...SO WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE FAMILY
SUPPORT GROUP?

• It is to provide a place where we come with our shattered dreams, in hopes that somehow the pieces will fit together again...
• a place where even the strongest of us can break down without feeling weak or embarrassed.
• It is a place where everyone walks in our shoes, even though the shoes are all different
• ...a time and a place where we can forget our own problems and reach out to help someone else.
• It is a place where strangers are friends...where we realize we are not alone, being with others who are worse off and better off, who are coping and who are "faking it".
• It is a place of unconditional love, unrelenting hope and SUPPORT.

(Fragment)

By Olga Sowchuk
Courtesy of the James A. Haley
VA Hospital Support Group in Tampa.

(Taken from BIA of Florida)