What we do

Expert Patients Programme Community Interest Company (EPP CIC) provide and deliver free courses aimed at helping people who are living with a long-term health condition to manage their condition better on a daily basis.

Expert Patients Programme Courses are usually run over six weekly sessions of 2½ hours and look at a number of topics including:

• Dealing with pain and extreme tiredness
• Coping with feelings of depression
• Relaxation techniques and exercise
• Healthy eating
• Communicating with family, friends and professionals
• Planning for the future

The aim is to give people the confidence to take more responsibility to self-manage their health, while encouraging them to work collaboratively with health and social care professionals. EPP CIC courses are aimed at a wide range of people, reflecting diversity in terms of different health conditions, age groups, geographical locations and ethnicity.

Range of courses

Our original and most popular course, the generic Chronic Disease Self-Management Course (CDSMC) – originally developed by Stanford University, California – is open to anyone with any long-term health condition. It is run over six weekly sessions of 2½ hours by two trained tutors (also living with a long-term health condition) and looks at things like managing pain, coping with feelings of stress and depression, healthy living and exercise.

In response to feedback we have expanded our portfolio of products to meet different peoples’ needs. Our range of courses now includes disease specific programmes, young people’s programmes and programmes for carers.

Many of these courses follow the same principles of being lay-led self-management programmes but have been developed to target specific audiences and provide relevant outcomes.

If you are interested in EPP courses see the Expert Patients Programme Course List or call Freephone 0800 988 5550, our advisors are happy to help you decide which course is best for you.