How to Create a Support System
aring for a chronically ill bod is tiring, not to mention expensive, but what if there was a better way? People living with chronic illnesses need access to so many things, in fact you need a team of therapists, physios, occupational therapists, nutritionists and so many more. However, it’s rare we get the chance to have all that and even if you do it’s unlikely everyone in the team really understands chronic illness and disability, which is the key to getting the best care. Finding a specialist who really ‘gets’ what an illness or condition means for everyday living can take months or even years of research, trial and error, and is often an unaffordable expense.
Creating a Accessible, Affordable Community
As I’ve navigated my way through chronic illness I have had the privilege to have access to some amazing support and what’s even better is these people are all from the disabled and chronically ill community. This means when I see them, they already understand the challenges that I face and are in the best position to help guide me.
I wanted to share the skills of these amazing people with as many in our community as possible, but knew there could be barriers for many people: cost can be a huge barrier, along with the mental energy required to organise and manage a tailor-made team of specialists.
Looking at these barriers, I realised that if we group together there is a way we can all access this at an affordable price point, SO I am starting a membership for the community where members will get:
- Bi-weeky group therapy sessions with a therapist who works closely with patients with chronic illness.
- Bi-weekly physio sessions with a well-known chronically ill physio (although some of you may be able to already guess who this is!)
- Talks from other professionals on topics including nutrition, occupational health, migraines and so much more.
- Monthly talks from community members on planning, sex and disability, disabled pride, working through internalised ableism and other topics.
- A whole network of other chronically ill members who just ‘get’ what you are living through.
As the group and community grows we can tailor the support to where our members need it most, using member feedback to make sure everyone is getting the most benefit with exceptional value for money. Everything is completely online to improve accessibility, as well as recorded so if you’re having a brain fog day you can catch up later. The only exception are the therapy sessions, as they will be a safe space to talk openly about feelings and concerns, and as such won’t be recorded. However, if anyone misses a therapy session they needn’t worry, there will be another soon they can join in with instead!
If all that doesn’t sound good enough it’s only going to cost £30 a month to join. So, if you are interested, or know somebody who might be, sign up to the waitlist and I will let you be the first to know when doors open.