(Website Navigation Tip: Keep this password-protected web page open/active while accessing other areas of the website by opening the Us TOO website in a new tab and viewing both simultaneously.)
Support Group Leader Resources
On behalf of the prostate cancer community along with the Board of Directors and staff at Us TOO, we extend heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the volunteers across the country and abroad who lead an Us TOO prostate cancer support group.
Prostate cancer support groups / education forums are an important component of the comprehensive educational resources and support services provided by Us TOO to the prostate cancer community at no charge. Members of the prostate cancer community have stepped up to volunteer as leaders for more than 200 Us TOO support groups throughout the U.S. and abroad. Us TOO support groups benefit from the affiliation with a leading prostate cancer nonprofit organization with a network of connections, in addition to best practices and educational resources/materials provided at no charge.
Please pardon our dust as this part of the site is currently under construction. The announcement with the new passcode will be coming out the first week in October. Thank you for your patience!
If you’re an Us TOO support group leader, please
ENTER YOUR PASSWORD BELOW
to access educational materials and support services developed to help address the challenges that you encounter and to maximize your impact on helping the men and women in the prostate cancer community who benefit from your experience and leadership.
Thank you for your commitment to serving your local prostate cancer community as a volunteer leader of an Us TOO prostate cancer support group. Your leadership provides peer-to-peer support and access to educational resources that help men and their spouses/partners, families and caregivers make informed decisions about prostate cancer detection, treatment options and related side effects. The following resources are provided to maximize the impact of leaders helping the men and women in the prostate cancer community who attend Us TOO support group meetings.
Us TOO is a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources and support services to the prostate cancer community at no charge. We acknowledge and thank the following corporate sponsors for their support, which helped to make the delivery of this content possible:
Support Group Leader Conference Calls
Join a Call
As a support group leader, it can be very helpful to talk with other leaders to benefit from their experiences or to share your own questions, comments, or advice about what it takes to run a group. Our support group leader conference call series can help with that. Support group conference calls happen monthly and offer a great opportunity to speak with other leaders. Contact Terri Likowski at 336-842-3578 or terril@ustoo.org to get on the list.
Last August we introduced a training program facilitated by Us TOO’s good friend Michael Capaldi. These interactive sessions were engaging and the content is directly relevant to your role as an Us TOO support group leader. We have received very positive comments from many of you about the sessions!
If you missed the sessions or would like a refresher, please find the recordings HERE:
Here is a brief recap of the two sessions completed in 2019:
Understanding Behavioral Styles:
Behavioral Styles are mechanisms by which we can identify our own style as well as that of others providing us with insights into how to best connect with others, like our support group members.
Two simple questions enable us to identify someone's style:
Does the person ASK more or TELL more?
Does the person CONCEAL more or EMOTE more?
By answering those two questions, we can place them into one of the four different styles:
Analytical
Driver
Expressive
Amiable
Finally, we discussed best practices for adapting our style to another's in order to get the most out of the interaction and relationship.
Listening Skills:
Listening is a skill set that tells the speaker how much we care about them and what they are sharing. During our session we defined listening, barriers to quality listening and the ‘Trifecta’ of good listening skills.
The major components of listening skills are:
Body language
Verbal cues
Paraphrase & Perception check
We discussed best practices for leveraging this 'Trifecta' of listening in order to be more effective support group leaders.
Meeting Presenters
Medical professionals, pharmaceutical reps and other subject matter experts are great guests to invite to your meetings to present and to answer specific questions attendees might have. Many health organizations and pharmaceutical companies can provide guest presenters or local reps to speak to your group:
Following are links to some “best practices” that have been provided over the years from other leaders. These are not hard and fast rules, but might help provide guidance for these topics:
Mike Capaldi Presentation to Support Group Leaders - Behavioral Style
Please refer to these documents during this video presentation:
Support group meetings offer a great benefit to those affected by prostate cancer. In order to help spread the word about your meetings we have provided the following resources which you can use to help promote to your local community:
Press Release Template
This press release is intended for new support groups. Please update the items in red to reflect your group info. There is also room for a quote from you as support group leader. Please send the draft to ustoo@ustoo.org prior to submitting to local publications and media outlets.
Print/Newspaper Ad Template (Coming Soon!)
The attached ad can be used in local publications. We have included generic horizontal and vertical versions. If you do not have access to Adobe InDesign to make changes to reflect your group info, you will need to work with the publication to make adjustments.
Digital/Website Ad Template (Coming Soon!)
The attached digital ad can be used in local publications. We have included generic horizontal and vertical versions. If you do not have access to Adobe InDesign to make changes to reflect your group info, you will need to work with the publication to make adjustments.
Social Media
Social media is a great free way to get the word out to a wide audience of potentially interested parties. We recommend Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Inspire. If you do not have an account, click any of these links to set one up on that platform. Connect with friends and others with similar interests. Like and follow Us TOO, and share our posts. You can find us at:
Videos are an excellent way to provide information and presentations by experts to your groups. To present these in your group, you will just need WiFi access to the internet, a computer, a browser which can access YouTube, a projector, and a speaker. (The AV person at your facility should be able to help provide information or access to these). Some of the following videos are broken down by topic, so you can jump right to the subject of interest:
PCRI Conference DVDs are available at a special discount rate of $75 (regular price is $150) from PCRI exclusively to Us TOO support group leaders. Call PCRI at (310) 743-2116 and let them know you are an Us TOO support group leader.
The Us TOO website at www.ustoo.org offers a wealth of information that can be put to great use. The following pages address important topics which can be great for discussion:
Send any quotes, songs, thoughts, images, or suggestions that can help inspire to terril@ustoo.org. We will try to post some of those here.
Contact Us - For Help with These Resources, or to Make a Suggestion
We're always interested in learning how we can provide more/better resources to help the leaders of Us TOO support groups and educational forums. Please don’t hesitate to call or send us an email with feedback and suggestions:
Terri Likowski, Program Director – Support Group Services; 336-842-3578, TerriL@ustoo.org
Jackie Konieczka, Office Manager; 800-808-7866 or 630-795-1002, JackieK@ustoo.org
Chuck Strand, CEO; 800-808-7866 or 630-795-1002, ChuckS@ustoo.org
Tim Mix, Communications Manager, 630-795-1002, TimothyM@ustoo.org
