Objective:
Despite single and isolated experiences, in almost all therapeutic communities for drug addicted persons no programs or targeted interventions on seropositivity are performed. We tried the realization of self help groups (SHG) at two residential therapeutic communities of the Exodus Foundation to verify benefits, problems and meaning of this experience.

Method:
Realization of 2 SHG (with moderator) for a 6 months period. Moderators recorded on an purpose-made 4 columns grid (1: topics emerged; 2: contents specification ; 3: evolution; 4: interpretation) what emerged and evolved within the group, thereafter sharing the experience with a team of psychologists, physicians, community educators and SHG moderators. SHG attendants themselves participated to the discussion and to the definition of of their activity’s outcomes.

Results:
The most of PlwHA staying at the therapeutic community participated in the self-help groups. SHG showed useful to help some of the participants to: manage the disclosure of their seropositivity; decide whether to disclose it or not; improve compliance to therapy and relationship with practitioners; to face sexuality and affectivity problems; improve health care; work out relationships and problems with seronegative guests of the community; to share and elaborate deaths memories. Also following problems emerged: the moderator’s centrality and self-management difficulty for SHG into the community context; centrality of the topic "Community" in SHG and subsequent risk that this conditions development; possible transformation of the SHG in a claiming pole which ends to manage conflictual situations with the community; importance and - along - difficulty to warrant privacy towards community educators; importance that educators be sensitized about the particularity of SHG and about the right priority to associate to this experience inside the community.

Lessons learned:
From our experience SHG represented: a spur of change; they participated to anxiety control; they generated a mutual recognizing and community; they joined the group; they promoted empowerment by information and relationship; they boosted a greater sense of safety in persons; they allowed elaboration of experience that differently would have gone only introspective paths, they helped persons to open themselves to others and to help, etc. Therefore we believe that SHG for seropositive persons may represent a useful experience. If considered within the community these SHG may facilitate individual and collective growth paths with the purpose to improve the context.