What is Help Yourself?
The Help Yourself program is:
- A 6-session workshop series;
- For people with one or more chronic conditions;
- A lay-led health education program that follows the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. (2)
The purpose of Help Yourself is two-fold:
- To help people take day-to-day responsibility for their care
- To increase the skills necessary to manage their diseases and work effectively with their health care professionals.
The course is facilitated by two Help Yourself Leaders, (3) one or both of whom are trained lay people who themselves have a chronic condition.
Participants are invited to bring a family member or friend.
Why Self Management?
Learning about self management provides:
- A way to look at the consequences of having a chronic disease;
- A process to help you take action to overcome the physical and emotional problems you face.
You can choose to Help Yourself and become a positive self-manager.
A positive self manager:
- Takes all the best treatments health care professionals offer;
- Is proactive in day-to-day management
This will lead you to Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions. (1)
What does the workshop cover?
The program content includes:
- Developing and maintaining a long-term exercise program
- Fatigue management
- Dealing with anger, depression, and other negative emotions
- Cognitive management of pain and stress
- Communication with family/friends/physicians
- Using prescribed medication appropriately
- Healthy eating
- Making informed treatment decisions
- Developing decision-making and problem-solving skills