Ms Niamh Jones:

I am one of 11 HSE-funded community resource officers supporting people with epilepsy and their families across the country. Our aim is to empower people to become experts in their own condition and learn to self-manage it

on a day-to-day basis. In the past ten years, my role has evolved and expanded greatly, becoming more varied and flexible as we work to tailor our services to meet individual needs. I will use my time to outline a recent case, which I hope will demonstrate

the impact we are having on the welfare of people with epilepsy and their families.

I received a referral from the epilepsy team at Cork University Hospital of a man who had just been diagnosed. I immediately arranged to meet him and his wife to start our Living Well with Epilepsy programme, which is designed specifically to meet the needs of people with a new diagnosis. We discussed the relevant issues, including employment, driving, entitlements, safety and risk, lifestyle and triggers, and jointly worked out a plan and strategies to manage those issues. We subsequently arranged a full family meeting as the couple's two children are likely at some point to find themselves alone with their father when he is having a tonic-clonic seizure. The family members were enabled to express their concerns in a safe environment and I went through all the "dos and don'ts" of seizure first aid. At a subsequent meeting, the man's children were happy to report that they had been at home with their father when he had a seizure and the knowledge they had gained meant they did very well looking after him. Since then, I have delivered epilepsy awareness talks in both children's schools, and the man and his wife have attended our support group meetings, which take place in the evening, where they have received peer support from people in similar situations. The man's employer called me recently asking for epilepsy training for staff, which is another service we provide. This client will soon be attending our six-week STEPS self-management programme, which provides a learning environment where people can gain skills and knowledge to achieve the best health and quality of life that they can by managing their epilepsy in an active and positive way. He may later avail of our Innerwise service, a more advanced personal development and well-being programme.

These innovative services were developed in response to unmet needs, and evaluations have shown very positive outcomes. Our programmes also strongly complement the HSE's Sláintecare objectives, such as the promotion of patient-centred,

self-management interventions for chronic conditions. In the near future, community and patient organisations like Epilepsy Ireland will play a key role in making Sláintecare a reality. This is only one example of my day-to-day work, but I hope it shows how accessible, valuable and complementary our service is in providing a person-centred approach to support and education, not just for the individual with epilepsy but also for all those who are impacted by the diagnosis in their daily lives.