The Pave Project Report - Queen's University Belfast

The PAVE Project Report 59
The exact function of self-help groups remained somewhat unclear. For the most part,
self-help groups seemed to meet in a rather unstructured way. Interviewee N, a
woman who lost her father in the 70s, recounted:
“Well, really, at the start, it was more friendship, it was… you know, meeting
other… widows and victims of the Troubles and… … we used to meet like, you know,
like in a living room in somebody’s house and just have wee chats. And er… that’s
how we all met at the start, and get to know one another really.”
Interviewee M, a man who was injured nearly 30 years ago, understands the self-help
groups as a place where people with similar backgrounds meet:
“… the services that I have… er… taken up in here is coming in, attending
meetings, meeting people, meeting people … other traumatised people, getting a
sort of a bond between them, er… getting a feeling that er… we are united group,
we get together. Er… (coughs) we might have different outlooks but we can share
outlooks and it’s certainly getting me a lot more settled outlook on life.”