Children and young people with ME
We know that living with ME can be hard, especially when you're young. ME can make it difficult to spend time with friends or family and can have a big impact on your life, including school and hobbies. You might have to stop doing some of the things you enjoy for a while, or do them less often so your body can rest. It can be hard for other people to understand what you’re going through and that can leave you feeling as if no-one gets what it’s like to have ME.
We are here to help. You can:
- access support through our free Young People's Counselling Service
- join our free Young People's Community, open to anyone with ME aged up to and including 18, to connect to other people your age
- join free monthly workshops where you can meet and chat with other young people
- read and/or download free online information on ME and you, your health and your education - plus information and support for your parents, too
- call our free Information and Support on 0117 927 9551, or send us an email, if you have any questions or would like some help finding what you need
- find out more about our Healthcare Services, including a doctor and physiotherapists working with young people aged 13 and above. As a charity, we charge fees for our Healthcare Services only to cover our costs, and a bursary for up to 50% of fees may be available, depending on your circumstances.
Join our community
For access to great services, please join our Young People's Community - it's free, and open to anyone with ME aged up to and including 18. Some are more severely affected than others, but even if their experiences are different to yours, every member of our community understands what it’s like to live with ME.
- Cheers is our monthly e-magazine written especially for and by young people with ME. Write and submit your own articles about topics that matter to you, or just read what others have written!
- Our lively Young People's Forum is kept safe a dedicated group of volunteer Peer Support Moderators, who all have experience of ME themselves. They will chat with users, provide support and signpost you to resources they think might help you. Some people use the forum to get support and talk about how ME effects them, while others use it to talk about things other than ME, such as hobbies and interests, with people who understand what it’s like to have ME.
- We offer a pen pal service that puts you in touch with another young person affected by ME. We will ask about your interests and hobbies and match you up with someone we think you'll get on with.
- Some of our more severely affected community members are too ill to write back. If you’re OK with writing to someone and not getting a reply, then you could make a huge difference to someone who’s very isolated and too unwell to see their friends. If you’re severely affected, you can apply to receive a letter from a buddy writer.
- All our community members receive a handwritten birthday card from one of our volunteers unless they choose not to.
After we've got your completed Young People's Community registration form, we'll send you a welcome email, telling you about our services and sharing a link to the forum. Your forum profile will be checked by the forum administrator. If there are any problems they'll email you to chat about it but otherwise your account will be approved and you'll be able to log in to the forum.
