The Power of We

This post is part of Blog Action Day
I'd like to comment on an aspect of The Power of We which has been expanding rapidly over the last number of years, and that is the Support Group.

Addiction
Most of us will have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous which has been on the go since early in the last century. Many will be familiar with Al-Anon which is a support group for relatives of alcoholics and even Al-Ateen which is for the children. These groups have provided support to people whose lives and heads and even their bodies are in a mess from contact with addiction.

These groups were followed by similar groups for support in drug dependency and gambling.

For a long time this sort of support activity was limited to a few areas like these.

Medical
But lots of people have lots of other problems which would benefit from mutual support and so support groups have grown up focussing on different diseases and medical complaints. There are even groups dealing with specific medications. That might sound a little odd to those who haven't come across them. But when you realise that all medication has side effects and that the pharmaceutical companies go out of their way to hide these you will see the value of such groups. Members not only offer each other badly needed phychological support and information, but by their very coming together often expose what Big Pharma has striven to conceal.

And they give members the ability to deal with their doctors/consultants from a base of confidence, something that can be vital to recovery, even if it can sometimes land you in trouble with medical practitioners who have gotten too big for their boots and have forgotten that you are the paying customer.

Media
Another area where "groupings" can offer serious value-added is in communications. Much if not all of the Main Stream Media (MSM) has got lazy or feeble or has been captured by big business or public administrations. Alternative media are now doing what the mainstream should be doing and their audience is usually on the internet. Commenters on such posts effectively form "support" groups, sharing information and experience. In that way, they contribute to a more open and freer press outside the MSM. Further interaction "social" media such as blogs and Twitter enhances this enormously.

The Future
So The Power of We is healthy and growing, at least in the areas I have touched on above.