thinking I suggest
you establish whether there is a need in your area. Pose the question!
If it is clearly a need, then take it a step at a time. The best way to do
that is to ask the question amongst the English societies around you - such
as a keep fit group, or a 'Get - Together' social group, or your local
Anglican Chaplaincy congregation if there is one near you.
Contact those who have indicated interest, and ask them for a brief description about themselves, their cancer experiences, the skills they have to offer and what sort of boundaries they want to make. This will give you an initial idea of what kind of team you may be able to build.
Once you have established a group of interested people around
you it is helpful to have someone in from outside to help you focus on your
thinking. I asked Cancerlink (now part of the Macmillan organisation) for
advice here. They agreed to send me someone for two days for free training,
but we had to pay for transport and accommodation. In order to achieve this,
we charged a fee for the two days. This not only covered the costs, but then
gave us an initial working budget. These two days were incredibly valuable,
as they enabled people to get to know each other, and share their cancer
experiences. It flagged up those who wanted support themselves and those who
felt ready to offer support. (It was at this point that I discovered I could
talk about my own experiences without dissolving into tears! )
We were left the Cancerlink 'Good Practice Guide' which
further clarified my own thinking and helped me to put together a
provisional set of aims and objectives and our own good practise guidelines.
A meeting with the group members discussed and agreed these.
This would include what form your support will take. Where
you will meet, how often you will meet and so on. Again think about who
feels able to do what. Not everyone will be ready to be an 'active
listener'. But you may find people able to offer translation services, or
practical tasks like shopping etc. Establish clear boundaries for each
person. These should be reviewable at any time. For example, one of my team
members had a bad experience with Chemotherapy, and does not want to be face
to face with the same situation just yet. It is her 'trigger' point. Set up
an agreed, confidential contacts register. Ours is held by three people, myself as the
president, the secretary and the training officer. Decide on a training
programme.
I had done a lot of discussion work with the medical
professionals looking after me. I wanted to be sure that they felt it was a
good thing to do, and would support the work. This is vital, as I believe it
is at the point of diagnosis and then later during treatment when
mother-tongue support is most needed. If doctors do not know such a group of
people exist, they can not put the support in place! Ultimately, foot
slogging publicity by your members is vital here. The head of Radiotherapy at CHU Poitiers, who was in charge
of my treatment, set aside time to discuss the project with me. Because it
was well organised, and trained people were included, he was happy to
support me.
As the group developed, we realised that proper recognition
under French Law was needed. So we took steps to set up an 'Association'
according to the law of 1901. This means we can have a bank account in the
name of the organisation, thus separating funds from personal accounts. For
this you need to have a President, Secretary and Treasurer.
This year I took out third party liability insurance for the
group to ensure that we were legally covered should there be an accident
during meetings. Your local insurance agent will help you here. Third party
liability is the usual. Depending on the activities of the group it is also
possible to take out cover for each individual on top of the basic. My agent
assured me that when using ones own transport to take people to hospital or
shopping or to appointments, they should be covered under their own policy.
You can ring me on 05 45 29 08 93 and make 'human contact' if it would help.
I hope this is helpful, feel free to contact me whenever you
like - if I can't talk immediately, I'll say so and arrange a time to do so.
We also have an answerphone, so you can leave a message.
With every good wish,
Linda
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