The catalyst for running a recovery workshop came from a truly shocking and tragic event. A young woman with M.E. had taken her own life. She had suffered for 17 years and literally could not face another day with her illness. What was even more shocking was that her mother had been arrested for assisting the suicide.

Reading her story, her list of symptoms and the downward spiral of a healthy, young and active person to the point where she did not want to live any more.

Elaine Wilkins founder says, "I understood from my own 6 years struggling with M.E. the desperation that led to that tragic suicide, I had to do something. I teamed up to run a workshop with a friend who had recovered after losing her teenage years to M.E. We printed some flyers and set up a little website."

"That first workshop never took place because something I hadn't bargained for happened. Emails began to arrive from people all over the world asking for help."

"Repeatedly, they said the same things. They wanted to come and learn but lived too far away, or in many cases were just too unwell to get to a workshop. What I also discovered was the sheer number of people who had tried so many ad hoc treatments that they lost faith or belief in ever recovering, convinced that recovery is totally dependent on a medical breakthrough. And so they wait and wait. Meanwhile their health, wellbeing and quality of life deteriorates."

"It was only then that I realised the true scale of the suffering. There was an estimated 17 million people globally suffering, many of whom were trapped in their homes, bed-bound and desperate or resigned to a limited life managing pain and exhaustion."

"I understood why that happened, I had lived it. But clearly that needed to change. Clearly an individual workshop was not the answer if recovery was to be accessible to all."