WEST PALM BEACH — Marilyn Taylor, a professional dance teacher and member of United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches here, attended a national gathering of dancers and instructors last year, enjoying the chance to catch up with friends.

One of her friends, however, was very ill. "The rumor was that he had AIDS," she said.

She noticed many people were avoiding him. "I was amazed to see how people were being very standoffish toward this person they were laughing and joking with the year before," she said.

Although she tried to be open with and accepting of her friend, she said she felt her own anxiousness about having contact with him.

"He died within the last year," she said. "After his death, I felt bad about my own fear and how I felt about him."

Taylor said that guilt led her to learn as much as she could about AIDS, HIV and the people affected by the disease.

She became a spiritual therapist with the Life Enrichment And Fulfillment (LEAF) program, part of the non-profit Comprehensive AIDS Program (CAP) here. She also received a $2,075 grant from the Florida Conference Church and Society Ministry team to launch a support group ministry that provides information and counseling to family and friends of people with AIDS.

Taylor said she started the ministry after learning that this group of people was almost completely left out of the cycle of counseling and care related to AIDS. "There’s a group that’s not being talked to, and that’s the people dealing with the person with AIDS," she said. "They don’t always get the information on what’s happening to their son or daughter…or whoever has AIDS."

Five people attended the first support group meeting last month at the United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches. "One person is a mother who just found out her son has AIDS, and his fiancé is in the group with her," Taylor said. "They’re really suffering about what to do."

A licensed psychotherapist facilitated the group, and discussion focused on the emotions participants have. "We identified so many emotions…" Taylor said, "fear, disbelief, remorse…‘where did I go wrong as a parent that this would happen to my child?’ "

Taylor has invited a medical professional to help the group begin dealing with some of the physical and medical impacts of AIDS, including an explanation of how to administer medications.

The current group will meet weekly for six weeks, Taylor said. She will begin a second group in the fall, which she hopes will be for survivors of people who have died from AIDS.

"Many of them have been living with the emotions for so long and are looking to have a support group of people they can talk to," she said.