The founding members of the VSSP e.V., the associaton for social anxiety support groups, all have experience in the field of support groups. They established the association to create a structure that:
- is independent from commercial interests,
- is sustained by the support groups themselves,
- helps persons with social anxiety disorder to find a group in their vicinity,
- creates awareness of social anxiety.
- is sustained by the support groups themselves,
- helps persons with social anxiety disorder to find a group in their vicinity,
- creates awareness of social anxiety.
The work of the VSSP e.V. can be divided into five areas:
1. Public relations
We address the population at large, the media, physicians, psychologists and all professionals in the health service as well as the public and private institutions in it and the health insurance system with the aim to:
raise/create awareness for social anxiety inform about support groups develop concepts for cooperation
2. Networking
The VSSP e.V. wants to help and enable communication between social anxiety support groups from all over Germany. Furthermore we want to put support groups into contact with relevant institutions.
Additionally, we are very much interested in forming international contacts with interest groups similar to ours. We would like to compare experiences and share knowledge and form an European association.
3. Support group assistance
Together with the groups we create informational material. We bring together support groups and people who suffer from social anxiety.
4. Beacon for people with social anxiety disorder
We provide material about social anxiety disorder and introduce people to the various places where they can get help.
5. Scientific work
We work on publishing scientific data about efficient support group work scientifically.
Membership
The VSSP e.V. is a non-profit, charitable association, as postulated by German law. Its members are volunteers and are not being paid for the services they provide.
Eligible for membership are representatives of self support institutions and persons who are interested in joining our effort.