Living Well Programme

The Living Well Programme is a free self-management course run by volunteer tutors, created to help people living with any long-term health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, depression, anxiety, back pain and chronic fatigue syndrome.

The aim is to help you to take more control of your health by learning new skills and techniques to manage your condition better on a daily basis. Amongst other things, the course will explore:

• how to manage common symptoms such as pain, fatigue, stress, anxiety, isolation, depression, physical limitations, shortness of breath and poor sleep
• goal setting and problem solving
• decision making
• communication skills
• accessing NHS services and working with your healthcare team
• relaxation and distraction techniques
• positive thinking
• managing medications
• breathing exercises
• sleep
• healthy eating
• physical activity

Taking place once a week, the course runs over six weekly sessions with each session lasting two hours (for online users) or two-and-a-half hours (for our face-to-face course), including a break. Each course is led by fully trained (but not medically qualified) volunteer tutors who themselves are living with a long-term health condition.

As well as learning new skills to help you manage your condition, this course also provides a great opportunity for you to meet other people sharing similar experiences.

For information on how to self-referrer to this service see the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust website where you can find a self-referral form and contact details.