Expert Patients Programme is part of
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
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Expert Patients Programme

About self-management services

Our self-help courses and workshops, delivered by the Live Well Wakefield team, offer tools and techniques to help you understand and manage your health more effectively. We understand that there are times when life with any long-term health condition can be difficult and our courses and single workshops can offer ways to support your wellbeing. They are led by dedicated volunteers and staff who live with chronic health issues themselves who have all attended one of our courses as a participant, found it to be very helpful and have gone on to train to deliver them for others in the community. This means our courses are led by people who can understand many of the challenges you face, helping you to take control of your condition and your life. Everything is free, informal and friendly. We first began running our general self-management course almost 20 years ago when it was known as the Expert Patients Programme and it’s still just as effective today. We also offer two other self-management courses and four single workshops for those who don’t want to attend a 6 or 7 week course.

Courses are designed to enable people to take control of their health by learning new skills through tried and tested techniques, which not only increases confidence and your ability to cope but it can also make people less dependent on health and social care. That could mean fewer trips to your local surgery or hospital for things you could manage safely at home. We always encourage people to seek advice from their healthcare teams where appropriate and only manage certain things using self-help techniques. Worry, stress and anxiety often make our symptoms worse so learning tools to help control these things more easily, can be useful.
Everything runs in local community venues across Wakefield and the 5 towns area and booking a free place is easy. See our

Download the self-management course leaflet.

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