Champaign County’s Senior Resource Center has welcomed the addition of a program to help victims of chronic diseases, which has opened up volunteer opportunities for students to lead group sessions.

Family Service of Champaign, located at 405 S. State St., provides many services to families in need.

The Senior Resource Center, part of Family Service, works to provide services to senior citizens to enable them to stay within their homes and still conduct a healthy lifestyle.

The newest program is Take Charge of Your Health, a six-week course designed to help people of all ages with chronic diseases learn about building self-confidence, stress management, exercise methods and eating a well-balanced diet.

“The program is really built upon interaction within the group and taking charge on issues that participants want to accomplish in their lives,” said Cindy Fraser, community relations manager at the Senior Resource Center.

The program, adopted only three years ago in Champaign, was started at Stanford University.

Results have shown that participants had “better coping strategies, more energy, and fewer physician and hospital visits,” Fraser said.

Family Service has an annual budget of $1.5 million made possible with donations by many organizations, including the Attorney General of the State of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Take Charge of Your Health program was enabled through a federal grant provided by the Illinois Department of Health.

“This enables individuals to make their own plan of action to reach their goals, it holds them more accountable to their own success,” said Mike O’Donnell, executive director of the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Rosanna McLain, director of the Senior Resource Center and coordinator of the project who received training from Stanford University to become a Master Trainer, was exposed to the class as a participant. As a Master Trainer, she now trains all new group session leaders.

“People who have attended these sessions have been very positive, I really feel that we’ll see a big impact on the community in the next two to three years,” McLain said.

Medical insurance companies, including Medicare, have also looked to such programs to reduce insurance costs, McLain said.

The Senior Resource Center also encourages student participation as group session leaders. Participants only need to attend a Master Trainer training session to be certified.

“Volunteers looking for a great community service opportunity and enjoy giving care to others are welcome to join our program as a group leader,” O’Donnell said.

Although this program has been a bit slow in its first few years of existence throughout central Illinois, the program has seen a marked increase in participants this year, O’Donnell added.

“Really this program gives people different tools so that they can face the challenges ahead of them,” Fraser said. “It’s is about taking charge, and not letting the disease run you.”