After a car crash left Steve and his wife with ongoing physical difficulties, he was feeling anxious and struggling with setbacks. The Hope course helped him pace his activities, set small achievable goals and feel less alone through the support of others.

Sarah is a carer who is hearing impaired and lives with several long-term health conditions. The digital Hope Programme helped her manage fatigue, practise self-compassion and make small, positive changes at her own pace, using accessible videos and materials she can return to whenever she needs them.

After Elijah was diagnosed as autistic, Nicola found it difficult to balance caring, work and her own wellbeing. The Hope Programme for Parents of Autistic Children helped her make time for herself, use simple tools such as journaling and goal setting, and feel more able to manage challenges and return to work.

After years of caring full-time for her two autistic children, Leighanne felt burnt out and unable to make time for herself. The Hope Programme for Carers helped her set small goals, prioritise self-care and create the headspace she needed to return to college.

When Beth’s son Kai was diagnosed with leukaemia, she struggled to maintain her mental and physical health while adjusting to life during his treatment. She shares how she learnt to look after her own wellbeing and the importance of doing so.

Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent surgery, followed by a 5 day course of intense radiotherapy, along with a 5 year course of hormone therapy. She her story and how the Macmillan Cancer Support Hope Programme helped her cope.

John, 55, first had Covid in November 21 “From the minute I had the positive PCR I started feeling really fatigued and it's never gone away. It did improve a little bit, but then I got it again in April ‘22 and that knocked me back and I’ve not really had any improvement since unfortunately. 

Steven, 38, tested positive for Covid-19. His only symptoms for the first 10 days were the loss of his senses of taste and smell – so he rang his boss to say he’d be back at work. “On Day 11, I woke up in hospital” Steven recalls.

Scottish Station Commander, Bobby, joined one of our Hope Programmes to learn some new coping strategies to pass on to colleagues – but he says it helped his own mental well-being too.

Firefighter Keith contracted Covid. “I lost a week of my life and a stone and a half in weight” Keith reflects. Three months later, still off work, he was diagnosed with Long Covid. But, as Keith’s symptoms slowly started to improve, he went back to the gym, to get fit again for his return to work. 

After being diagnosed with MS, Bethan felt her world had shrunk and life had become very small. Through the Hope Programme, her world began to open up again. She later became a facilitator, joined the Hope team and now leads our quality assurance work, training and supporting other facilitators.

Before Mavis joined the Hope Programme for people with MS (multiple sclerosis), she had experienced a very difficult year as she was going through the process of being diagnosed, during lockdown.

The course has changed how Ann sees her role as a carer. She has learned that she cannot put everything right, especially during a crisis, and needs to be more realistic and compassionate towards herself. Hope has also helped her step back and involve her son more in his own care.

“I had been a carer for probably as far back as I can remember”. Mike grew up in London. His father has muscular dystrophy and his mother has mental and physical health issues. Mike became a life-long carer, eventually working for the Carer's Trust in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Living with osteoarthritis in both knees and waiting for surgery, Dee found daily life increasingly difficult. The Hope Programme helped her manage her pain, rebuild her confidence and feel more hopeful about the future.

While waiting for hip surgery and struggling with severe pain, Liese joined Hope looking for support. What she found was a group of people who understood what she was going through. The programme helped her feel less alone, prepare for surgery and keep going at work at a time when things felt too much.

Fran was diagnosed with PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) around 20 years ago and lives with this and other long-term health conditions. With a demanding full-time job and three children, a positive attitude has already helped her to deal with these, alone. 

Sarah was diagnosed with PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) 20 years ago. She found very little help or support was available at the time, either from the medical professions or voluntary sector. With the only treatment that she was offered causing Sarah highly unpleasant side-effects, she couldn’t find any support groups.

Becky has a child with IIH (Idiopathic intracranial hypertension). Before she went on the online course for Parents of children with IIH, Becky says she was “struggling with hospitals, medications, constantly - hour-by-hour, day-by-day. She found out about the course on the IIH UK National Charity’s Facebook page and put her name down.

“I was angry in life” she remembers. “I felt lost. IIH is ‘idiopathic’ – there aren’t any answers, no reason for it. Nobody understands what you’re going through. There was no-one who could really relate to the situation I was in. I was angry with the world.”