Self-Help Exchange Provides a Base of Support for Support Groups

There was a time when Ruth Hollman didn’t know how to speak for herself, when she didn’t know that it was OK to fight back. A time when everything was the way she wanted it, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about killing herself.

Hollman began attending support groups to help her deal with the sexual abuse she survived as a child and the resulting anger and poor self-esteem. The groups taught the former anthropologist to stand up for herself, and when her abusive husband pulled a gun on her, she finally fought back and ended the marriage.

Self-help saved Hollman and now the 4-year-old Self-Help and Recovery Exchange that she created to help heal others is serving thousands of people in Los Angeles. In addition to providing space for the 50 self-help groups that hold their meetings at a former recording studio, the self-help clearinghouse recently set up a phone line and database that lists more than 650 support groups and 7,000 self-help meetings per week in Los Angeles County.

The free phone line, funded by a $110,000 grant from California Wellness Foundation, a statewide health care organization, connects callers to a volunteer who searches the database for a support group for their problem, a list of meetings and a contact person. The database lists everything from 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Codependents Anonymous to hard-to-find support groups for people affected by diseases such as Tourette’s syndrome and Crohn’s disease.

Phones are staffed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For those who call after hours, a recording lists several organizations and meeting places, times and how a typical support group operates.

The exchange is a nonprofit organization supported by groups that hold meetings at its facility and other nonprofit groups that rent office space, including Secular Humanists of Southern California and Arts Anonymous. The groups pay the first $10 they collect at their meetings and split the rest of the proceeds 50-50. A typical donation is about $2 and no one is turned away if they cannot afford to make one.

“Self-help groups have proven themselves to be quite successful over many years,” said H. Richard Lamb, a professor of psychiatry at the USC School of Medicine.

“They’re not for everybody. But those who use them have been motivated to stop drinking or doing whatever it is they’re having a problem with.”

Last year, the exchange served 3,500 people who attended meetings or called in search of a self-help group. It is located at 5521 Grosvenor Blvd. in Mar Vista. For more information call (310) 305-8878.