How to Start and Facilitate a Support Group for Victims of Stalking

aPPendixSample Weekly TopicsWeek 1Group IntroductionsGoal: Members will understand the overall purpose of the group and discuss their individualreasons for joining the support group. Members will participate in establishing group groundrules and a group safety plan.Discussion:• Facilitators introduce themselves and present information about their experience,qualifications, and education.• Members introduce themselves and are asked to share their relationship to the personstalking them, how long they have been dealing with the stalker, and any other informationthey wish to disclose.• Facilitators describe the purpose of the group and hand out a list of suggested grouptopics for each week. Members are encouraged to suggest additional topics or requestthat certain topics be discussed at an earlier (or later) time.• Facilitators describe what members can (and cannot) expect from them and the group.Additionally, facilitators express what will be expected of group members.• The group creates a group safety plan detailing what it will do if an emergency occurs(e.g., a stalker shows up at group, a member is missing).• The group discusses the timeline of the start and end of the group.• Each member checks in, or reports how he or she is doing.• Closing ritual.Activity: The group creates ground rules covering confidentiality, respectful communication,listening, and other operating procedures by having each member take turns suggesting a rule.The group then discusses each rule and comes to a consensus on the list of ground rules.For the next meeting: Review the group topics and decide if anything is missing or if any guidelinesshould be changed.Handouts:• Stalking Fact Sheet (available for download from www.ncvc.org/src)• Myths and Facts about Stalking (available for download from www.ncvc.org/src)• Stalking Support Group Guidelines ( page 31)39