Durham / Clarington Support Groups

Hi everyone, my name is Pat and I'm new to this site. I have my first appointment with my Surgeon (Dr. Klein) at HRRH on Monday and more appointments with the team scheduled for March 8th and was hoping to find others in my area that have been down this path. The only support group I could find was in Whitby but it looks like the last activity was in 2010 so I'm not sure if they're still active. I live in Courtice, which is between Oshawa and Bowmanville. Thanks for any help! 

hi there the group is still active....there was a meeting last tuesday evening. the next will be tuesday  feb 5th at 7 p.m. its called Durham Region Weight Loss Surgery Support Group.  I will try to be there at that meeting. Did you find it under Meet-up.com?

Christie

 

thanks so much Christie, I'll put it in my calendar now!

 

no problem!!! Hope we both will be there!

There are actually 2 groups. I just posted about this in the past week so I am going to copy that post to here:

 

If you look up Rouge Valley Gastric Bypass Support Group on FB.

This group meets once a month for regular meetings and does coffee at least once a month or when needed. Some of the members are on OH *raises hand* and some are not... but all are lovely.

From my own perspective: There is no judging... There is no push to conform to another persons ideals... it is all about individuals on their own journey coming together with and for each other...

I wanted/needed some social and support time during the pre-op time and asked if anyone was up for coffee that week (here IN Oshawa) and we managed to have a number of us come together for just that. I can't tell you what it means to have that resource.

Their monthly meeting was this past Thursday (here IN Oshawa) and I was not at all up to driving yet (9 days post op and I am kind of fussy about driving too soon after surgery and pain meds) and asked if anyone might be able to pick me up... One person picked me up, and 2 others offered in short order.

 

I also want to say I have gone to a few of the ones in Whitby. It is also a good group of people who go there. They often have a handout, and sit and discuss things that are relevant to the handout (as a topic) or various things... I do like a number of the people who go... I don't need to cover much as it was already covered in full above...

 

We are all going to look for something different in a support group. For myself I have gone to Whitby... The former "Durham group" which was where the members of the Rouge Valley group came from... The York/GTA support group meetings (which are awesomely organized, and fun as heck btw). The lunch Karen M. organized in Mississauga (again awesomely informative and fun in a very informal setting and where I got to meet people from OH who became fast friends). The CBPSO anual meet & greet which was in Sarnia (which is actually how I met the person who connected me with the others who now make up the Rouge Valley group).

I just was looking for a group that was either highly organized but fun or highly social but incredibly welcoming as those would suit my wants better and I have found that sometimes I want the feel of one... and other times I want the feel of another and there is nothing wrong with making use of more then one if it is what you want or need.

Shell

Thanks Shell. Can I get info on this group without using FB? I don't want to have a Facebook account...I tried looking on Google but nothing came up for Rough valley gastric bypass support group.

I know there was some discussion about getting it listed here on OH also. I am not sure who was going to do that or when it was going to happen...

The next official meeting is:

Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 7:30pm and in Oshawa.

That said we do coffee at the Stevenson Rd Starbucks whenever someone beings it up and/or suggests it and I often mention it on the forum.

Since you are not big on the idea of FB... Maybe you could email them directly at rougevalleygastricsupport@hotmail.com and ask for a heads up when we are doing coffee or for meetings, etc. The email address is the one listed on their contact and about us pages.

I totally understand those not wanting to deal with FB and this may be a good interim solution until they are posting events on OH.

Thanks, I'll try the E-mail!