Action for M.E.’s Crisis, Support and Advocacy Service: can we help?

Hello

I have been sent this from Afme, and have permission to put this on the blog, so here goes.

I hope you will excuse the group email – my team and I at Action for M.E. are contacting all of our Supporting Members to check-in with them at this challenging time and see whether there is any information or support that might be needed? We don’t have a telephone number for you, hence my emailing instead.

As I am sure you will appreciate, people with M.E. are facing even greater disadvantage as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. To be able to support people in the best way possible, we launched our new Crisis, Support and Advocacy Service earlier this month.

Wherever you live in the UK, we can:

• share information about all aspects of living with M.E., including welfare benefits, social care, symptom management and accessing health services
• offer emotional support, including coping in these particularly challenging times, and signpost to peer-support
• source practical assistance local to you, such as your local mutual aid group, parish council and/or community hub; we can also source local producers/food outlets who are making home deliveries
• advocate for your needs, explain processes in an accessible way, and support you to challenge the opinions of others in situations that affect you, including supporting you to contact your GP to ask them to refer you for support for vulnerable people.

If you or someone you know living with or caring for someone with M.E. would like to contact us, please call on 0117 927 9551 or email questions@actionforme.org.uk

We also provide up-to-date Coronavirus-related information on our website at www.actionforme.org.uk/coronavirus and you may have seen this information in your latest copy of InterAction, which should have arrived in the past few days.

At a time when the need for our work could not be higher, we are facing a significant reduction in our income this coming year. Like many other organisations and charities, we made the difficult decision to furlough several staff. We will continue to make critical decisions, when needed, to ensure that Action for M.E. continues to be here for people with M.E. now and in the future.

With best wishes from all of us at Action for M.E.

Miriam

Sonya Chowdhury, Chief Executive, Action for M.E.

Chair, International Alliance for M.E.

* 42 Temple Street, Keynsham BS31 1EH ৷8  sonya@actionforme.org.uk ৷ (  0741 537 9601

Supporting children, parents and adults living with M.E. in any way we can.

For support or enquiries, please call 0117 927 9551 email questions@actionforme.org.uk

To donate and support our critical work, visit www.actionforme.org.uk/donate

For information, support and useful contacts regarding Coronavirus and M.E., please visit www.actionforme.org.uk/coronavirus