Self-management is about the methods, skills, and strategies we use to effectively manage our own activities towards achieving certain objectives. For those of us who live with long-term mental health conditions, this means concentrating on interventions and developing training and skills to take care of - and gain direct control over - our lives.

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Many people with physical health problems already use self-management to help them control their symptoms but the technique has proven to work as a strategy to control things such as bi-polar disorder (manic depression) and schizophrenia. Self-management can have as positive an impact on mental health as medical treatment, enabling people to lead fuller, more active lives. Research has shown that it can help boost the self-esteem of people with bi-polar disorder and lower the risk that they will consider suicide.

How can people learn the skills for self-management?

Many people are using self-management without realising it, but formal self-management skills can be learnt on courses, usually run by people with direct experience of mental ill health. There is much demand for self-management training, but courses for mental health service users are not widely available and there are currently no courses for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Self-management courses

Our self-management courses focus on setting goals (eg lose two stone have a good night’s sleep take their first train ride learn to read get back to work live independently) and getting people working together to try to overcome the problems that will stop them achieving those goals.

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.

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.

Drop us an email to find our more about our self-management courses.

How do self-management courses work?

Taking a self-management course helps you understand how your own mental health problems affect your life and how to recognise the early signs and prevent or minimise the impact of an episode of ill health.

They're based on the principle that you know what works best for yourself - better than anyone else. During a self-management training course, you'll typically learn to:

• recognise what triggers a crisis in your own mental health
• read the warning signs of a possible crisis
• identify if any particular actions can prevent a crisis developing
• figure out which coping strategies work best for you in a crisis
• tap into other sources of support like local groups for people like you experiencing distress
• build ongoing coping strategies into a mentally healthy lifestyle
• compile an action plan
• draw up an advance directive setting out how you'd like to be treated if you ever lack the capacity to make decisions about treatment in the future.

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Help us bring self-management to more people

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.