Mennonites developed the "Supportive Care Model" and published a booklet, Supportive Care in the Congregation, in 1986.  As the supply of the fourth printing (1997) is being depleted, ADNet has been researching the model's history, usage, and relevance in 21st century North American culture.

ADNet's efforts are being carried out in three overlapping phases.

1. Collecting stories.  An initial story was highlighted in the September 2008 edition of Connections, ADNet's quarterly newsletter.  This brought to light more stories from the early phases of the Supportive Care initiative.  We are continuing to collect stories; some of them are publicly available on our Supportive Care Stories page.
   
2. Workshop Research.  A workshop presented on March 21, 2009 at Mennonite Health Assembly presented the preliminary results of our research, including the essential ingredients of Supportive Care, the theology that underlies the model, how the model compares to other religious and secular models, and some tentative conclusions for testing. Our workshop is available for presentation in other settings. 
3. Decisions.  What is the future of the Supportive Care model?  Among the options under consideration are the following:

• Reprint the booklet essentially unchanged.
• Revise the booklet and publish an updated edition.
• Let the original publication go out of print, but maintain an ongoing online version.  
• Publish supplemental materials assuming continuing use of the original booklet.
• Publish something new that builds on the past work but envisions a number of models or variations of models rather than just one "Supportive Care Model."

Please send us your stories and give us your feedback as we continue to discern the future of the Supportive Care Model.