After I was first diagnosed I was put on medical leave from work. During this time I went to a group therapy program that was run by mental health professionals (P-docs, psychologists and social workers). It was 8 hours/day 5 times/week. It was a lot of hard work, but it made a huge difference in my recovery. I learned a lot from the mental health professionals and the members of the group.

I went to a bipolar education group that was once a week for 3 months. It was excellent. Each week they brought in a speaker (i.e. p-doc that specializes in sleep disturbances, persons that were diagnosed etc.)

I had tried a weekly support group and I found it wasn't helpful. There wasn't any structure to it and it was just a time for people to talk about their week. I prefer therapy groups that are run by a mental health professional(s) and for support groups I prefer PC.