Imagine a world where you…
- are seen within the of setting of your whole life, including your relationships, interests, focussing on what matters to you and your healthcare.
- are a valued active partner in conversations and decisions about your health and wellbeing.
- are recognised as the expert in your own life, and conversations build on your knowledge, skills and confidence.
- are supported to find solutions, make plans and break down your health and care goals into manageable steps that work for you.
- you can have peer support from people with a similar condition or health experience and support each other.
- you have a choice in the support you need to manage your health condition, such as, one-to-one basis, in pairs or in small groups.
What is supported self-management?
‘Supported self-management’ is the term the NHS use to describe the ways healthcare services will encourage, support and empower you to manage your long term physical and mental health conditions. Supporting you to look after yourself and improve your health and wellbeing outcomes.
Your healthcare professional will work with you to help you to manage your health condition. They will:
- Find out how well you understand your health condition and how confident you are to manage it.
- Focus on what matters to you and build on your strengths.
- Put support in place that works for you with the aim of increasing your knowledge, skills and confidence.
You can be supported to increase your confidence to manage your health condition in different ways. Some examples are:
A Health and wellbeing coach
Health and Wellbeing coaches are non-clinical personalised care roles. They help you increase your knowledge, skills and confidence to manage your health condition. They focus on improving your health outcomes by working with you to set personalised goals.
Self-management education
This is formal education or training for you if you have a long-term condition that is focused on helping you to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage your health condition.
Peer support
There a range of approaches through which people with similar long-term conditions or health experiences support each other to better understand the conditions and aid recovery or self-management. Peer support may be formal or informal: it can be delivered by trained peer support staff and volunteers, or through more informal, ad hoc support among peers with lived experience.
