Yes, I need a support group

Support groups can be helpful in dealing with many health issues. They are consumer oriented and provide peer support. No one understands better what you’re going through more than those whose lives have also been affected.

Benefits of participating in a support group include:

• Emotional healing through validation—you are not alone!
• A safe environment to discuss brain injury issues
• Education from the exchange of information & experiences
• Connection to resources participants have found helpful
• Encouragement that those affected by brain injury can have an excellent quality of life

Survivors contact your primary care physician (PCP) or, if you were treated at a rehab center, contact the case manager or social worker and ask for a referral to an appropriate support group for your needs.

Contact a brain injury advocacy organization or do an online search (Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc).

Prior to attending your first support group

Since support group meeting dates and times are subject to change, contact the facilitator to:

1. Confirm the date and time;
2. Confirm the location; and
3. Determine whether that group is the best for you.

NOTE: It doesn't matter where you find your resources, it matters that you find them as soon as possible. If you come across a good support group or resource and you'd like to share it with the brain injury community, please add that resource to the BIC Blue Book here.

If you are having trouble finding a local support group, consider participating in an online support group/network/discussion group or search the BIC Blue Book or contact the national or international brain injury advocacy organization of your type of injury to find your regional brain injury advocacy group.

If an online support isn't working for you and there isn't a support group that meets your needs in your community, consider initiating one.  A resource available to assist one in initiating a support group is published by the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) titled, "Helping Ourselves: A Guide for Brain Injury Support Groups."

If you have additional needs, return to "I have been diagnosed with a brain injury," or "I am helping someone whose life has been affected by brain injury" OR select the "go back one page" feature.