Articles
May is Fibro Friendship Group (Staines) 1st Year’s Anniversary
- Details
- Category: Awareness
- Published on Friday, 19 April 2013 13:57
- Hits: 6992
This time last year Lisa and I were really nervous that we had set up a group that no one would attend. However we have both been blown away by the amount of interest and support we have received. We have up to 30 members on our books; people from all walks of life and most have never attended a support group before let alone met anyone with Fibromyalgia.
We have been amazed at the power of the internet; many members have found us via this method, even though we advertise weekly in the local papers and around our area.
We set up a web page which has had over 2000 views, a facebook page where we have over 60 likes and get viewing traffic of over 1,500 persons per week. As well as the above recently we opened a closed facebook page for our members only to keep in touch with each other in between groups, this has been a great way to be able to share ideas and thoughts without the worry of our friends and families reading our posts.
One of our members was attending a demonstration and offered to proudly wear a homemade Fibro T-shirt, which gained attention and gave her the chance to spread the word of Fibromyalgia.
We felt the need to share our first year’s group success with you as it has just been a wonderful fulfilling year. We have laughed, cried and shared so much together, something we never dreamed would happen. Our group has grown in strength and a strong bond between all our members has truly formed and we still have room for more...
We would like to thank everyone for their support and kindness in this first year. We hope to be able to keep running for many more to come... we will be celebrating FM Awareness day and our anniversary by wearing yellow and posting a special awareness message on all our facebook pages.
Lastly we must add, please if anyone is thinking about starting up a group, be prepared for lots of initial set- up work but the best bit will follow ... get ready to gain a whole new family... the rewards are amazing.
Sallie and Lisa xx
Fibromyalgia Friendship Group (Staines)
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- National Helpline 0300 999 3333 (10am - 4pm Mon - Fri)
- Benefits Helpline 0300 999 0055 (10am - 12pm Mon, Wed and Fri)
- Complimentary information booklets for doctors and other professionals (fully referenced)
- Books and videos
- Website Contacts with legal specialists
- Conferences
- Local support group and helpline contacts
If your Health Care Professional needs some education in fibromyalgia you can request that an FMA UK Health Professionals Pack is sent out to them. All we need is the name of the Health CareProfessional and the address of their practice. We will then send a pack to their surgery addressed from us to them.
You can request a medical pack using this form.
You can find a Support Group near you by contacting the Regional Coordinator for your area. If there does not happen to be a support group near you then maybe you can join with some other members and set one up. Support groups provide a social benefit as well as the opportunity to share tips on coping with fibro. They come in all shapes and sizes and we are often told how they have helped people.
