Expert Patients Program
Expert Patients Program (EPP)
The EPP is a course of 6 sessions, each of two and a half hours, dedicated to enabling disabled people and anyone with a long term health condition*, to manage their quality of life.
The emphasis is to focus on and plan for what we can do and not regret those things that we cannot do because of our disabilities and long term health conditions. The following headings outline the course:
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Action Planning and Problem Solving
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Diet and Exercise
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Pain management
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Planning for the future
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Communicating with Health Care Professionals.
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Better breathing and muscle relaxation
Each session is split into two one hour sessions and there is a half hour break.
The Tutors are disabled people and/or have a long term health conditions and all have gone through the course themselves, so the process is user led.
There are two very practical sessions, the first of which is a breathing exercise which takes place in the first session and this demonstrates a way of controlling breathing, calming down, slowing down and beginning to relax. It is an exercise that can be done almost anywhere, is free and will benefit everyone who uses it.
The second is relaxation exercises which demonstrate how to relax different part of the body one after the other by tensing muscles and then relaxing them. Taken together they can enable sleep, ease pain and make a difference in the lives of many people.
The core of the programme is Action Planning, each of the six sessions ends with each participant making an action plan and the first part of the next session the following week is a report back on the action plan of the previous week. Often these action plans are about diet and exercise and aim to focus on doing something the individual wants to do that will improve the management of their health.
Some among those who graduate can go on to a course of Tutor training and become tutors on the course themselves. This opens up further training and employment possibilities.
Next Courses:
6 weeks from Friday 24th July from 13.30 hours
Transport can be provided upon notice.