Patient Support Groups | Patients & Visitors | UC Davis Health

A monthly meeting where burn survivors, families and significant others, discuss issues and raise questions related to their injury and recovery. We provide a safe atmosphere, conducive to the needs of all those who attend. As a Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery (SOAR)-designated facility, our peer support volunteers will serve as a source of hope and inspiration to those experiencing a burn injury.

We meet the first Thursday of each month, 7:30 – 9 p.m., Director’s Conference Room, main hospital building. For more information, contact Burn Outreach Coordinator Deb Jones, R.N., at 916-734-5596 or e-mail debjones@ucdavis.edu.

Cancer support groups provide comfort, present information, teach coping skills, help reduce anxiety, and provide a place for people to share common concerns and emotional support.

This group is open to patients, caregivers, and family of those affected with all types of interstitial lung disease. The group is organized by UC Davis Medical Center and monthly meetings are held at the Sutter Cancer Center in Sacramento. The group serves as an educational and social forum for all comers. A speaker is featured every other month. On alternate months, we hold a group discussion where members air their questions and get to know each other. Contact Maya Juarez at 916-734-3643 or mmjuarez@ucdavis.edu. 

For patients, families, therapists and physicians. Meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., Alpine Conference Room, 7th floor, Sutter Memorial Hospital.

For patients and their families and friends. For more information about the meetings, call Kim Franz at 916-734-3189.

UC Davis Hospice provides Bereavement Support Groups for families and friends whose loved ones received UC Davis Hospice services and for any community member grieving the loss of a loved one. Our support groups are free, available throughout the year, and include General Bereavement Support Group; Young Adult Bereavement Art Group; Parents of Pediatric Aged Child Support Group; and COVID-19 Bereavement Support Group.

Topics covered include acknowledging and understanding grief, expressing and accepting feelings, changing roles, coping and stress reduction and developing supportive relationships.

Our groups meet for six to eight weeks and registration is required. For more information, please call 916-731-6867 or visit the home care services website.

A monthly support group for people living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Monthly topics and guest speakers will help you learn more about COPD, explore ways to manage COPD, meet others living with COPD and get answers to your questions about COPD. Free, close and convenient parking is available. Family members are welcome. Meetings are the second Tuesday of every month from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the UC Davis Medical Center, 2315 Stockton Blvd., in the Director’s Conference Room (across from Black Rhino coffee shop). For information, call 916-734-7113 and leave a voice message or call pager 916-816-COPD (916-816-2673) and enter your phone number after the beep.

The UC Davis MIND Institute resource page includes a list of support groups.

This support and education group is open to patients, caregivers, and family who have or are considering a Deep Brain Stimulator for a movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease, tremor or dystonia. Monthly topics and guest speakers will help you learn more about living with a stimulator and Parkinson’s. This group is jointly facilitated by DBS nurse practitioners from UC Davis, Kaiser and Sutter. Meeting days and locations alternate between the three clinic sites. For more information, contact Karla Lindstrom at 916-734-6282.

For patients and families. Meets the third Thursday of every month at 1:30 p.m. For more information and meeting locations, call Beverly Nicholson, R.N., C.N.S., at 916-300-4025.

If you or someone you care for has undergone limb loss, we hope you’ll join us for this informal, informative, positive meeting. Every 4th Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Ellison Ambulatory Care Center, 4860 Y St., Sacramento in the cafeteria. If this day falls on a holiday weekend, the meeting will be held one week earlier on the 3rd Saturday of the month. Contact the group facilitator at 916-857-5695 or Sacramento.ASG@gmail.com for more information. Free. No reservations needed.

Offers emotional support and educational programs to brain tumor patients, their families and friends. The meeting now meets the first Wednesday of each month from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in the Ellison Ambulatory Care Center, Department of Neurological Surgery Library, 4860 Y St., Suite 3740, Sacramento. For more information, please call Breana Hutchinson at 916-734-5613.

Provides information and support to renal patients, their families and friends, and interested professionals. This group focuses on the social, emotional, physical and medical issues that surround transplantation. For more information, call 800-821-9912 or Cathy Burke, L.C.S.W., at 916-734-5094.

Once-a-month, no-cost, drop-in group for those who have quit tobacco and desire ongoing support. Directed discussion about various topics as presented by participants. Facilitated by a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist or Health Educator. Meets on the 2nd Friday of every month from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. at 3630 Business Drive., Suite F.

For more information, contact Health Management and Education at 916-734-0718, Cari Shulkin, RN-BC, BSN, CTTS at 916-734-8493, or visit the Quit Tobacco website. 

A support group for parents who have experienced a high-risk pregnancy or delivered a premature or high-risk infant, dealing with the social and emotional concerns related to having an infant in the NICU. For more information, call Special Care Parents voice mail at 916-658-8588.

An ongoing support and education group for individuals with any level of spinal cord injury. Family and caregivers are welcome and encouraged to attend. Meets Wednesdays from 3 – 4 p.m. in the main hospital building at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, specifically Room 0343 on the ground floor next to the physical therapy gym. For more information, contact Holly Bleasdale at 916-734-3467.