Comment by Denver NeVaar on February 26, 2013 at 10:07am

Good luck to you there, Norman.  I have no experience to offer (hopefully those who can speak from experience will submit answers here as well), but, speaking from common sense, here are some possible ideas that came to mind (which are hopefully all compatible with the GRASP guidelines that you read).  Presuming that the church pastor is serious about providing meeting space, you'll want to be able to give clear directions to the location by either private vehicle or public transit (since I'm finding that numerous people on the spectrum use public transit a lot).  If you can put together your own brochure to advertise your group (probably drawing operational guidelines from the GRASP brochure--i.e. "this is what you can expect at one of our meetings"), you could pass it around to mental health professionals and facilities, so that they would have somewhere to which they could refer individuals in need whom they encounter.  You may also want to mention the availability of the group to nearby educational institutions (i.e. the psychology department of local colleges, universities, etc.).  Such contacts may also provide you with good networking opportunities, in the event that some individual with more severe needs shows up at a group meeting (i.e. a trained professional to whom you could refer them, to deal with issues beyond the scope of the group's capabilities).  In any case, I  hope this helps to get your own creativity and innovative capabilities going and I hope that your group's experience turns out to be marvelously successful. 

Comment by brenda on February 26, 2013 at 9:25pm

This sounds like a good idea Norman.

Good luck with it!

Brenda

Comment by Denver NeVaar on February 27, 2013 at 11:06am

Oh, and be sure to mention the availability of your group to your county social services department as well.  It seems that most such departments need all the help and additional resources they can get. 

Comment by Denver NeVaar on March 2, 2013 at 10:11am

Hi, Norman.  Hope you're doing well today.  Sorry you were so tired the other night.  I was trying to be supportive in whatever ways I could, but apologize that I wasn't very successful.  I still think your GRASP support group idea is great, but I know the beginnings of things are always the most difficult.  Within a community as large of as where you live, however, there just has to be others who would support your idea, if we could just find a way to locate them.  Let me know if you'd like help with brainstorming possibilities further.  Good luck! 

Comment by brenda on March 6, 2013 at 9:16am

Hi, Norman,

Just dropping by, to say I hope all is going well. We missed you at the discussion group.

Brenda

Comment by brenda on March 6, 2013 at 9:29pm

Hi, Norman,

I don't mean to intrude, but wasn't sure if you know that there now is a new executive director. Kate joined in on the discussion group Monday, and you might think about directing questions to her about starting a support group in Fort Worth, she may have some good ideas for you.

Take care,

Brenda

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