Why a group?
Another human being does more than any technique. But nobody can do everything. A partner, however wonderful, becomes overloaded if he or she is your only support. With a small group you spread the load and the network stays resilient. In long or heavy distress such a circle is often indispensable.
Take a young man who, after an admission, is at home with his parents with nothing to do. His life is in pieces. Now and then someone comes by, and in 2 months he has an appointment. A resource group can do a lot here: an uncle who goes running with him every week, a friend who takes him along to a birthday, an expert by experience who knows how this feels, a support worker who thinks along about school or work.
How to start your own resource group
- Write down who you have or had. Family, friends, old classmates, former colleagues, neighbours, experts by experience, people from a club. With each name, ask yourself: would this person say yes if I ask something specific?
- Start small. Three to 7 people is usual. Two is a start too. Begin with who is there, also when the relationship is complicated.
- Ask something concrete. “Will you phone me for half an hour every Friday afternoon?” works better than “Can you be there for me?”. “Will you go for a walk with me once a month?” works better than “We should meet up again some time.”
- Give everyone a role that suits them. The listener who phones and does not solve things straight away. The walking companion. The practical helper with money, post or the authorities. The expert by experience. Someone for distraction: laughing, cooking, doing something together. Someone who helps you talk to your doctor or care provider when you cannot do that for a while.
- You stay the director. You decide who is in it, what it is about and what you ask. Nobody has to do everything.
- Look back every 3 months. Does it work as you thought? Does someone need to be added? Does a role need to change? Does someone want to step out for a while?
And if you have almost nobody?
Do not wait for the ideal network. Work with what there is, and extend it through places where you meet new people: a recovery college, a peer group, a volunteer organisation, a neighbourhood initiative, a choir or a sports club.
A resource group with mental health care
Do you get help from a mental health team, for example a FACT team? Then ask about the resource group approach, also called RACT. The team helps you set up the group and can join it, as can other support workers, a recovery coach or a housing support worker. Then too, you choose who is in it and what it is about. The group helps you reach goals in the areas of housing, work, learning and relationships, and prevents help from being only about medication.
Read more about what another human being does on What mental distress is.
Prof. dr. Jim van Os, Chair Division Neuroscience, Utrecht University Medical Centre. Jim works at the interface of ‘hard’ brain science, health services research, art and subjective experiences of people with ‘lived experience’ in mental healthcare.
Jim has been appearing on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science list of ‘most influential scientific minds of our time’ since 2014. In 2014 he published his book ‘Beyond DSM-5‘, and in 2016 the book ‘Good Mental Health Care’. In 2026 he published 'Wat psychisch lijden is'.
Want to read more?
Blogs by Jim van Os can be read here
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