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.