How to connect with people in same situation

Hi all

I’m really curious to hear about how people have connected with others in real life.

I guess I sort of thought that talking groups etc would be easy to access, but I can’t seem to find anything other than online forums (such as this one).

As much as a forum is a great way to vent, I would really love to connect with people in real life, and build more personal friendships.

I’m based in Bristol by the way, so please feel free to get in touch if you’re here too.

But this is also really a general question about how people have made the real life connections.

1 Like

Ah well do you mean other MS-ers or just general peeps? I joined my local MS society. I go on this forum and another (youreable).

Met my partner thru on line dating. He’s disabled too. Check out the MS society webpage, should find whether theres a group near you

You could try Shift.ms, as they seem to have a younger membership and there is a useful map showing their locations.

Thank you for the Christmas tree.

If you go to the main Home page on this site, scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see a section titled ‘Find support near me’. All the local MSS groups and societies should be on there.

You might also try doing a google search on Bristol MS group/centre/meeting. You never know what might come up!!

And woohoo Reddivine, meeting a partner on line!! Nice one.

Sue

Hi,

Ive just joined and I live near Bristol in the UK.

a lady with MS started a group on facebook who were able to meet up locally.

she stopped arranging the meet ups so i took it over.

after about 9 months i had to give it up as finding a date that everyone could make was stressful.

maybe facebook would be a good place to start.

https://www.mssociety.org.uk/care-and-support/local-support/local-groups/bristol-south-gloucestershire-group

They have a meet every tuesday first of month not sure which area of bristol you are in though but they will help you find a group hun. closer if that one is no good. most areas have a meet up. good luck. I am in glos. there are several in the area, but at night which is a no no for me. but i know others who meet up and enjoy them.

Hi Hanna, I’ve met quite a few people with MS through parkrun. Parkrun is an organisation which hosts free, weekly 5km events in over 600 parks in the UK every Saturday morning (with further 2km “junior” events for under 14s every Sunday). The events are not races - and people of all abilities are welcome - from super speedy runners to people who find it an effort to walk the course. It’s run by volunteers. It’s all about community - and the physical and mental health benefits of participating and volunteering. Over 6million people worldwide are registered parkrunners. A few years ago parkrun got a grant from the department of health to encourage more people with long term health conditions to walk/jog/run/role or volunteer at parkrun. I became an outreach ambassador for parkrunners with MS as part of that project and run the Facebook group. There are over 800 parkrunners in the UK registered with MS - and about 230 of them are active members of the Facebook group. Through this, there have been quite a few meet ups across the country as people find out about participants at their local courses - or travel to meet each other (a lot of parkrunners “tour” to try out new courses). Let me know if it is of interest or you have any questions. Good luck Xx

Hi @Hanna

There’s a monthly meet-up on the evening of the first Tues of the month @ The Prince Street Social, 7pm onwards. It’s opposite The Bristol Hotel and is really accessible for all. You can also find out details if you search for MS Society Bristol branch on Twitter.

I’ve only been the once but it was very friendly and a good place to have a chat with a varied selection of MSers.