November 2016

We are extremely excited to share that over 18 Leaders joined us on the two calls held in November. They were from various parts of the country including: CA, SC, OR, MN, WA, NY, FL, OH, AZ, NC, DC, NJ, VA and Canada! Thank you all so much for participating. These calls are not required, but they are an excellent opportunity for leaders to share best practices, struggles and to strengthen relationships with each other, and with Us TOO.

Jerry Deans, Us TOO Vice Chairman & Chair of the Program Committee shares:

The staff and the Board of Us Too have been considering, for some time, how best to provide our support group leaders with the tools they need to better serve the individuals who are struggling with this disease. Having been part of most of these calls, I am delighted with the response of those who are participating. We have very talented support group leaders across the country and internationally. These calls are permitting an excellent exchange of information and cross pollination of ideas. And now we have a space on our website to capture these ideas and link leaders to mentors who are willing to coach one another. If you haven’t already participated in one or more of these calls, I strongly encourage you to do so. Thank you Terri and Chuck for making this happen.

Below are Some of the Hot Topics from the Call:

It seems to be a universal problem that many of the leaders struggle to get help from those who attend to help lead or take on any responsibility for the meetings.

What are ways to motivate others to take on some responsibility for the group and help spread the awareness about meetings and prostate cancer in general?

• Patrick DiMeo from OH shares: Encourage the folks who attend your meetings to advocate and talk about the disease. Be sure to commend the volunteers who do help out and thank them for giving back.

• Mike Gordon from WA shares: When we know that a man from the group is having surgery or treatment, we try to get someone to go visit them to reaffirm that we care and show that they are not alone in their journey. They feel so thankful for the support they, in turn, want to help others and give back.

• Bob Horney from OR shares: I like to remind those who attend that the group was here for them when they needed the support, so it’s important that they continue to come so that they can be there for the support of others when they are newly diagnosed, facing advanced disease or dealing with quality of life issues.

Since this is a reoccurring issue, Us TOO asked the question: What motivates you to lead?

• Beverly Nicholson from CA shares: I want to give back and return to the community. It’s like an extended family.

• Jack David Marcus from New York City shares: It makes me feel like I am doing good in the world by helping my fellow man.

• Dave Corito from FL shares: I love to keep learning at every meeting and it keeps me up to date on what is happening with new treatments.

• Tarry Eddington from MN shares: I like being a mentor to those who attend, especially the newly diagnosed guys who come in who are scared to death and leave the meeting feeling hopeful.

A new group from Washington is having good luck growing their group. What are they doing to be so successful?:

• The two leaders, Mike Gordon and George Bell, both have very outgoing personalities and are constantly talking to others in their community about prostate cancer and their meetings.

• They live in a small rural area and word spreads fast. There has never been any other kind of

support in the community for men and their families who are dealing with prostate cancer.• They have done several press releases about the meetings.• Even though they are in a rural area and it is more difficult to find speakers, they are set up to

Skype with doctors and other potential speakers.

Dan Bard from the Villages in FL has a brand new website. We will send that around as an example for others to see. Here is the link:

Villages Prostate Cancer Group - A Community of Education & Support

Mentoring for Support Group Leaders:

Thanks to Us TOO Board Member Jerry Deans from VA and Stan Rosenfeld from CA for suggesting that Us TOO facilitate a group for leaders that are willing to mentor new leaders, or leaders who are struggling. If you are a leader who is willing to be a mentor to other leaders, or if you are in need of a mentor, please email Terri Likowski at terril@ustoo.org.

Using Social Media to get promote your groupTony Bonanno from NJ is going to start a Facebook page to help promote his group. Some tips from Tim Mix, Us TOO Communications Manager, on this topic are:

• Make regular and frequent posts – as long as they add valuable information to your community (no cute dogs or cats fighting over chip bags, no politics).

• #Hashtag any key text points of interest so they will come up in searches for those terms: #prostatecancer, #PSAQuestions.

• Reach out and try to connect with people of interest, people in your groups, experts, urologists, clinics, the cancer community, oncologists, etc.

• It is good to reach out and invite everyone to like you in bulk via email, but you could also be proactive and reach out to each individual directly with a friend request. It will require less effort on their part.

• Comment, like, and share other people’s posts (as long as they are applicable to your community) – you could like and share all of the Us TOO news items, for instance. Also, monitor any local community pages, connect with them, and make sure they see your posts about meetings in your area.

The next call for this group will be Tuesday, December 6, at 11:00 EASTERN and Thursday, December 15 at 4:00 EASTERN.

Call in number: 1-866-906-0123 Participant Code: 9368258#