Self Management Week 2025: Get involved

Self Management Week will run from 22-25 September. Join the conversation around self management and keep an eye out for our events!

What is Self Management Week?

Self Management Week was first launched in 2010, building upon “Gaun Yersel” – the first Self Management Strategy for Scotland. The aim of the week is to bring people together and to share learning across the Self Management Network Scotland, the Self Management Fund projects and the wider ALLIANCE membership. 

During the Week, the ALLIANCE hosts and promotes a series of online and in-person events across Scotland, alongside publicity which showcases examples of good practice. We also encourage and support organisations to host their own events. Participation is free, inclusive and open to all.

What is Self Management?

Self Management is a way of living and working that means people living with long term conditions feel more in control of their own health and wellbeing. It supports people to live their lives better, on their terms.

“Gaun Yersel” sets out five principles to encapsulate the core meaning of good self management. They reflect the approach people need from services and practitioners to enable them to take shared responsibility for self managing their conditions and overall wellbeing.

Who is Self Management Week for?

Self Management Week is for everyone. It highlights the benefits of self management for people in Scotland living with one or more long term conditions, and those who care for them, and showcases work taking place to support self management. Even if we don’t have a long term condition, we all still do things to help us keep well, relax, and support our wellbeing, so we hope that there will be something for everyone.

How can I get involved?

Anyone can take part in Self Management Week by attending and participating in events run by the ALLIANCE and self management projects around Scotland, or by taking the opportunity to host your own event supporting and highlighting self management.

If you are thinking of running an event during Self Management Week please keep us informed and send us your photos, news stories, press cuttings etc. Email the ALLIANCE Self Management team at smw@alliance-scotland.org.uk or call us on 0141 404 0231. Please see the below Event Brief for further details on what an event should involve.

You can also get involved in our awareness raising campaign by joining the conversation and helping to spread the word and highlight the value of self management in the weeks leading up to Self Management Week. In the below Communications Resources Pack you will find campaign logos, hashtags and some suggested tweets. Here are our top ten ways to get involved.

The events programme for this year can be found here.

Awareness raising campaign

In the weeks leading up to Self Management Week we are running an awareness campaign on social media to raise the profile and improve understanding of self management. The inspiration for our awareness campaign this year comes from one of the five Principles of Self Management as set out in Gaun Yersel; ‘I am the leading partner in management of my health’. We hope to highlight that self management is a collaborative, empowering approach that centres people as leaders in their health, supported by responsive systems and communities. We regularly hear great and inspiring stories of this principle in practice, but we know there are still barriers. So we’d love it if you could share with us your experiences, insights and ideas and tell us what you need to lead.

If you would like to take part, we invite you to do one (or both) of the following:

Submit an opinion piece or case study

Describe to us what would enable you to become the leading partner in the management of your health, or what things you feel already enable this. Can you tell us what difference this has made to your life? You can read the ALLIANCE’s guidance on compiling an opinion piece here.

Submit a short video

Record your own short video and tell us in less than two minutes what would enable you to become the leading partner in the management of your health, or what things you feel already enable this. Alternatively, you can tell us what difference supported self management has made to your life.

Here are some tips to help you do your own recording:

• Find a quiet and comfortable place to record
• Use a smartphone and record in portrait mode – it’s easier for social media
• Aim to answer in no more than 2 minutes
• Ask a friend or family member to record you if you find that easier
• Feel free to be creative; you don’t have to show your face if you’d prefer not to.

Please send your videos and opinion piece/case studies to smw@alliance-scotland.org.uk by Monday 7th July. These will then be shared by the ALLIANCE Self Management team throughout July and August on our website and social media channels. As well as raising the profile of self management, this will also provide an invaluable opportunity to spotlight your own work and experiences of self management.

If you choose to submit a video, we ask that you please submit a completed consent form along with it. A consent form template can be found below.

Thank you for taking part in Self Management Week 2025 and we look forward to seeing you at some of the events!

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