starting an offline support group, ideas please

[toothless]

hi guys,i want to start an offline support group in the manchester central area and my idea is as follows.
the group will be for:
-people all over the spectrum,verbal and non verbal.
-parents/carers of autistic children and professionals who work with us.
reason i want both autists and parents there is because both groups can learn to apreciate what its like for each other,and the parents can see what autism is like in adult hood-we obviously all change including the profoundly autistic.

id ideally like to get talks from people who work with us once the group gets established.

how do i find out if theres a large number of autistic people in the area?
who should i contact for help?

i know i need to get hold of a church hall or something similar who will let us have our meeting there,im going to ask the company who supports me;creative support if theyll let me use one of their offices in their picadilly head office for free seeing as im paying a ton of money in carers bills towards them.

one of my support staff has mentioned putting up flyers in doctors surgeries,i dont know anywhere else,does anyone have any ideas?


also,what would be a good name for the group? i can only think of autism support group or autistic support group-its got to be clear english as manchester central is mainly immigrants who dont speak full english.

what would be a good idea to discuss at meetings?


i just want some iideas,anything you can help me with,im stuck. thankyou very much.
sorry i hope ive not left out anything,ive had a can of yummy cider and will soon be hit with night meds so i will be a mess shortly.

 

[Streetwise]

CARERS GROUPS HAVE A PARENTS WITH PHYSICALLY DISABLED CHILDREN GROUP
OR MENTAL ILLNESS
GO TO A CARERS CENTRE IN MANCHESTER
THERES ONE IN MY CITY CENTRE
PUT POSTERS UP AT A SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE DISABLED IF THEY ARE ALLOWED TO ATTEND
IN MY AREA THEY WOULDNT TAKE A GIRL BECAUSE SHE IS AUTISTIC AND PHYSICALLY DISABLED
FIND THE DIAGNOSTIC TEAM FOR YOUR AREA ASK THEM-
MINE IS 60-70 MILES AWAY BUT THERE IS AN OFFICE ABOUT 11 MILES AWAY

 

[toothless]

CARERS GROUPS HAVE A PARENTS WITH PHYSICALLY DISABLED CHILDREN GROUP
OR MENTAL ILLNESS
GO TO A CARERS CENTRE IN MANCHESTER
THERES ONE IN MY CITY CENTRE
PUT POSTERS UP AT A SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE DISABLED IF THEY ARE ALLOWED TO ATTEND
IN MY AREA THEY WOULDNT TAKE A GIRL BECAUSE SHE IS AUTISTIC AND PHYSICALLY DISABLED
FIND THE DIAGNOSTIC TEAM FOR YOUR AREA ASK THEM-
MINE IS 60-70 MILES AWAY BUT THERE IS AN OFFICE ABOUT 11 MILES AWAY

excellent idea,thankyou streetwise.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

Local social network group advertising, advertising in local disablties group and advertising in public places like the library.

Sligtly off topic but I would be interested in going to the group as I am relatively near the Manchester ares.

 

[Datura]

Some questions to think about:

Who will be leading the meetings?
I know this is an autism group, but it should preferably be someone with good communication skills, as well as an extensive knowledge of autism and related resources in the area.

What rules will you have in place?
These are usually pretty typical and involve such things as; not showing up intoxicated, refraining from using profanity, ect. For an austism group I might suggest telling people to not wear strong scents and keeping their phones on silent. You might also want to ask the group, at the beginning of the session, if there are any rules they would like added to accommodate their personal comfort and needs.

What does your meeting itinerary look like?
This usually means;

1. Calling the meeting to order at a specified time, reading out the rules,
   
2. Checking in with atendeeds (getting their names, and perhaps and "ice breaker" question)
3. Announcements
4. Moderated discussion (the topic can be predetermined, or provided by atendees)
5. Break (usually held in the middle of the discussion portion if the meeting is longer than an hour)
6. Conclusion

If the turnout is larger you might also want a portion of the meeting where different groups (i.e. parents, PDDNOS, Asperger's, ect.) split off to discuss their own particular issues.

As for a name; I would go with Manchester Central Autism Support Group. It isn't the most creative name, but it is to-the-point.

 

[Full Steam]

Advertise on social media.

You can create a Facebook page and put event details on meetup.com, assuming that's used in your area.

You can use paid social advertising to target very tightly to people who may be interested.

If you set up a charity at any point you can get reduced price advertising sometimes. Google offers $10k per month in free advertising to charities.

I'd try to build an online community as well as offline, and try to motivate people to show up, that will help get people in the door when you inevitably have days were everyone is doing something else.

Hope some of that is useful.

PS. Youre an inspiration. I'd find that very hard to do.

 

[toothless]

Local social network group advertising, advertising in local disablties group and advertising in public places like the library.

Sligtly off topic but I would be interested in going to the group as I am relatively near the Manchester ares.

thankyou! ill add those ideas to my list. do you have any ideas what would make a good name for the group?

and itd be awesome if a fellow ACer could come along, you will be more than welcome.

 

[toothless]

Some questions to think about:

Who will be leading the meetings?
I know this is an autism group, but it should preferably be someone with good communication skills, as well as an extensive knowledge of autism and related resources in the area.

What rules will you have in place?
These are usually pretty typical and involve such things as; not showing up intoxicated, refraining from using profanity, ect. For an austism group I might suggest telling people to not wear strong scents and keeping their phones on silent. You might also want to ask the group, at the beginning of the session, if there are any rules they would like added to accommodate their personal comfort and needs.

What does your meeting itinerary look like?
This usually means;

1. Calling the meeting to order at a specified time, reading out the rules,
   
2. Checking in with atendeeds (getting their names, and perhaps and "ice breaker" question)
3. Announcements
4. Moderated discussion (the topic can be predetermined, or provided by atendees)
5. Break (usually held in the middle of the discussion portion if the meeting is longer than an hour)
6. Conclusion

If the turnout is larger you might also want a portion of the meeting where different groups (i.e. parents, PDDNOS, Asperger's, ect.) split off to discuss their own particular issues.

As for a name; I would go with Manchester Central Autism Support Group. It isn't the most creative name, but it is to-the-point.

i have terrible communication skills but i have extremely good knowledge on the spectrum.
one of my staff has mentioned last night;what about having another person helping out,and if i do that, they could be the communicator.
ive got a person in mind as i know hes a local lad,he used to be on one of my facebook autism groups [not gone on fb for months until recently],hes an older aspie but very functioning and ive met him a couple of times,we have discussed doing autism related plans together before but they fell through as he was busy-he is manager of a learning disability and autism care home.

datura,i really apreciate your points on running the group,i honestly had no idea, and the support staff who is informing me of how to run groups keeps saying she will help me but hasnt so far.

i havent got rules yet,what sort of rules would you need in a mixed autistic/NT environment?

 

[ZebraAutismo]

thankyou! ill add those ideas to my list. do you have any ideas what would make a good name for the group?

and itd be awesome if a fellow ACer could come along, you will be more than welcome.

Aspies Unite. I don't know about name really. I'll think about it.