Nasjonal støttegruppe for pårørende, overlevende og berørte etter ...

SuMMaRy
in a new model for cooperation with the establishment of the secretariat for
support group preparedness.
Neither the national support group nor the other support groups are
ordinary permanent voluntary organisations. The number of members is
reduced quickly as the problems that made the individual join the support
group have decreased or been resolved. Long lasting activities – as for example
the struggle for an investigation or compensation – may lead to the support
groups keeping their members for long.
In the national support group there were differences in needs and interests
which split the group into subgroups, the survivors and the bereaved, members
of different ethnicity and citizenship, different gender and different age groups.
We have also found some conflicts relating to some members being seen as
representatives of their adversary or to the expansion and intensity of the
support group’s activity, and person conflicts have been splitting-up.
The members both survivors and bereaved with key functions in the support
group have some common characteristics. They have time, energy, managerial
skills and experience. Key persons and particularly the leader may develop a
middle position between the distanced professional and the engaged layman.
He or she may feel isolated and lonely and the working through of traumatic
stress and sorrow may be postponed.
If we look at the national support group in light of the members’ expectations
and experiences, the effects seems rather mixed. There are marked
differences between what can be characterised as self help and what can more
be characterised as pressure group activity.
Self help activity such as journeys of the bereaved and survivors to Thailand
which the support group participated in initiating and carrying through was
a big success. They met the needs of the members to meet others in the same
situation and helped them grieve. Other parts of the self help activity were not
that much of a success. According to the respondents the support group to a
lesser degree succeeded in creating networks and grieving groups in Norway
and to give practical help and support.
According to the respondents the national support group functioned well
as an interest group to secure collective rights. The support group stressed
that the authorities should continue the search, that the handling of the crisis
should be investigated and ameliorated and to establish a secretariat for support
group preparedness.
In total the respondents were well pleased with the national support group
even if not all parts of the activity functioned well. An explanation may be
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