The Chronic Conditions Course is a new free, online and internet-delivered education program, which is designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impact of chronic health conditions on day-to-day activities and emotional wellbeing.
We have developed the Course because we know that many people with chronic health conditions face significant challenges and difficulties in their day-to-day lives, which often affects their emotional wellbeing and quality of life.
Research shows that adults with chronic health conditions are at greater risk of poor emotional wellbeing - e.g., stress, anxiety, worry, low mood, sadness and depression. Furthermore, many people have limited access to help in managing the impact of their chronic health condition or their emotional wellbeing. We developed the course with the hope of helping people to limit the impact their chronic health conditions have on their day-to-day lives and to maintain good emotional wellbeing despite their health conditions.
To learn more about chronic health conditions, please click HERE. Some of the common chronic health conditions of previous participants are listed below:
| Heart disease | Epilepsy |
| Stroke | Cancer |
| Chronic pain | Diabetes |
| Asthma | Multiple sclerosis |
| Parkinson's disease | Cystic fibrosis |
| Gastrointestinal diseases (e.g., Crohn's disease, Celiac disease) | Arthritis, osteoporosis and other skeletal conditions |
| Lymphoedema | Chronic kidney disease |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) | Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) |
| Rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic conditions | HIV and other significant viruses |
| Endometriosis | Irritable bowel and gastrointestinal syndromes |
| ... and many, many more. | ... and many, many more. |
PLEASE NOTE: You can scroll right to the bottom of this page to make an application or register your interest in the Chronic Conditions Course.
The course is delivered over 8 weeks and is designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impact of chronic health conditions and maintaining good emotional wellbeing. The course is not designed to 'treat' or 'cure' chronic health conditions. However, the information and skills covered have been found in 100s of research trials to be essential for people with significant chronic health conditions.
The course aims to provide the information and skills that you would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist, if you attended a specialist treatment facility. However, because many people cannot access these facilities, we are developing and testing this internet-delivered Course - our goal is to make it as helpful as possible and to make it freely and widely available.
Unfortunately, we cannot include people who are currently suicidal, do not have access to the Internet or who are not living in Australia. We also strongly recommend people discuss their participation in this course with their GP and other doctors. Maintaining a good working relationship with your doctors is essential when you have a chronic health condition and they can help you decide whether this program is going to be suitable for you.
Not sure if this course is right for you? Please contact us, click HERE.
We are very excited about being able to offer the Chronic Conditions Course. We have had people with a broad range of chronic health conditions participate so far and their feedback has been very encouraging. Although the Course is hard work, our overall findings are that more than 90% report the course is worth their time and that they'd recommend it to others. Most participants are also reporting significant improvements in their emotional wellbeing. We have also just completed a major re-development of the course based on the feedback from the last thousand people who have completed the course.
We are very pleased to now be offering the Chronic Conditions Course to adults living in Australia. We are hoping to offer the course internationally soon - so if you are living outside of Australia and would like to participate, please register HERE.
Participants will be participating in an important research trial which will help us to evaluate the course and improve it for others. You can read more in the Participant Information and Consent Form, click HERE.
Our next two groups of the Chronic conditions Course will be starting on the 17th of May and the 12th of July. Participants will be randomised to start in one of these two groups - so they need to be available to start in either groups. To apply to participate in one of our next two groups, please click the 'Apply Now!' button below and follow the prompts.
We will be running new courses 4 or 5 times a year. If the dates for our next two groups are not suitable for you, please check this webpage again in a couple of weeks - we'll be updating the dates of available groups regularly.
Of course, if you have any questions about the Course please feel free to contact us, click HERE.
