Self-Management

Supporting people to live their lives better, on their terms

Self-management is a way of living and working that means people living with long term conditions feel more in control of their own health and wellbeing.

Self-management supports and encourages people living with long term conditions to access information and to develop skills to find out what’s right for their condition and, most importantly, right for them.

Self-management can mean people being:

better informed about their condition(s)
better prepared for everyday challenges
better supported when they need it

Successful self-management is about working in partnership with your family, friends, volunteers, peers as well as professionals to find the best route to your wellbeing.

While professionals will be knowledgeable about your condition, you are the expert in how you are. Only you know how it affects your life, and what matters to you in your life.

Being diagnosed and living with a long term condition can create a sense of loss of control. Often there is no simple cure. How you feel can be influenced by many factors including lifestyle, environmental, psychological factors and how well you are supported, or not.

Long term conditions are medical conditions that a person has lived with for an extended period of time. They include conditions like diabetes, chronic pain, asthma, arthritis, depression, heart failure and multiple sclerosis. They have many causes and their symptoms can be variable.

Self-management support

Increasingly we turn to the internet to better understand our conditions and how we can manage them. It is important that we use the right information from reputable sources.
Your health and social care worker should be able to point you in the right direction for appropriate sources.
Managing your condition is a preventative intervention. By increasing your knowledge of your condition/s and what you can do to look after yourself can slow disease progression, reduce and or delay symptoms. Introducing self-management interventions positively contributes to your health and wellbeing.

Here are some supports that may help you

Scotland’s Service Directory

As part of NHS inform, Scotland’s Service Directory has information on hospitals, GP practices, A&E and minor injuries, pharmacies, opticians and dental services.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/scotlands-service-directory/

It also provides information on local community groups and organisations that can help you within Health and wellbeing services
https://www.nhsinform.scot/scotlands-service-directory/health-and-wellbeing-services