Self-management is a way of taking control of your life. Mental health issues can disrupt things most people take for granted and make your life much more difficult to live in a full and satisfying way.
Our Self-management courses focus on setting goals and getting people working together to try to overcome the problems that will stop them achieving those goals. We’ve helped hundreds of people, but there are many more people that could be benefitting from Self-management.
On the courses, we train people in the skills they need to set goals and solve problems. Goals such as:
- lose two stone
- have a good night’s sleep
- take their first train ride
- learn to read
- get back to work
- live independently.
We also teach the group to support each other and encourage them to share their goals.
The resulting ‘peer support’ group enables people to get help and encouragement when they need it from friends or people who have had similar experiences, rather than think about help as something that can only come from mental health professionals.
The group also learns to form constructive, mutually beneficial relationships - an essential skill for personal development and community integration.
A recent participant said, “Everyone who comes out of hospital should be offered this course. It’s such a good programme.”
Making a donation today can help us to continue to develop Self-management and peer support to benefit more people.
It’s incredibly inspiring to see people go on from one of our courses to have the life they want. We often hear that training with us has been the first time that someone has been asked what they want to achieve with their life. Previously they’ve been told what they can’t do. We’ve asked them to think about what they can do and they’ve amazed us with their achievements.
We are currently working with the London School of Economics to look at the cost benefits of self-management in a mental health context. In the future we hope, with your help, to develop new technology which will help participants to keep a better record of various aspects of their life eg diet, exercise and sleep.
Please make a donation today so we can help even more people learn to take control of their lives and reach their full potential!
Support us with a donation or a regular gift - you can help to turn our vital research into practical solutions for the benefit of many people.
Find out more about:
Self-management
Self-management Project in Wales
Self-management Training in Lambeth and Southwark
Take Control (free download - PDF)
Schizophrenia
Hearing Voices