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About us
Overcoming MS informs, supports, and empowers people with MS to lead a full life with evidence-based self-managed lifestyle choices.
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About Overcoming MS
Overcoming MS is here for everyone affected by multiple sclerosis.
We are the world’s leading MS healthy lifestyle charity, helping people with MS to live well by making informed lifestyle choices, and bringing hope to those diagnosed, their families, friends and communities.
Our vision is a world in which living a full and healthy life with MS is possible for everyone.
At the heart of Overcoming MS is a self-management program for people with MS, devised to support their physical and mental health, based on clear, practical actions. The 7 pillars – created by Professor George Jelinek using the research into the impacts of lifestyle on MS – are diet, vitamin D/sunlight, physical activity, stress management, medication, family health and changing your life for life.
- Find out more about our impact, meet our team, Board of trustees and advisors and learn about our partnerships
- For media enquiries please get in touch using our contact form here
What we do
Inform
Ensure people are aware and fully informed about the Overcoming MS Program as an evidence-based way to help self-manage MS through lifestyle choices.
Support
Facilitate a supportive, accessible, and responsive community to allow people with diverse MS needs to adopt the Overcoming MS Program, meeting them wherever they are in their journey.
Empower
Help people with MS feel more hopeful, optimistic, and empowered, knowing they can take control of their MS and lead a more full and healthy life.
Collaborate
Influence and collaborate with the broader MS community – including family, friends, and healthcare professionals – to enable them to understand the benefits of self-management and lifestyle choices for people with MS via the Overcoming MS Program.
Professor George Jelinek, Program Founder
“My mother died of MS in 1981. Towards the end of her life, she was totally incapacitated, unable to feed or care for herself. I was diagnosed with MS in 1999. I was determined that this was not going to be my fate.
Fortunately, my career as a Professor in Emergency Medicine and background as Editor-in-Chief of a major medical journal gave me the tools to sort through the medical literature on MS, giving appropriate weight to the various pieces of evidence I found. What I found startled me.”
Our values
Evidence-based
The Overcoming MS Program draws upon an extensive body of evidence of the benefits of lifestyle changes on the health outcomes and quality of life for people with MS.
Empowering
The realisation that people can take control of how they experience illness and disability is powerful and positive. We provide the tools to enable people with MS to take care of themselves and become active managers of their own health.
Community-focused
We build a supportive, positive and empowered community of people with MS. We recognise and celebrate the experience and knowledge of people with MS, which we harness to influence a broader understanding of the value of MS self-management.
Inclusive
Overcoming MS is an inclusive and diverse community, which both welcomes and gives voice to the experience of each individual.
Collaborative
We work with other charities, healthcare professionals and researchers, and the MS community itself.
Dynamic
As a small charity operating on a global scale, we value focus, efficiency and creativity and are able to change quickly.
The Overcoming MS Team
Staff
Our vision is a world in which every person with MS is empowered to take control of their health, is making informed lifestyle choices and is living a full and healthy life. Find out more about the Overcoming MS staff team working hard to achieve this vision.
Meet the teamFacilitators
Meet our team of expert event facilitators who assist with Overcoming MS retreats, one-day events and online offerings. Our facilitator team includes medical doctors, nutritionists, meditation practitioners and fitness experts.
Meet the teamTrustee Board
Our Trustees volunteer their time and skills to set and review our overall direction. The Trustees govern the Overcoming MS charity and make sure we’re delivering on all our objectives, so that every person with MS can lead a full and healthy life.
Meet the team Board Composition and Inclusion - Get involved
The board is currently seeking new members if you would like to join us and help make a difference to people with MS. Read a statement from our Chair of Board, Dowshan Humzah, about board composition and inclusion and what is being looked for in the new board members.
We are a Disability Confident employer
Disability Confident provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Whatever the size of your business, tools, guidance and advice will help you to recruit and retain from the widest possible pool of talent and help you keep valuable skills and experience.
Overcoming MS Policies
You can download our most recent Safeguarding, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Complaints policies below.
If you’d like to access another Overcoming MS policy, for example, Information Governance or Whistleblowing, please get in touch via our contact form.
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