Breathlessness Clinic

Patients and care partners affected by interstitial lung disease (ILD)/pulmonary fibrosis (PF) or other serious lung conditions are invited to join these support groups.

Our support groups are informal sessions developed to provide education, emotional support and encouragement, and to facilitate connections between those individuals and care partners challenged by serious lung conditions.

We desire to create a safe, supportive space for all patients and care partners to share their experiences with serious lung conditions without judgement. We hope you leave our meetings feeling a greater sense of support and understanding with deeper connections to our community.

This is an informal support group and NOT group therapy.

While support groups can be run by any individual and are offered to help people cope, group therapy is run by a licensed therapist with the goal to help people change thinking and behavioral patterns. These meetings are completely free, and we will NOT bill your insurance for these meetings.

If you are interested in group therapy support, please reach out to our social worker, Megan Crawford, at 410-550-5356 for additional resources.

You can share whatever you wish. We are aware that it can be difficult to share your journey and talking openly about your experiences may feel uncomfortable for some people. Sometimes it's helpful to think of small topics or pieces of information that you do feel comfortable sharing about yourself to build your comfort with each other. Some ideas for sharing or discussion include:

• Asking questions to the group to see if others are experiencing similar challenges. It is very likely that others in the group have experienced or are currently experiencing what you are going through.
• Sharing a success story or victory over something that was challenging for you in the past.
• Exploring challenges with building and maintaining relationships with others.
• Sharing hobbies, interests and coping skills you find helpful.
• Talking about what motivates you on difficult days.
• Sharing resources that others could benefit from.

You may feel more comfortable just listening to others' experiences for a while. That is okay too!  Our goal is to create a welcoming environment for information to be shared and support to be given. As many of our clinical team members as possible will be there to help encourage and support you.

There is no requirement to commit to ongoing or recurring support group sessions. You can attend as few or as many as you wish!

Simply click on the registration link(s) provided above. It is your choice how you would like to name yourself and if you prefer for your camera to be on or off.

You can email Anna Gersten at [email protected] or you can email the Breathlessness Clinic at [email protected].