In a support group, members provide each other with various types of nonprofessional, nonmaterial help for a particular shared burdensome characteristic. The help may take the form of providing relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also provide ancillary support, such as serving as a public relations voice or engaging in advocacy.

Maintaining contact

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Support groups maintain interpersonal contact among their members in a variety of ways. Most groups have traditionally met in person in group sizes that allowed conversational interaction. Support groups also maintain contact through printed newsletters, telephone chains, internet forums, and mailing lists. Some support groups are exclusively Online_support_groups.

Membership in some support groups is formally controlled, with admission requirements and membership fees. Other groups are "open" and allow anyone to drop in at an advertised meeting, for example, or to participate in an online forum.

More on [ Support group ]

NYT > Home & Garden

Soil and the City
By FRED A. BERNSTEIN Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:18:04 -0000
New York City’s dirt level — a mix of soot and everything from ground-up car tires to sea salt — is high, and so homeowners who love white rugs and sofas pay a higher price. Call it the dirt tax.
The Lettered Set
By PENELOPE GREEN Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:08:20 -0000
For custom stationery fiends, “social papers” are thriving, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the prevailing digital culture.
On Location: A Second Home, a Starter Budget
By MARIANNE ROHRLICH Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:17:16 -0000
A Brooklyn couple made their first home purchase a weekend house in the Catskills, decorating it with pieces acquired through Craigslist, thrift shops and yard sales — even items found on the street.
A House in the Woods, After the Woods Are Gone
By JIM ROBBINS Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:18:56 -0000
When my wife and I bought land in Montana, the stands of timber were so dense you couldn’t walk through parts of the property. Then the beetles came, killing the stately old trees.
Times Topics: Those 3 Radishes Are Priceless
By MICHAEL TORTORELLO Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:28:31 -0000
When I started planting seeds in March, I promised to “unleash my inner bean counter” and keep track of what I invest in home food production. So is gardening worth the cost?
In the Garden: Grow Yourself a Six-Pack
By ANNE RAVER Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:44:26 -0000
Ben Granger, an owner of a Brooklyn shop that specializes in beers, planted hop vines so he could make his own home brew. But you don’t have to make beer to enjoy the beauty of those dramatic leaves.

L.A. Times - Home & Garden

Koenig's Case Study House No. 22 as home
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
The Stahl children recall growing up in the iconic glass-and-steel structure, which is marking its 50th year. Each Christmas they hung their homemade stockings from the crannies of the rock-faced fireplace in the living room. Summers found them diving off the flat roof into the pool for coins their grandfather threw into the deep end, or playing safari in the dense foliage of the hillside below their house, under the glass-enclosed room that cantilevered precipitously above them.
Rick White's got that silver touch
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
The man behind Vroman's Silver Shop in Glendora repairs the damage inflicted by time (and bandits). Rick White, owner of Vroman's Silver Shop in Glendora, pulls out a photo of a tea service so stately it looks like it would confer a title on any hand that poured from it. White says that its owner spotted a burglar leaving her house with it but that the police were able to recover the set. The bad news: The silver had been tossed from the burglar's car onto a freeway. Damage included dents, broken handle parts and what White matter-of-factly describes as "road rash."
The cast needs more room
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Actor Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men" and his wife, Brooke , have listed their 1927 Mediterranean in Los Feliz at $3,697,000.
Garden show, design exhibitions, home tours
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
JUNE 27
Datebook
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
TODAY
Eric Nagelmann designs a garden for the Rosenblatts
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
The landscape designer had his directions: colorful and not stiff. From there, it was wide open. It's not uncommon to spot gray-green teucrium clipped as a hedge around a lawn or dark purple tradescantia trailing from a hanging basket. Nor is it unusual to find chartreuse coleonema filling out a border or velvety white centaurea used as a low accent in the foreground.

Christian Science Monitor | The Home Forum

The quest for freedom – empowered by Love
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:00:00 -0500
A Christian Science perspective.
Language that is in good taste
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:00:00 -0500
An English chef's experiments with synesthesia give new meaning to the promise 'I'll eat my words.'
Needed: more effective prayer
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:00:00 -0500
A Christian Science perspective.
In full swing
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500
A simple coil of rope slung over a tree provides hours of swaying solitude.
Superstars – and what stays with us
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500
A Christian Science perspective.
Pucker up!
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500
Lemons get a bad squeeze. Here are two recipes to add their sparkle to your dinner.

Denver Post: Lifestyle

Ask Amy
editor@denverpost.com (By Amy Dickinson / Tribune Media Services) Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:59:45 -0600
Dear Amy: I am 10 years old and my parents are divorced. My mother remarried, and I have a stepfather. I love her more than anyone, but she runs to me for support and I don't want to give it to her. I feel as if she wants me to take sides.
Everyone got into the swing of things at Coterie luncheon
jadavidson@denverpost.com (By Joanne Davidson / The Denver Post) Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:07:45 -0600
Learningwhether it's about current events or history — is a major focus of Coterie, and at the luncheon that marked the close of another club year, members discovered that you didn't have to grow up in the flapper era to know how to dance the Charleston.
Ask Amy
editor@denverpost.com (By Amy Dickinson / Tribune Media Services) Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:44:31 -0600
Dear Amy: Recently, my parents had a family dinner at our house, and after dinner my older sister's boyfriend decided to light some fireworks. My boyfriend and I, my sister and her boyfriend and our parents stood in front of the house watching.

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