Hi!

I hope you are doing well and are making progress towards your weight loss surgery goals, whether they are to get surgery, hit your goal weight, or maintain your new healthy habits. As you know, support is crucial to your success in this journey. BariatricPal is one of the places you can go for support.

In-person support groups can be another important factor in your success. When you meet people every week or month, you can look for the following benefits.

• A greater sense of camaraderie – you’re not in this alone!
  
• Accountability – seeing other members in person can be more motivating.


• Personal growth – opening up in person is much harder and more rewarding than staying anonymous over the internet.


• Deep friendships – the people you meet in support groups may be the people you call to


• go walking or just hang out.

Most surgeons recognize the value of support groups and many require or ask their patients to attend. Still, not all bariatric surgery patients get enough in-person support.

Thousands of pre-op and post-op bariatric surgery patients use BariatricPal’s online forums every day. Now, BariatricPal is providing another way for you to build your support system. BariatricPal Local Chapters is trying to bring face-to-face support groups to your area! Members are the same members of BariatricPal who are there for each other day after day online. Now, you can extend that support into your real life.

When

• Meetings run by your peers in a friendly and helpful atmosphere.
  
• In-person support to supplement support from other groups.


• Members whom you can talk to any time between meetings online at BariatricPal.


• The same values you get online at BariatricPal.

Go to BariatricPal’s Local Chapters page to look for a group in your area. If there is not yet one that is near you and convenient, don’t worry! You can suggest one or start one in the Local Chapters Forum. BariatricPal has plenty of support for anyone who wants to become a Local Chapters Leader – no experience necessary!

I hope you will consider joining or starting a BariatricPal Local Chapters group. Please post on the forums or send me a private message to get started.

I can’t wait to see what this Local Chapters program can do for our members. Thank you for your support of BariatricPal.

Hi15 months ago. Please let me know what the next steps are.

Roberta Bauer

Hi Alex

I'mHi interested in starting a local chapter. I live in Boynton Beach Florida. I had gastric sleeve surgery

Alex,

Can I ask--what kind of support groups would these be? Are they all 10 step addiction support groups? That's all I have found so far, which is helpful but I didn't know if there were other types that could also be helpful.

Thanks

We plan on offering a free support group leader course shortly. You'll have a much better idea once you complete the course.

Has anyone had WLS after having cancer?