In my Area

Marcia
Marcia Member Posts: 84
edited 3. Jun 2019, 07:13 in Living with arthritis
There is no Support Group in my Area. The nearest one is in Islington and that is when I am at work. Its for 1.1/5 hours which is from 2pm to 3:30pm and I finish work at 4:00pm.
Perhaps networking to find out if people who have arthritis lice in Southwark or Lambeth that could do a group.
That would be Great!!

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Marcia,

    A good idea to see if there are enough people with arthritis in your areas of Southwark or Lambeth to start a new group.

    I’m going to mention this to the webmanager to see if she can suggest anything else.

    Take care

    Yvonne x
  • Mike1
    Mike1 Member Posts: 1,992
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    There are no support groups in Cornwall either!
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    One of the rheumatology consultants at my hospital runs one, I've never been as it's of no interest to me. Organising and running support groups takes a huge amount of time and energy, often people are too poorly themselves to take on the chore (because it is one) hence the rise of on-line forums: always open, always accessible (very important for those with mobility issues) and one usually gets a reply. There's no accommodation to arrange, no tea club to run, no transport or parking issues, no turning out in the dead of winter to open up only to find an hour later that no-one else could be bothered to make the effort.


    This forum exists thanks to the time and effort put in by the webmanager and the volunteer moderators, we rarely thank them and that's not good enough. Sorry mods, apologies Sharon. :oops: I've made a resolution, I will begin a new thread to make amends.

    Many people bemoan the lack of a local support group but do nothing to begin one. It's interesting how many people say they look forward to talking to people on here then we hear nothing more from them, I wonder why I bother replying and I can see why many don't. Apparently this forum has over ten thousand members but if you think they're all active on here think again. Many want someone else to do something about what they want, an on-line platform works for all but even logging in can be beyond us sometimes. None of us on here is in sparkling good health. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • Mike1
    Mike1 Member Posts: 1,992
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Dreamdaisy is right. Having organised a military veterans charity in Cornwall and Devon for years I can vouch how much time these things take to sort out, the lack of support received not to mention the lack of appreciation (not that I did it for that but it would have been nice to have been acknowledged once or twice). I have had to hand over to someone else now as my conditions are severely impeding what I can do. I have only been on this forum for a couple of weeks and find that it is a great boon, I check it out a couple of times a day which relieves the sense of isolation. I have also spread the word about this forum so others can benefit.
  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,458
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have to agree about support groups, they do work. Whilst I was a carer I was contacted by a group who told me al the things they could do but the most precious thing to me was my time so I declined their aud.
  • Marcia
    Marcia Member Posts: 84
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi all
    I sent an email.to my local MR about support groups in Southwark.and Lambeth. I explained that there are support groups for carers and learning disability and mental.health but nothing for Arthritis.
    I have not had a reply.
    It would be great if the webmaster could give us some ideas in who we can contact to get support.
    I too.signpost people to.Versus Arthritis website, I would like to run a group but again finding somewhere to keep it, advertising about it, getting support perhaps cover when I'm unable too. There is a lot to think about before going ahead with the group.
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Marcia wrote:
    There is a lot to think about before going ahead with the group.

    There certainly is. I think, laudable though your idea is, you'd need lots of help and lots of preparation. Venue hire costs money. You'd need to find people who wanted, and were able, to come. You'd need to decide the purpose of the group - sitting around talking arthritis would surely be boring. Maybe you could email some of the groups on here and ask for pointers. It does seem a lot of work, though. Are you strong enough?
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright