Workers Support Groups
Helping Yourself and Helping Others
The following article has been adapted from, and is based on self-help materials presented in “Where Women Have No Doctor, A Health Guide for Women,” written by A. August Burns, Ronnie Lovich, Jane Maxwell and Katharine Shapiro. We are grateful to the Hesperian Foundation for allowing us to share this as a resource. Please see end of article for more information on how to contact the Hesperian Foundation.
Better social relationships at work contribute to higher staff morale and productivity. The workplace setting often lends itself to opportunities for building supportive social networks. One possible way of helping workers deal with stress and everyday problems is through focused support groups. Support group meetings can give workers more optimism and resiliency, which then helps them cope more easily.
Two things are necessary for the effectiveness of workers support groups. One is the ability and willingness of participants to listen attentively to the concerns of others, without criticism or judgment; the second is the willingness of participants to share their own feelings.
A workers support group can help workers to:
- Recognize their feelings
Sometimes people hide their feelings (or do not even realize they have them) because they think the feelings are bad, dangerous or shameful. Hearing others talk about feelings can help workers notice their own.
- Control impulsive reactions
Group members can help each other reason through problems, rather than react on first impulses.
- Understand underlying causes
By talking together, individuals begin to realize that many suffer from the same kinds of problems. This helps them identify root causes of the problem and to feel less isolated.
- Put forth solutions
Solutions that are discussed in a group are often more easily accepted and used than those an individual thinks of on his/her own.
- Develop collective power
People acting together are more powerful than one person acting alone.
A workers support group can provide a safe place for adults to share feelings about the everyday stresses they are experiencing, work out solutions for themselves and to help others in identifying problems and possible solutions.
Starting a support group in your workplace or community
How do I start a workers support group?
- Find two or more people whod like to participate.
- Plan when and where to meet, for example during lunch, or after working hours. It helps to find a quiet place, such as a school, health post, cooperative, or place of worship.
- At the first meeting, discuss what you hope to accomplish. Decide how the group will be led and whether new members can join later.
- Although the person who began the group will probably need to take the lead at the first meetings, he or she should not make decisions for the group. The leaders job is to make sure everyone has a chance to talk and to bring the discussion back to the main point if it wanders off. After the first few meetings members may want to take turns leading the group. Having more than one leader can also help shy individuals lead.
Some exercises for learning how to help:
Before the group meetings begin, members may want to participate in the following exercises which help to demonstrate what a supportive relationship is and how it works:
- Sharing experiences of support:
To become more aware of what support is, the leader can ask members to tell personal stories in which they have received or given support. Then the leader asks questions like: What kind of help was it? How did it help? What are the similarities and differences between the stories? This can help the group come up with general ideas about what it means to support and help another person.
The leader can pose a story of someone who has a problem, and is afraid to talk about it. This person becomes withdrawn and pretends nothing is wrong, but no longer participates in the community. Then the group can discuss: How could we as a group help this person? How can this person help him/herself?
- Practice active listening:
In this exercise the group divides into pairs. One partner talks about a topic for about five to ten minutes. The other partner listens without interrupting or saying anything, except to encourage the speaker to say more. The listener shows an attitude of listening by facing his/her partner and being still. Then the partners switch roles.
When the partners are finished, they think about how well it worked. They ask each other questions like: Did you feel listened to? What difficulties did you have? Then the leader begins a general discussion among everyone about the attitudes that best show listening and concern. The leader can also emphasize that listening sometimes means talking; asking questions, sharing experiences, or saying something that makes the other person feel understood. It can sometimes also mean admitting that you have tried but still do not understand.
Exercises for providing support
Once members have become familiar with listening and supporting skills, the group is ready to begin meeting. Here are some ways for the group to help one another:
- Share experiences and feelings. People often feel very alone. Just being able to talk about a problem can be helpful. After one person has told his or her story, the leader can ask for other similar experiences. When everyone has listened to these, the group can discuss what the stories have in common, and what the individuals might do to change these conditions.
- Build on a persons strengths. Every person has developed ways of coping with everyday problems. Help a person identify the positive ways he/she has dealt with problems in the past and how he/she might use these strengths in their present situation.
- Learn to relax. This exercise is particularly helpful for people who are suffering from stress. In a quiet place where everyone can sit down, the leader asks the group to follow these instructions:
- Close your eyes and imagine a safe, peaceful place where you would like to be.
- Keep thinking about this place as you breathe deeply in through your nose and
then out through your mouth.
- If it helps, think of a positive thought, such as “I am at peace,” or “I am safe.”
- Keep breathing, focusing either on the safe place or the thought. Do this for about 20 minutes.
Ways to Improve the Mental Health of Your Work Community
- Creating a picture of your work community: This exercise works best after the group has been meeting together for a while. The leader first asks the group to draw a picture of the work community. (It may help for the leader to draw a simple picture to get things started.) Then the group adds to the picture, drawing in those parts of the community that contribute to good mental health, and those that cause mental health problems.
The group studies the picture and starts to think about ways to improve the working communitys mental health. The leader can ask questions such as:
- How can we strengthen those parts of the work community that now contribute to good mental health?
- What new things need to be done?
- How can the group help to bring about these changes?
Running a Support Group in Your Work Community
- Recognize group members individuality
Some members of your group could be experiencing similar personal problems, but a general discussion may not give them all the help they need. Each member should have the opportunity to discuss what is unique to his/her situation, to be listened to, and to receive the groups individualized attention.
- Refer group members to trained help when appropriate:
There may be individuals in your workers support group who have experienced, or are experiencing trauma. They may, for example, have:
- Recently lost family members,
- Been separated from their families and friends,
- Witnessed violence or had violent partners.
In these instances, the group can help the individual feel supported while referring him/her to an experienced mental health care worker. Let the person know that the group is concerned about his/her well-being and wants to assist him/her in getting the best help possible.
- Pay attention to your own feelings: Listening to other peoples problems can make you feel burdened, especially if you listen to a lot of people. Watch yourself to see if you are feeling pressured, if you are losing interest in helping others, or if you get irritable or angry easily. These are signs that you are making others peoples problems your own. Ask for help if you need it.
Because working adults spend at least one third of their lives at work, the job environment has a tremendous impact on their health. The workplace is one of the few locations where the adult population is gathered almost everyday in a systematic manner. It can be utilized as a major site for improving mental health awareness. By starting a support group you can create circumstances where working adults are recognized as individuals with unique thoughts, feelings and concerns, are listened to with respect and understanding, and accepted as integral members of the community.
The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of health books seeking to empower people to take charge of their own care. Many Hesperian titles are distributed in developing countries at a subsidized price, or free of charge. To find out more about how the Foundation assists health workers world-wide, please contact:
The Hesperian Foundation
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