Making Waves – Chris Myles

As part of the Self Management Making Waves Series, find out how Champion Chris Myles has made an impact on self management in Scotland

As nominee of the 2018 Self Management Champion of the Year Award, we want to share with you the learning and success from Chris Myles in supporting self management in Scotland.

John Ferris, Occupation Therapist with NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s Addictions/Falls Service tell us what made him nominate Chris.

“I am nominating Chris as his passion and dedication to raising awareness, delivering and supporting self management interventions has spanned over ten years here in Ayrshire & Arran. His journey began as a patient representative on our local Diabetes Managed Clinical Network (MCN). At this time a GP with specialist interest in Diabetes and self management had began to work in partnership with Arthritis Scotland. They had an accredited self management programme called ‘Challenging your condition’ and there was an opportunity for a patient to become a facilitator. Chris underwent the facilitator training in March 2008 and was accredited in October of that year. From that point until the end of 2009 Chris delivered self management programmes for people living with Arthritis and continued to work with the Diabetes MCN to look at ways to support people living with diabetes. Around this time the Health Board was involved in the Health Foundations Co-Creating Health initiative and through the Diabetes MCN afforded Chris the opportunity to be involved in the development of the Moving on Together Self Management programme over the next year.

Chris is testament to how self management can improve people’s quality of life. He clearly believes in it’s ethos and genuinely strives to ensure that self management or ‘life skills’ as he likes to call it is offered/provided to anyone who thinks they may benefit from it. I have delivered self management courses with Chris and when he is in his role as a lay facilitator he is clearly in his element and people listen and engage with him. Chris with the help of his professional colleagues continues to promote this opportunity and by his own admission he is fortunate to be in a role which supports and allows him to continue delivering, build capacity and scan the horizon for additional tools and opportunities.

Having spoken to other colleagues we very much appreciate the support, drive and enthusiasm that Chris brings to self management initiatives and he is, within the organisation, the ‘go to’ person for anything related to self management.

Talking to Chris ‘Gaun yersel!’ was pivotal in his relationship with the then LTCAS and subsequently the ALLIANCE. He has over the years looked to the ALLIANCE for support and guidance on helping to raise awareness of self management. In addition, each year Chris delivers a self management input to the University of the Wes of Scotland, Post Graduate Diploma Specialist Practitioner (District Nurses) Programme in partnership with the ALLIANCE.

In April 2015, Chris represented NHS Ayrshire & Arran and the Health Foundation (Co-Creating Health) at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in London with his poster abstract entitled ‘Self Management: supporting people in recovery’. There were three individual poster workshops where he talked on his involvement and partnership working in self management provision.

Chris also has a working relationship with CHSS as they have supported him by delivering COSMIC sessions for clinicians within Addictions Services and VOICES training, of which he is now a trainer. Recently, March this year, he participated in an external marketing event looking at how CH&SS as a charity is perceived, this also included an opportunity to talk and promote self management.

As a patient representative on our local Diabetes MCN Chris is now a member of the Patient Engagement group at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine Edinburgh University. The group helps the researchers in terms of ensuring diabetic research produced can be easily accessed and understood by patients. The group is relatively new and this is the first time that researchers have had an opportunity to engage directly with patients and explore a raft of patient related topics including self management. Talking to Chris he enjoys establishing and maintaining working relationships and networks with self management partners.”