Exploring Your Options

A six-session online programme to explore, understand and manage life with fibromyalgia.

Living with fibromyalgia can feel like a constant search for answers. There are countless treatments, techniques, lifestyle recommendations and opinions about what might help, but understanding which approaches are worth exploring, and how to make them work in your own life, isn't always straightforward.

There is no single solution to fibromyalgia. But there are options worth exploring.

Finding What Works is a six-session, small-group online programme designed to help you make sense of those options.

Combining evidence-informed education, shared experiences and practical behaviour change, we'll explore different approaches to managing fibromyalgia and help you identify strategies that may be useful for you.

This isn't about following a prescribed set of rules or being told how to live with your condition. It's about developing your understanding, making informed choices and discovering what works within your own circumstances.

Six fortnightly sessions | Live online | Small supportive groups

You may already have tried countless approaches to managing your fibromyalgia. Some might have helped, others may have made little difference, and some might have been difficult to sustain alongside work, family responsibilities, fluctuating symptoms and everyday life.

Our programme creates space to explore these experiences, consider the available evidence and work out what might be worth trying next.

Each session combines:

Understanding the options: An accessible introduction to the research, potential benefits and limitations of different approaches.

Learning from experience: An opportunity to share what's worked, what hasn't and what others have discovered.

Making it personal: Exploring how an approach might fit your symptoms, circumstances, priorities and abilities.

Putting ideas into practice: Choosing small, manageable experiments to explore between sessions.

Reflecting and adapting: Reviewing what you've learned and deciding what to continue, change or leave behind.

You won't be expected to try everything, and there's no pressure to achieve particular results. Sometimes discovering that an approach isn't right for you is just as valuable as finding something that helps.

Across six fortnightly sessions, we'll explore different approaches to living with fibromyalgia, combining accessible information, shared experiences and practical opportunities to put ideas into action.

Each session introduces a particular area of self-management, giving you the opportunity to discover what might be helpful in your own circumstances.

Session 1 — Living with Fibromyalgia: Grief, Identity and What Matters

Fibromyalgia can affect far more than physical comfort. It may change how you work, socialise, manage relationships and see yourself.

We'll explore the emotional impact of living with a long-term condition, including loss, frustration, changing expectations and the challenge of accepting circumstances you didn't choose.

We'll also consider what matters most to you now, helping you identify meaningful goals for the weeks ahead.

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Session 2 — Understanding and Managing Pain

We'll explore how pain works, why the nervous system can become more sensitive and what current research tells us about persistent pain.

This includes an introduction to neuroplasticity, Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and approaches such as somatic tracking.

We'll discuss the evidence, its limitations and how some of these techniques might be explored safely, recognising that fibromyalgia is complex and no single approach works for everyone.

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Session 3 — Psychological Approaches: CBT and ACT

Living with persistent pain and fatigue can have a significant impact on thoughts, emotions and behaviour.

We'll introduce Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), exploring how they may help people respond to difficult thoughts, manage emotional distress and maintain meaningful activities.

The emphasis isn't on thinking positively or suggesting that symptoms are psychological. It's about understanding how different psychological approaches can support wellbeing and quality of life.

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Session 4 — Nutrition, Gut Health and Sleep

Nutrition and sleep are frequently discussed in relation to fibromyalgia, but it can be difficult to separate useful advice from unsupported claims.

We'll explore the emerging research around the gut microbiome, general nutritional approaches, digestive symptoms and the relationship between sleep, pain and fatigue.

We'll also consider practical strategies that may support everyday wellbeing, while recognising when individual advice from a dietitian, sleep specialist or medical professional may be appropriate.

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Session 5 — Movement, Pacing and Physical Confidence

For many people living with fibromyalgia, finding a comfortable balance between activity and rest can be particularly challenging.

We'll explore different approaches to movement, physical confidence, pacing and managing fluctuating energy levels.

Rather than encouraging people to push through symptoms or follow a fixed exercise programme, we'll focus on understanding individual capacity and exploring realistic, adaptable approaches.

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Session 6 — Making It Work: Building Your Personal Approach

In our final session, we'll bring together everything we've explored.

We'll review what participants have tried, what they've discovered and which approaches they might like to continue exploring.

Using practical behavioural-change techniques, we'll look at overcoming barriers, adapting plans when circumstances change and building habits that are realistic and sustainable.

You'll finish with a personal self-management plan based on your own priorities, experiences and circumstances.

Finding What Works is designed for adults living with fibromyalgia who would like to understand their condition more fully and explore practical approaches to self-management.

You might be newly diagnosed and unsure where to begin, or you may have lived with fibromyalgia for years and feel frustrated by conflicting advice or unsuccessful attempts to manage your symptoms.

You don't need any previous knowledge, and you don't need to have attended one of our retreats.

All we ask is that you approach the programme with curiosity and a willingness to consider what might be useful for you.

This is an educational and supported self-management programme. It does not replace medical assessment, treatment or individual psychological therapy.

Kate Robbins

Kate is a health and wellbeing coach, educator, author and co-founder of The Barn Wellbeing Retreat.

With a professional background spanning health coaching, physical therapies, nutrition, mindfulness and long-term condition support, Kate specialises in helping people understand the challenges of living with chronic illness and develop practical approaches to improving their wellbeing.

Her work combines accessible scientific education with behavioural-change techniques, helping people translate information into meaningful action.

Kate is also the author of Fibromyalgia and Pace Yourself, books exploring the realities of chronic illness and approaches to living well.

Rather than prescribing a particular solution, Kate's approach focuses on helping people understand their choices, explore what may help and develop strategies suited to their individual lives.

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Fibromyalgia is a complex condition, and everyone's experience is different. No intervention can guarantee improvement, and this programme isn't designed to replace the advice or treatment of your healthcare professionals.

Our aim is to provide reliable information, thoughtful support and a practical opportunity to explore different approaches, so you can make informed decisions about living with fibromyalgia.