Young Women's Arthritis Support Group (YWASG) was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1996 as a means for women of working age (approx 17 to 60) to contact others and exchange support and ideas for coping with the many forms of arthritis and also fibromyalgia. YWASG is a non-profit community organisation run entirely by volunteers. We hold regular face-to-face meetings in Victoria (Australia) at Amaroo Neighbourhood Centre in Chadstone and at various cafes around Melbourne and in Bendigo throughout the year. We also run regular online meetings for women with arthritis from Victoria or interstate. See our events page for full details of all our upcoming meetings and social meetups. You can also sign up for our enewsletter to get our latest news and event updates straight to your inbox. Posting and commenting on this page:
We aim to provide you with a wide range of information about the many forms of arthritis and related conditions (including fibromyalgia). We do not offer advice or endorse all the information we share. We also avoid sharing information that has little scientific merit. In keeping with the YWASG goal of providing a warm and supportive environment where everyone feels comfortable discussing their health issues, we ask that you please keep the following points in mind whenever you post or comment on our page. Please refrain from giving specific personal or medical advice and allow everyone an equal opportunity to share their insights, feelings and experiences. While constructive comments are encouraged, anything considered offensive or derogatory will be deleted. We ask that you acknowledge that everyone’s experiences are different and that you show respect to one another. For example, if you had a negative experience with a medication or treatment, you are welcome to discuss your own situation, but please do not tell others that they ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ use specific medications or treatments. It is difficult enough for each of us to make decisions about our health without being told by others within the arthritis community that we are doing the ‘wrong’ thing. Advertising on this page:
YWASG has a blanket ban on all commercial advertising on our page. Please understand that we get requests like this very often and if we started saying yes to people it would simply become unmanageable plus it would put people off joining our group. As individuals, most of us get bombarded with all sorts of health advice from well-meaning family and friends to the point where it can become extremely frustrating. While some of the tips and products may have merit, others are pure hype so many of us prefer to explore our own options in our own way. If you advertise a service or product or repeatedly post unhelpful comments as your business page, your post will be deleted, and you may be banned from this page. We do, however, sometimes advertise free events, services, information or surveys from commercial organisations if we believe they are in keeping with our values. If you have something you would like to share with us and are unsure if it meets our criteria, please do us the courtesy of sending us a private message and asking us first.
