Self-help

Self-help or empowerment, involvement or participation: All four are not only central concepts of health promotion, but also of the self-help movement. Like other countries, Austria has seen enormous strides being made in this area in recent years. Today there are more than a thousand active self-help organizations in this country. Fonds Gesundes Österreich is the logical base for SIGIS, a long-standing nation-wide project to support health initiatives and self-help organizations throughout Austria.

We offer the following services in connection with SIGIS:

• We run an Austria-wide database on self-help groups and organizations and update it constantly. In this database, you will find the entire Austrian self-help scene. Information can be called up by province or by subject.
• We operate the SIGIS phone service which provides information for individuals interested in the organization’s services or in the way self-help groups function.
• We publish brochures on various subjects relating to self-help – directories, tips and analyses. You can order these publications here.
• We support regional self-help support organizations, especially with courses and seminars.
• We cooperate with ArGe Selbsthilfe, an alliance of regional self-help associations and contact points. This entity bundles the concerns and interests of the many organizations involved and seeks to represent them in pertinent national bodies.

Box to right: Cover and link to the brochures, available only in German: 

• Österreichische Selbsthilfegruppen im Gesundheitsbereich: SIGIS-Verzeichnis 2004 (Austrian Self-help Groups in the Health Field: SIGIS Directory 2004)
• SIGIS-Tipps: Aus Erfahrungen lernen. (SIGIS Tips: Learning from Experience)
• SIGIS Document: Wirkungen von Selbsthilfegruppen auf Persönlichkeit und Lebensqualität (Effects of Self-help Groups on Personality and Quality of Life).