Support Group Coordinators Conference

Support groups provide the opportunity for anyone affected by IBD (for example patients, their families and friends) to meet other people who understand the challenges of IBD.

All of our coordinators for the support groups are volunteers. They all have IBD themselves or have an affected close family member, so they are passionate about helping and connecting with others. However, they are not always given the tools to run a support group and many try to run these groups by feel.

After having to put this off a year due to lockdowns and COVID, in August 2022, we bought back our Support Group Coordinators Conference, held in Wellington. The purpose of the conference is to share ideas and expertise in running a group.

The weekend started with a few hiccups around flights being cancelled which needed to be rebooked. We had representatives from the Auckland, Waikato, Wairarapa, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, Otago and Southland Groups.

We started with a workshop on how to best manage a support group. This information is being compiled and added into our ‘How to run a support group manual”.

After lunch Korrin Barrett spoke about her inspirational journey with IBD. To find out more about her journey, please read her article in this newsletter or watch TVNZ “I am” series. Korrin’s story was a story of hope, resilience, courage and sheer grit and determination. She had us all captivated from the start and her great sense of humour shone through in her presentation.

We broke for some time to reflect after Korrin’s presentation and regrouped again for dinner.

The following day we started with a brilliant presentation from Hollie Asprey, clinical psychologist, who has IBD herself, about "looking after yourself and your mental health". I am sure at least some part of Hollie’s talk resonated with everyone in the room.

Hollie’s presentation was followed by a zoom presentation from Rachel O’Boyle, Otago Support Group Coordinator. Rachel had originally planned to make this presentation in person; however, her flight was cancelled, and we were unable to book another flight. Rachel discussed “Mindfulness and Importance of Being Present”.

Our last presentation for the day, before we had lunch and headed off to catch flights, was an open Q + A session with medical professionals, Dr Richard Stein, Dr Malcolm Arnold, Professor Andrew Day and Dana Smith (RN). This gave the coordinators a chance to ask questions about IBD, its treatment, how best to navigate the medical system, and anything else that might be of interest to their members. 

If you are interested in helping out your local group, please contact me on info@crohnsandcolitis.org.nz

We will look at running this event again in 2024.