Start a Support Group in Your Community
Nationwide, independent affiliate chapters of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance offer more than 1000 peer-run support groups. All groups are volunteer-facilitated and provide people living with depression and bipolar disorder the opportunity to find comfort and direction in a confidential and supportive setting. Services offered differ by chapter and depend on the needs of the community. Though all chapters must offer at least one free, open-to-the-public support group, chapters often also develop other initiatives, including educational programs, newsletters, lending libraries, and advocacy projects.
Benefits of starting a DBSA support group:
- Provide a forum for mutual acceptance, understanding, and self-discovery.
- Offer an opportunity to reach out to others and benefit from the experience of those who have “been there”.
- Help those attending understand that a mood disorder does not define who we are.
- Motivate attendees to follow treatment plans.
- Create a group that can make a difference in your community, maybe even save a life.
- Offer the consumer’s perspective to legislators and the local medical community.
- Remind ourselves that recovery is possible!
Here’s how we help:
- Referrals to your community’s chapter and support groups via DBSA’s toll-free number and website.
- Regular informational mailings filled with resources, funding opportunities, and ideas for chapter growth and improvement.
- Participation in legislative advocacy for mental health reform.
- Tips for developing effective groups, including ways to expand and share leadership of the chapter via the Chapter Management website (Password protected for affiliated chapters only).
- Free copies of DBSA brochures, publications, and videotapes.
- Leadership training opportunities through regional and national meetings, online learning tools, teleconferences, Chapter Leadership Forum, and other training possibilities.
- Chapter Awards programs for education, advocacy, and service to your area.
- Access to the Chapter Leadership Guidean online E-book to help the chapter succeed by providing tools, guidance, and references.
- Grant and fundraising opportunities to help your chapter grow.
- Use of the DBSA name and logo, which will identify your group as part of the nation’s leading patient-directed organization focusing on depression and bipolar disorder.
- Sample press releases and press kits for specific DBSA initiatives (as available).
- Assistance with and filing fees for incorporating your community’s chapter as a not-for-profit organization with tax-exempt status.
- Individual chapter webpage hosted through the DBSA website.
The first step to beginning a group in your community is to complete the Chapter Start-Up Guide Request Form and submit it to DBSA. Prior to submitting this form, you may want to check to make sure there is not already a group in your area that you can work with. To check for an existing group, please visit our Chapter and Support Group Directory.
Within three weeks of submitting your form, you will receive a DBSA Start-Up Guide. This guide includes the information and materials you will need to start a DBSA chapter in your community.
For additional information on starting a support group, call the DBSA Chapter Relations Department at (800) 826-3632, x154 or via e-mail at startup@DBSAlliance.org
page created: May 9, 2006 |
page updated: April 14, 2007 | |