Respite for Caregivers > Support groups
Grandcarers deal with many sources of stress - money, time, medical, legal, school and isolation from family and friends. Support groups can provide a safe place for carers to voice their fears and frustrations and receive understanding from others in the same situation. They can also be a valuable source of information about where to find, and how to access services.
Purpose and leadership
Support groups can vary widely in purpose, content, activities and leadership and, sometimes, duration. Indeed, some groups may be led by carers to offer mutual aid, social support and information to others like them; whereas others are professionally-led and sponsored by a government or non-government agency. Further, some groups may be open to all carers, some for Grancarers only, and others maybe for carers of children with particular special needs.
While there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ type of support group, indeed much depends on the needs of the individual members, professionally-led support groups have the benefit of being run by facilitators who are trained to gain agreement from participants about the goals of the group (and sessions). This means that no one individual, or pocket of individuals, can highjack the agenda: A problem that has been noted to cause peer-led groups to dissolve.
… there had been a group [in this area] but they split ... one [side] wanted to meet as a social group ... the other side were wanting to do more things that were political, more lobbying …
Because professionally-led support groups are more focused they tend to offer more objective and structured advice, information, education and training related to important topics. They also tend to offer some form of supportive group therapy and opportunities for experience swapping. Individual groups may focus more, or less, on any of these elements. For example, a support group may choose to focus on the exchange of information, shared experiences and feelings, and the discussion of common problems, solutions and strategies, rather than on specific educational content (e.g., ways of reducing stress, depression, anxiety, parenting skills etc).
Regardless of content, all professionally-led groups share a clearly articulated and common goal, which is to create and maintain a supportive environment for all participants.
If you have the option of more than one type of group from which to choose, decide which things you want most from the support group. The following questions may help you decide:
- What does the group offer?
- Does the group's aims address your need for emotional support, a social network, information or education, etc?
- If the group has a sharing component, are you comfortable about sharing your feelings? Are you willing to listen to other people's experiences?
- Is there a group leader? Is the leader a carer or a health professional with relevant qualifications and experience?
- Is the group leader knowledgeable about how to keep meetings focused?
- Are there opportunities to suggest topics for discussion (i.e. suggestion box)?
- Is attendance at the group meetings time-limited or continuous?
- Are childcare facilities available?
Grandcarer groups in W.A.
Wanslea Family Services, Grandcare – offers a service that includes a Freecall Information Line, support groups and some individual case work for grandparents with responsibility for caring for their grandchildren.
There are currently five groups operating across the Metropolitan area, two in Rockingham / Mandurah and one in Albany. Exact location and contact details are provided in the Parent Help Centre course guide
For more information about Grandcare, contact
- Grandcare
Phone: 9361 8277 or FREECALL 1800 008 323
Email: support@wanslea.asn.au
- Grandcare Albany (9842 9998)
Community Vision Incorporated, parentsAGAIN! – is a support group designed to support grandparents who have become primary caregivers to their grandchildren. The groups provide information and support to guide grandparents in their parenting role.
- For more details, contact:
Phone: 9400 3009
Email: info@communityvision.asn.au
Geraldton Grandparents Parenting Again Support Group
The Geraldton Family Relationship Centre runs a support group for grandparents parenting again. The group provides an informal network of friendship, support, family relationship education and skills training.
- For more information, contact:
Phone: 9921 2611
Email: gfrc@centacare.wn.com.au
Other Grandcarer groups
- North Metropolitan Community Drug Service Team, Grandparent program
Phone: 9246 6767 - Grandparents Playgroup, Playgroup WA (Inc)
Phone: 9228 8088 or 1800 171 882 - Grandpower for Grandkids WA Inc
Phone: 9309 3462 or 9409 7409 - Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Golden Mile Community House
Phone: 9021 8535 - Kookaburra Club for Aboriginal Grandparents
Phone: 9342 9054 - Women’s Health Services, Aboriginal Grandparent Family Support Program
Phone: 9227 9032 - Yorgum Aboriginal Family Counselling Service, Indigenous Grandmother’s Group -
Phone: 9218 9477 or 9221 2733.
- Choose a group that best suits your needs. While choice is not always available, where it is, it is preferable that the group's aims match your needs.
- Attend each session that you can. It is easier to build trusting relationships if you attend on a regular basis.
- Do not feel you have to speak up. You are likely to get more out of a group if you do, and other participants are more likely to trust you if you do, but you are not obliged to speak up.
- Understand there are rarely 'right' or 'wrong' answers. What is 'right' advice or information for one individual (or family) in one situation may not be 'right' for another individual or even the same individual at another time.
- Listen to how things are said, as well as to what is said. You may not always agree with 'what' other participants say, but you probably can recognise and understanding 'how' they are feeling.
General
A guide to courses in personal, social and parental development for the Perth metropolitan area is produced by The Parent Help Centre (for the Department for Communities). The guide lists support groups for grandparent carers, carers in general, and carers for children with special needs, as well as other services provided by government and non-government agencies in WA.
For the latest version of the guide check under Publications > Fact Sheets & Guides > Courses Guide on the Department for Communities website.
The WISH directory is an online list of several hundred self help groups and community organisations in WA.
- Kidlink (Kwinana)
Phone: 9439 1838 - Meerilinga Family Centre (Woodvale)
Phone: 9309 3462
Special needs groups
MyTime - coordinates local agencies to provide support groups for parents, grandparents and anyone caring for a young child under school age with a disability or chronic medical condition, and receiving the Carer Allowance (Child). MyTime is a is coordinated by the Parenting Research Centre and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Each group in WA is supported by two workers – a facilitator for parents and a play helper for children.
There are currently 20 MyTime Groups listed in the directory for WA, including one in Kalgoorlie, Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton, Tom Price.
The Kalparrin Centre – is a Drop-In Centre for parents/carers of children with special needs. The Centre located at Princess Margaret Hospital also hosts a number of support groups. Groups that currently use the Centre include Tackers, Prada-Willi, Cleft Pals and The Kalparrin Coffee Mornings.
For more information about the Centre contact:
- Phone: 9340 8094 or FREECALL 1800 066 413
- Email: kalparrinwa@health.wa.gov.au
Research
Regardless of support group type (mutual aid or professionally-led), research suggests that support groups play two very important and interconnected functions for members.
- First, under conditions of stress people are motivated to seek the company of others in the same, or similar situations, to compare their thoughts, feelings and behavioural responses. This process exerts a normalising effect because it reinforces that members are not alone.
- Second, support groups offer the opportunity for members to learn from each other. That is, a member may compare themselves to another member who appears to be coping better and ask “what are they doing differently from me?
The flow-on effect of this process is that members of support groups often can develop a greater sense of mastery (coping) of their own situation, without actually changing the situation.
Research (the strongest of which comes from the field of cancer) strongly suggests that people, who have a greater sense of mastery and a greater sense of being supported by others, fare much better than those who do not have this sense of support.
- American Association of Retired Persons Grandparent (AARP). (2003). Lean on Me: Support for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (Part 1). A report prepared by Knowledge Management and the AARP Information Center. Washington, DC: AARP.
- Horner, B., Downie, J., & Wichmann, H. (2005). The Intergenerational Response Against Drugs (TIRAD): A needs specific intervention for grandparents parenting grandchildren where the parents have substance abuse problems. A report to Wanslea Family Services and Community Vision Incorporated. Bentley, Western Australia: Centre for Research into Aged Care Services, School of Nursing and Midwifery at Curtin University of Technology.
- Gottlieb, B., & Wachala, E. (2007). Cancer support groups: A critical review of empirical studies. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 379-400.
