Characteristics of Self-Help Group Leaders: The Significance of Professional and Founder Statuses

Louis J. Medvene, Scott Wituk, and Douglas A. Luke

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DOI: 10.2190/2KTL-LVNW-VCH6-TBV8

Abstract

A sample of sixty-three self-help group leaders, representative of non-12 step groups listed in the Kansas Self-Help Network, was interviewed in order to provide descriptive information about the characteristics of self-help group leaders and leadership diversification. Twenty-seven percent of the leaders held dual statuses as both experiential peers and professionally trained helpers. Dual status leaders reported "helping others" as a source of satisfaction more frequently than single status leaders. Thirty-three percent of the leaders were founders of their local groups. There was less diversification of leadership in founder-led groups than in successor-led groups, and leadership diversification was negatively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion (a sub-scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory). The findings add to our knowledge by documenting that professionally trained helpers and experiential peer helpers are frequently one and the same person.

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