:help: Please!!!! What would you like to see in the meetings? What kind of speakers? How would you like the meeting to be handled? What topics would you like to be talked about?

Trying to get some ideas. We have a local doctor starting up a support group and I am helping w/ it. So I thought what better way to find out what other lap banders want to see and hear then to ask them. There are so many people out here on the board and I know all of ya'll can give me some good ideas. We want them to be good for everyone.....and we want them to be succesful.

Thanks in advance for your help...Oh and yes it's a lap-band only support group not a WLS support group. So it's going to be designed for the lap banders. :eek:

I am preband and have attended 2 of 3 required support group sessions. The first one was open to questions then went from there and the second had a chiropractor do a presentation. I am very "PRO" chiropractor, but I didn't think this was beneficial to a newbie. Based on my experiences, I would look up topics here and see what brought on some good discussions. I have learned more here than I could ever learn at a monthly support group.

Why don't you give Jessie Aharoni a call from NWWLS. Or Northwest weightloss surgery. Its where Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Watkins have their support group and its great!! She is a bandster for many years and has written a book and articles. I believe the website is www.thelapband.com so give them a try, you'll be able to see how comprehensive they are when you review their site. Bless you and much success in this endeavor!

We have great support group meetings. We sit in a circle, everyone has name tags, and at the start of the meeting, we go around the circle and say our names...when we were banded...and how much we have lost this far (if we want to). Then the meeting is open up to questions from people who are not banded yet, who are there for info/advice from people who have been banded. Then we switch into questions from bandsters about issues they are having or questions. Then about 45-60 mins into the meeting, the nurse who moderates/runs the meetings will pass out an article or a copy of something she has made related to the topic we are discussing for the month. Some of the topics have been: How to deal with cravings, complications of the lap-band, head-hunger, fills....many of the same topics on this board. The thing people really like though are when they bring in guest speakers to talk about a topic. They are going to bring in a plastic surgeon to discuss PS after lap-band, costs, complications, what to expect etc. They are going to bring in the psychologist that meets with all of us pre-op to discuss the battles we still go through psychologically with food after LB surgery. One of the meetings I really enjoyed is when they actually brought our surgeon to one of the meetings, and he had our full attention for an hour to ask him anything we wanted. That was nice, because during office visits...timing is so limited and you undoubtedly forget to ask something you were wondering about. Our last meeting of the year, we have just a social with "lap-band friendly" appetizers. Another fun thing we do sometimes, is have a designated meeting where everyone brings all their clothes they have outgrown and we swap them out. Just a few suggestions.....I'll let you know I think of anything else fun.

Thanks so much....these are great ideas and I am writing them down as we speak. The actual meeting doesn't start until June but I want to have some ideas already planned for the upcoming months.....just in case we don't get any at the meeting..know what I mean.

I will try to contact that lady...Thanks for the web-site, I will check it out.

Again Thanks...if anyone has any others Please feel free to let me know.

We haven't gotten active in our support group yet, but I want to go to Robyn's!

A couple of topics to add to the list:

Self-identity concerns (Who am I when I'm thin?)

Family/friend/spousal concern / fear / understanding

My surgeon's practice has a wonderful support group meeting each month. Unfortunately, since he's just started banding, the meeting is run by RNY patients and geared towards the RNY patient (although, they are doing their best to include lap band issues). Here are some of the things I really like about the support group meetings:

There is a clothes exchange open to everyone pre or post-op. You are welcome to bring the clothes that have gotten too big and are welcome to take anything or nothing back with you. The only rules are nothing stained or things that need to be mended, no maternity clothes, or no children's clothing. One of the volunteers brings bins of clothes that are left over month after month, and about every 6 months or so, the bulk of the leftover clothes get donated to a local charity, and the clothes closet gets started fresh again.

I've enjoyed some our guest speakers. We've had nutritionists, the surgeon, the assistant surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a fitness expert who specializes in clients who have no experience or who have medical issues. We've even had a fashion stylist that was wonderful at emphasizing our changing body and changing our body image and how we shouldn't hide behind baggy clothes anymore.

One meeting we broke up into little groups based on where we were on our journey: pre-op, post-op to 3 months, 4-6 months out, 6-9 months out, 9 months to a year out, etc.

I've also started a local Bandster Internet group. We meet once a month for fellowship and support. We're still small, so our meetings tend to be very intimate which is nice that we really get to know each other, and call each other on the phone or check online when we do have questions that need to be answered.

Good luck, and great idea to ask us what we think would be good ideas.