How Governments and Other Funding Sources Can Facilitate Self-Help Research and Services

Despite the inherent grassroots nature of self-help, there is much that governments and other funding sources can do to facilitate the development and provision of self-help services and research. Through persistent attention to self-help concepts, provision of resources, and attention to emerging trends that might provide future opportunities, governments and other funders can be valuable partners for pushing the field of self-help research and services in new directions. This chapter provides examples of the types of activities in which governments and other funding sources can engage to facilitate and support self-help research and services. A number of ideas regarding potential sources of funding for self-help researchers and service providers are presented and future directions for self-help research and services are discussed. By supporting self-help on the national stage, we believe that the efforts of the federal Community Support Program has contributed to the growth of self-help over the past 30 years.