Social Support in Groups - September 6, 2014 IM4US Conference
Conditions that help build social support in groups:
confidentiality, safety, food, time for socializing, trust, laughter, some consistency of
group membership, consistency of group leadership, knowing names,
tolerance/celebration of difference, common experience, privacy in group, feeling
heard, sense of belonging
Environmental/logistical factors that can help with social support:
Quiet room, music when walking in, name tags that are consistent and have a special
place between groups, participants doing reminder calls, greet all group members
by name as they come in.
Activities to promote social support
1. Dyads – divide participants into pairs. Instruct them to share names and one
thing about them: ie: where they got their name, their favorite super hero,
favorite food from childhood and why, what brought them to group. Then
come back into the large group and each person introduces their partner and
shares the thing they learned about their partner. (Good for brining out all
voices, learning names, sharing cultural information, building a sense of
participation,
2. Ball name game – Facilitator has 1-3 soft balls. Facilitator tosses ball to a
group member and says their name. That member tosses to another member
etc. Pattern of tossing stays the same and multiple balls can be added.
3. Brainstorm – group brainstorms guidelines or rules that will make the group
safe and functional for all – eg: confidentiality, respect, no interrupting,
participation, guest policy, kid policy, cell phone policy. The group members
should be the ones to develop these but you can suggest topics if they don’t
come out spontaneously.
4. Continuum activity – make two opposite statements such as I know what to
feed my baby/ I have no idea what to feed my baby or I am exercising every
day versus I haven’t gotten off the couch in months --- have participants line
up on a line according to how close they are to a given statement. Then
debrief why they put themselves where they did and explore similarities of
the participants standing close together. This can be an opportunity for
participants to build support networks around common goals.
5. Closing with yarn circle – stand in a circle with a ball of yarn. Start with the
yarn and say one thing you have learned or will take away from the group.
Then keep the end of the yarn and toss the ball of yarn to the next person and
say their name. Instruct that person to share one thing they gained or will
take away from group, they share their one thing and then hold onto the yarn
and toss the ball to the next person until all in the group have had a turn