About our groups
Rethink is a campaigning membership charity working with people with severe mental illness, their carers, families and friends through a network of mutual support groups around the country.
Find out what support groups there are in your local area on our Search for groups page.
What is a Rethink group?
The activities that Rethink Groups undertake vary, as do the types of meetings held, however a common purpose is to provide mutual support and to work together to help everyone affected by severe mental illness. This was what brought people together to form the first National Schizophrenia Fellowship Groups and remains the focus for Rethink Groups today. (Rethink is the operating name of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship)
A great deal of research has been done looking at what people gain from mutual support groups. Findings emphasise the value that carers and people who have experienced mental health problems gain from meeting others who have similar experiences, and the wealth of information and reassurance that can be gained from this exchange of information. For many people a Group meeting of carers or people who use services is the only safe place to express concerns and ask questions about what is happening to them. For these reasons it is identified as the key activity of Rethink Groups.
Key Activities for Rethink groups
- To provide mutual support for new and existing carers and/or people who use services through meetings/and or a named contact (called a link person).
- To welcome people who have taken up membership of Rethink to the Group, and encourage other Group attendees to become Rethink members. (Rethink members are people who have joined the organisation, to support its cause and to receive information and support – they are often people with their own experience of mental illness or their carers, families and friends but they may also be people with a professional interest in mental health).
