• Welcome to Crohn's Forum, a support group for people with all forms of IBD. While this community is not a substitute for doctor's advice and we cannot treat or diagnose, we find being able to communicate with others who have IBD is invaluable as we navigate our struggles and celebrate our successes. We invite you to join us.

Crohn's Buddy Network

Hello friends,

I'm a sophomore in college studying Computer Science, and I'm interested in starting a service for the Crohn's community. I'm currently trying to hone down my ideas to something manageable with a full course load (and symptoms), but still of value to fellow IBDers.

My favorite idea so far is setting up a cohort of people interested in peer mentoring. This mentoring would focus around achieving personal goals in the context of similar disease situations: this might be something as simple as getting outside for an hour a day, meeting new people, picking up a new hobby or anything that mentees decide they would like to work on.

These matches could be: two college students struggling with courses, single mothers of kids with Crohn's, etc...
The premise is:
  1. People sign up online, and fill out a form with their information.
  2. This information goes through a matching algorithm (similar to a dating service, although configured differently since these are platonic matches).
  3. Matches are informed, and both people are added to a cohort (probably of limited size, maybe around 30 people).
  4. The organizing team prods mentees to communicate with each other weekly about goals, but also encourages conversation among the whole cohort.
I personally would really enjoy the opportunity to connect with other IBDers who are at a similar place in their life to me - seeing as Crohn's is a life long disability, I often feel like its hard to find people who I can relate to strongly. As stated above, this is not a dating service, nor is it for discussing therapies/medical advice. The focus of this is communal resilience, and achieving our goals together.

Please let me know if you would be interested in this program. I am also planning on assembling a 'focus group' of people with Crohn's to discuss their experiences, and share ideas for potential services - if you would be interested in being a part of this focus group, let me know!
 
Hello again everyone!

I received a lot of positive feedback from the community on this idea, so I went ahead and got started. Visit theoneinfive.org, and register to be a part of the first cohort. I've moved the idea away from 'mentoring' and more specifically around a match-made 'buddy network'.

I'm getting pretty close to releasing the first iteration of the website, so put your email down soon and you'll be the first to know!
 
Top