Support group ideas. Help please!

We have a support group coming up this next Saturday. It is lead by volunteers, and they've been doing a good job so far. But our group needs to be more involved and we always seem to just sit there with nothing to say to each other and because of that we always end early. Does anyone have any ideas that could help our group became more involved so that we feel more connected?

I would want to hear everyones experience with  their surgery and their hospital stay.  I would also suggest that the group buy a certain book and discuss it at a meeting once a month.  Also have everyone share what they are eating, what kind of protein and where they buy it.  I am a newby, I haven't had my surgery yet.  I hope this helps some.  Maybe you could find someone that has lost a lot of weight and maintained and ask them to share their journey.  Good luck I think you are very brave leading this group!!

I like the suggestions the previous poster shared.  Our support group is kind of boring.  They pick a weekly topic, but it's still a little yawn...

If there's someone in the group that likes to cook, what about having them make/share a high protein/healthy dish and share with the group?  Save that for the very last thing, so the people who cut out early miss out.  That will keep everyone there!  You could rotate who shares a recipe/food so the burden isn't on the same person.  And maybe people could help pitch in a buck or two each meeting to cover the cost of ingredients?

How about a clothing exchange once a month. Have a recipe exchange. Ask people for suggestions about new and differerent ways to get their exercises done. Consider inviting pre-ops to your meeting (I am assuming that this is a post op group) and sharing your experiences and having the pre ops voice their concerns. It always feels good mentoring those that are considering this life changing event.
Hope this helps.

Our group is mixed with pre ops and post ops and is facilitated by nuts.  We usually have a topic, but most of the time the newbies have questions and we wind up answering them and taking up most of the time alloted with this.  We have had a clothing drive, meatball/chili cookoff, mini makeovers by Arbonne.  We have talked about body image, mindless eating, etc.  It seems we don't have enough time to get everything in that everyone wants to talk about.  Good luck with the group and you may want to ask for topics that they would like to discuss.

swampwoman your group sounds awesome!

We have everyone go around and introduce themselves, say what surgery they had, how much they've lost so far, etc. Then we have a set topic every month.

This month it was Emotional/Mindless Eating. We had some handouts and talked about ways to stop emotional eating and different coping strategies. We also suggest topics if there's something we want to discuss at an upcoming meeting.

We have a clothing exchange every month.

Another group in my area has two meetings a month: one is primarily wls related, and the other is social.

In one of our group meetings, someone brought in a big beach ball that had questions taped all over the ball.

One person would throw the ball, & tell the person who caught it to read & answer the question under their (right or left) hand & which finger (thumb, etc).

The ball would get thrown around the room many times.

These are all fabulous ideas! I'm gonna write them all down and share it at our next group. The group is mixed with pre and post ops, and it's a decent size group, so we need the ideas. Keep Em coming!

I like all the suggestions so far.

Something that comes to mind for me is to ask questions.  For example you could ask what is the biggest challenge you have faced since WLS, biggest reward, funniest moment, the list could go on.  You could asked each person the same question and then another question the next month or you could mix it up.

What about adapting games to WLS topics.  Pictionary, Family Fued, Taboo, etc.

You could look on line and find some "ice breakers" trainer use in meetings.

Hope this helps.