Helping ourselves, helping each other | By Jennifer Comes

Soon Medicaid providers across Kansas will receive a letter from CCSR, letting them know about the self-help group database we maintain and containing magnets with information about how to access the database. The text of the letter is below. If you are interested in hosting a presentation or in using the materials we have available, information for connecting with CCSR is included at the end of this post.

It all began when one person recognized she could make a difference in the lives of others.

Back in the 1980s, social worker Evelyn Middlestat was facilitating adoptions for the Wichita offices of Lutheran Social Service. She saw that adoptive parents she worked with struggled with many of the same issues in raising their adopted children and started a support group for them.

At the group's first meeting, Evelyn realized that a group of peers facing the same challenges could support and advise each other in ways that professionals could not. Self-help groups, she thought, could be organized around virtually any situation or issue. Evelyn's contacts in the community made her aware of many support groups that met regularly, but group leaders often complained that people who needed group support locally did not know how or where to find it. Recognizing this, Evelyn gathered her notes and her telephone at her kitchen table and made it her mission to connect individuals seeking support with the right community self-help groups.

That vital connective piece that Evelyn recognized more than 30 years ago is the same work the Center for Community Support and Research continues today. As custodian of an electronic database of more than 2,000 self-help groups, national organizations and informational websites, we link anyone in the state with the support they need, wherever they may be located. Self-help groups can be found in most Kansas counties and have organized themselves around issues as diverse as living with cancer; coping with addiction or mental illness, grief or bereavement; physical or sexual abuse; divorce and relationship issues, and learning to be a better parent.

The database may be found online and a toll-free phone number, 800 445-0116, also links individuals with information on self-help group contacts.

“Support groups and community-based groups are a great way to give yourself a jump start and get yourself going,” said Aaron Scharenberg, director of the Central Christian Counseling Center in Wichita. When individuals find themselves dealing with a difficult situation, “they provide support, accountability, and a way to connect with others.”

Please use the enclosed materials as appropriate and feel free to share them with other organizations or individuals who may be helped through this free statewide resource. At CCSR, we especially welcome the opportunity to make presentations to groups and organizations. A presentation may be strutured from 1 hour to 8 hours on a variety of topics, either face-to-face or in a webinar format, and CEU credits are available. These presentations are a free service to Kansas Medicaid providers.

Helping ourselves as we help each other: We think Evelyn would be pleased.

To learn more, to schedule a presentation or to make sure a specific self-help group is listed, please contact Angela Gaughan at the toll-free number listed above, or at angela.gaughan@wichita.edu.

On leadership and authority in the Egyptian revolution | By Amy Delamaide

Yesterday, National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep interviewed Wael Ghonim about his role in the Egyptian revolution and his new memoir of the time, Revolution 2.0. Several of his comments about leadership reminded me of the distinction to be made between "leadership" and "authority." Here is a (long) segment of the interview:

GHONIM: ...And this revolution has no leader, has no face to it. And the collective effort of all the Egyptians is what mattered at the end of the day.

INSKEEP: Now, it's interesting you say that this revolution has no leader. Many people, of course, have said that. But reading your memoir here, "Revolution 2.0," I wonder if you're not giving yourself enough credit, because you describe yourself putting up Facebook pages, sending out statements, writing quite dramatically on behalf of causes, doing things that leaders do, and organizing protests, getting this revolution going.

GHONIM: I think this is not leadership. When I say a leader, it means that directs the revolution, where it should be going. Before the revolution came, what we were doing is increasing the awareness and calling people to action. What we did was calling for, you know, massive process that turns into the revolution on the 25th.

That doesn't, you know, give me the title of leadership, because at the end of the day I don't - you know, I did not - and I would have not been able to take charge and tell people what to do and negotiate on behalf of them.

The fact that there is no leader is evident on the floor. There are so many people that have done extraordinary efforts and that have sacrificed. There are so many people that have died, but there was no clear leadership that made decisions on behalf of the people.

(emphasis added)

Ghonim's interpretation of a leader is someone who we would say is in a position of authority. Someone who has power and uses it to direct the actions of others. Given what we know of life under the Mubarak regime, it makes sense that Ghonim's concept of leadership is authority-driven.

Inskeep suggests that the organizing and motivating work Ghonim did through his online activities was something "that leaders do." Ghonim's definition of leadership does not include these activities. For him, activities of leadership are directing the revolution, taking charge, telling people what to do, making decisions for people, and negotiating on behalf of the people.

Within the framework of leadership offered by the Kansas Leadership Center's competencies, Ghonim's activities clearly fall within the competencies of Energize Others and Skilfully Intervene. Through Facebook posts, he spoke from the heart and oriented others to a common purpose. He captured attention, connected people from different groups, and engaged unusual voices.

As Egyptians comes to terms with their opportunity to determine who they put in positions of authority, I hope they consider that people in authority positions can also exercise leadership like Wael Ghonim did.