Information & Support service
Our friendly Information & Support service supports people with ME and their carers to address the challenges presented by the illness. We also help professionals support their clients with ME.
We offer contact by phone and email to:
- help break issues down so they feel less overwhelming
- support you to explore priorities and possible next steps
- frame questions to ask professionals
- suggest useful resources – see below – which we can send by post or email
- help those that need it to access our other services
- signpost to other sources of expert information and support.
If you are seeking specialist legal or employment advice; or mental health support, we can signpost to appropriate organisations.
Get in touch
You can call the Information & Support service on 0117 927 9551 (choose option one) to request a call-back, between 10.30am and 3pm, Monday to Thursday (excluding bank holidays).
Please leave your name, number and a brief description of how we can help. If you give us an idea of when it's best to reach you, we will do our best to call then. After our call, we can send an email summarising what we talked about, with links to any resources/sources of support.
Or you can email us.
We get back to everyone who leaves us a request for a call-back or sends an email, within five working days (Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays) and often much sooner.
Why don't we answer calls "live"? Our Information & Support service is very busy. Putting this call-back system in place is the best way to ensure we can still offer a high-quality service within the limits of our current capacity and resources.
Calls from Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland and other non-UK numbers Our phone system prevents us from making calls back to non-UK numbers.
Useful resources
We can share information and support on all aspects of living with ME, for adults, parents and children and young people, along with carers, employers, health professionals, social workers and teachers.
We offer key information with the aim of supporting you to make informed decisions about what is right for you. While our Information and Support service team does not recommend any specific treatments or management approaches, our Healthcare Services team works with individual patients to offer personalised advice, care and support.
You can download our booklets and factsheets for free online, or we can send them to you by post or email, on topics including but not limited to:
- symptom management and accessing health services
- welfare benefits processes, rights and entitlements
- accessing social care
- liaising with your child's school
- getting reasonable adjustments at work.
Feedback from people who've contacted us
We ask those who contact our Information and Support service to share feedback with us, and let us know how we have helped them. Here's a selection of what people have told us:
- "Always reply quickly and are extremely helpful and go the extra mile to answer any sort of question you may have."
- "It was just really nice talking to someone who understood what it's like living with a debilitating health condition without me having to explain myself or being dismissed."
- "Thank you so much. It’s a very stressful time trying to navigate services to get the correct support and understanding. I’m glad I picked up the phone."
Not a Supporting Member yet? Join us today. It's free for anyone 18 and under, and £21 a year for adults. Your vital contribution will help make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people affected by this devastating illness.
