This brief case study describes how people in Torbay who had attended the Patient Skills Programme, as part of the Health Foundation’s Co-Creating Health programme, decided to establish a newsletter to keep people interested and motivated in self-management.

Group members said they wanted to get involved to maintain the impetus of the course, to keep contact with and support others, and to use it as a vehicle to share information about new service developments or research in the treatment of depression.  Initially facilitated by a member of the trust, the group is now self-managing and produces quarterly Self Management Programme newsletters.

The group meet informally in a person’s house and value this in establishing the tone of the meeting and enabling social contact and peer support.