Support Group Leader Resources

Click on the following topcs in bold to link directly to the content: Policies & Procedures Documents | Support Group Leader Conference Calls | Meeting Presenters | Leader Best Practices | Promoting Your Meetings | Educational Videos | "Best of" Us TOO Website | Content for New Support Group Leaders | Inspiration | Contact Us

Read "Virtually Everything You Need to Know for Your Support Group to Meet Virtually" which shares some valuable tips on using web conferencing for support groups during social distancing, by Rick Davis, Founder of AnCan.

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.

Training Programs

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:

• Session One – Understanding Behavioral Styles
• Session Two - Listening Skills
• Session Three - Creating Dialogue Through Questioning
• Session Four - Public Speaking
• Session Five - Storytelling

Here is a brief recap of the previous sessions:

Public Speaking Worksheets:

• Us TOO Presentation Planning
• Us TOO Public Speaking Training Handout

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.

Creating Dialogue Through Questioning:

This presentation will help you to formulate thought-provoking questions that will encourage your support group members to share and engage in dialogue beyond surface-level talk. We are excited for this module as it builds upon the first two trainings. CLICK HERE for the worksheet.

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:

Leader Best Practices

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:

• Support Group / Education Forum "DOs & DON'Ts"
• Speaking & Listening
• Guides to Good Listening
• Rules for Good Listening
• Keeping your meetings Interesting
• Sharing the Responsibilities
• Meeting Format Option: Personal/Relaxed
• Why Support Groups Work
• Tips on How to Start Your Support Group
• "Tips on How to GROW your Support Group" - Special Thanks to Stan Rosenfeld from CA for sharing!
• Video - What Happens in Our Support Group - Bob Horney, Florence, Oregon
• Leadership Training and Succession Planning - Bob Cardone, Us TOO Support Group, Greenville, SC
• About Us TOO Harvey Floyd Support Group - Johnny Payne, Harvey Floyd Greenville South Carolina Chapter
• Tips on Promotion, Facilities Selection, Return Attendees, and Food and Drink

Videos

• Leadership Best Practices - Fundraising
• Leadership Best Practices - Spouse/Partner Participation

Promoting Your Meetings

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:

• "NEW" Support Services Brochure
  This can be printed with your meeting info on the cover panel.
• "NEW" Support Services Flyer
  A digital version that can be printed out as a two-sided flyer as a handout.
• 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.
• Support Group Meeting Flyer Template
• Support Group Leader Business Card Template
• Support Group Meeting Poster (Print from file or CLICK HERE to request hard copies from the Us TOO home office.)
• Tips for Promotion
• Example of Us TOO Support Group Newsletter - Johnny Payne, Us TOO Harvey Floyd Chapter, Greenville, South Carolina
• 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:
  
  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UsTOOInternational
  Twitter - https://twitter.com/UsTOOHQ
  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/4021985/admin/
  Inspire - https://www.inspire.com/groups/us-too-prostate-cancer/
  YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA_bWuV86Y5ienUHd7Cms0w

Educational Meeting Content

Video

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:

• Society of Nuclear Medicine Imaging (SNMMI) Prostate Cancer Outreach Working Group released three patient videos on prostate cancer imaging:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPLLpM3t_4s
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6a_y2vAS4s
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrwQLTF7nL0
• Prostate Cancer Pathways for Patients & Caregivers – Skokie, IL (ED, Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Health)
• Prostate Cancer Pathways for Patients & Caregivers – Englewood, NJ (Sex and Intimacy and Advanced Disease)
• Prostate Cancer Pathways for Patients & Caregivers – Kirkland, WA (Psychosocial Issues and Genetics)
• Prostate Cancer Pathways, Support Group Leader Session: INCONTINENCE – Skokie, IL
• Prostate Cancer Pathways, Support Group Leader Session: SEXUAL HEALTH – Englewood, NJ
• Prostate Cancer Pathways, Support Group Leader Session: PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPACT OF PCa – Kirkland, WA
• Us TOO Support Group Meeting & Webcast on Radiation
• Us TOO Support Group Meeting & Webcast on Chemotherapy
• Us TOO Panel Discussion & Webcast on Advanced Prostate Cancer
• Advanced Prostate Cancer & Their Loved Ones
• Spirituality as a Healing Resource
• Advancements in Imaging and Treatments
• Manjunk
• Facing the Psychological & Emotional Toll of Prostate Cancer
• Fortifying Cancer Therapy with Diet
• Challenges of Detection, Diagnosis, Over-Treatment
• 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.

Print and Digital

We recommend that all Support Group Leaders subscribe to receive regular informational emails from Us TOO at: https://ustoo.wufoo.com/forms/us-too-opt-in-to-receive-informational-emails/. This link should also be shared with attendees at every meeting.

The following pieces offer some great information you can use at your meetings:

• Prostate Cancer News You Can Use
• Hot SHEET newsletter
• Educational materials on the Us TOO website
• Printed materials from Us TOO
• "Prostate Cancer, Start the Conversation" - PowerPoint Presentation

"Best of" Us TOO Website

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:

• Treatment Options
• Side Effects
• Prostate Cancer Drugs
• Sexual Health and Intimacy
• Incontinence
• Genetics and Genomic Testing
• Military Veterans
• Financial Assistance
• Clinical Trial Finder

Content for New Support Group Leaders

Information coming soon!

Inspiration

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
Tim Mix, Communications Director, 630-795-1002, TimothyM@ustoo.org