in real life support groups--good or bad?

[lovemychocolate]

I'm trying to find some in my area. I found some that are direclty Asperger's related which is great. No upcoming meetings yet. One group keeps a list with your kid's name and school to let parents connect from that school.

I'm kinda leary about just putting it out there. Granted, the other parents have difficult child's, but I don't know how *they* share this info. with other parents from the school that may not have difficult child's.

Granted, I've already been given the cold shoulder by some room mom's that have witnessed some of my son's breakdown's--so I don't know if I'm over reacting a tad?

If you attend any support groups, is it like AA where all info. is assumed to be confidential and private?

 

[jal]

husband and I attended a support group that is based on "The Explosive Child". It was good, we liked it, but haven't had the time to go back with all the psychiatrist appts and in home 2x a week. They did expect everyone to adhere to confidentiality and not discuss outside the group. We live in a small town and of course a someone we went to school with came in with-his wife and they have a difficult child.

This group had advertised in the local paper and it meets once a month.

 

[gcvmom]

I would "hope" the parents who have access to these lists, and who are supposedly parents of difficult child's and are screened before they're added to the list, are as sensitive to privacy as you would be. I could see if they would share any info, it would be amongst others in the same situation as they or you.

Most people who do not have a difficult child or know one in their life do not understand and are often insensitive. They are the ones who do give you the cold shoulder, at least that's what my experience has shown.

I don't know whether the support groups treat everything with confidentiality. You could always just ask the listserve keeper. I think it's always best to consider how sensitive your information is before sharing if you are at all concerned about the wrong people hearing about it.

The nice part about finding out about other parents at your neighborhood school who are dealing with similar issues is that you can try to connect with them outside of meetings. I wish I had access to that kind of information because I wouldn't be left wondering about a potential difficult child and whether or not it would be safe to ask the parent about it (we all probably know of someone in our life with a difficult child who is either in denial or just figures that's the way all kids are and have no idea...).