Society program strengthens MS self-help groups.

It's an ingeniously simple idea: a group of people with similar problems meets regularly to talk about how they can help themselves. When it works well, a group is a haven where members can be frank about their frustrations and a forum where people share hard-won skills. Every chapter of the Society has a network of affiliated self-help groups.

Good self-help groups are powerful medicine. But poor ones bog down. What if the best MS self-help groups across the country shared the practices that keep them healthy and effective?

Assisted by Society staff, a task force from successful groups created the Collaborative Leadership program and more than 1,200 group facilitators signed up. Each received a 25-minute educational video and a packet of guidelines hammered out by the task force. Issues covered included how to measure the accessibility of a proposed meeting place; how to ensure confidentiality (no gossiping out side the group); and ethical standards for providing medical information. Finally, all participants took part in one hour telephone conference calls to exchange ideas on effective practices.

"It's wonderful to feel connected this way," said Yolanda Treiguts, who facilitates a group in Orland Park, Illinois, and who was also a member of the task force. "I got some great ideas from other leaders."

The Society hopes to repeat the program next year.