If you have a pressing social or health concern, there’s probably a corresponding self-help group. There are now an estimated 500,000 groups in the U.S. alone—with 20 million members. NSHC is a clearinghouse for all U.S. (and many international) self-help organizations. If you want to find an arthritis support group in San Jose or the chapter of Parents Without Partners nearest to Goshen, Indiana, they’re the ones to ask. They publish a newsletter and a journal (Social Policy) and can provide information on current self-help research, advice on starting your own group, and addresses for the twenty-odd regional self-help clearinghouses that have sprung up around the U.S. within recent years.
