Online Support Groups

Lesson 1: Components of an Effective Group

In this first Lesson, we will look at what makes an online support group an effective one. By going through each part of a group, we will be able to see what works and does not work for different group types.

• Accessibility to group
• Membership requirements
• Number of members
• Group rules and regulations
• Group associations

Accessibility Of The Group

The accessibility of the group can be a very important factor in a group's effectiveness and success. If the group cannot be found, no one can join and become a member. On the other hand, if everyone and their dog can see every little detail about your group and it's members, how comfortable would the members feel?

This can be a tightrope walk between enough group information viewable by the public and showing too much. How much accessibility your group needs will depend on the topic of the group. A group for NASCAR fans will probably allow the public, or non-members, to view almost all of their information. A group for adults recovering from child sexual abuse may choose that very little information should be viewable by the public. They may choose that only how to join and what the group offers is the information the members feel comfortable disclosing to non-members.

Information that a group can decide to disclose would include any of the following:

• Joining Information
• Date the group was started
• Number of members
• Location of members
• Messages posted by members
• Schedule of meetings or chats
• Member information – names, IDs, address, contact information, etc.
• Mission Statement or Topical focus of group
• Group Associations with other groups, organizations, or web sites
• Other special group information

For a group to be effective and offer benefits to its members, some information should be available to public view. I always suggest that at the very least all groups should have viewable the following information:

• Date the group was started
• Joining information (open to all, restricted and must be approved, by invitation only)
• Number of members (some individuals feel more comfortable in small groups, and other prefer large groups)
• Schedule of meeting or chats (as well as if they are open to non-members)
• Mission statement – some information about what the group offers to members and potential members.
• Group associations with others

I do not recommend that any personal member information be viewable by the public or non-members, and in some cases, this information should only be viewable by the group owners or managers. The group owner/manager and any assistant managers of the group should have some contact information available to the public. A free web based email address should be enough for anyone interested in the group to contact those in charge. This should not be a personal or work email address as the possibility of spam greatly increases anytime an email address is 'searchable' on the Internet.

Making the decision of what information will be visible to the public-at-large will do two things for your group. First, it will let potential members know how you will handle their sensitive information, and second it will let your visitors know that this is a serious group, and one they should want to be a part of.

1  2  3  4  5  6