Reflections on the first ‘virtual’ BACME conference
The first BACME online conference was held on Tuesday 11th May 2021. As a company that supports lots of clients with CFS/ME, it is of importance that we are involved in BACME by contributing and attending conferences to ensure continued professional development and our inclusion as part of the national conversation in this field.
Here one of our specialist clinicians reports on her experience of attending this year.
This proved to be a hugely popular event with over 120 delegates attending ‘from their front room’ and with a background in a huge mixture of professions; medics and therapists alike.
It was a busy day with a huge number of high-quality presentations and workshops being held. Although it was not possible to meet in person, there was an opportunity for networking over lunch and many delegates took up this offer; using the breakout rooms provided.
Throughout the conference, delegates were reminded of the focus on patients and patient care. There were a number of patient stories throughout the day with the patient partnership being a key feature of this year’s conference. We were introduced to Katy’s story at the beginning, and throughout the day entertained by the hugely skilled Les Parry and his musician friends. Keynote speakers Dr Halina Flannery and Anna Gregorowski used dialogue from video clips with a young patient and our Executive Manager and Specialist OT (who also works in the NHS) Beverly Knops and Rhona Knight held a workshop on patient partnership working which was positively received. This included a short film of one of Vitality360’s employees sharing her experience.
As you may expect, there were discussions throughout the day regarding similarities to Long Covid / Post Covid, and Deb Roberts and Christine Oliver highlighted the interface between the two conditions in their talk entitled ‘Thriving in challenging times’ and how CFS/ME services were ideally positioned to help.
Professor Chris Ponting gave a hugely informative speech on ‘The Genetics of ME/CFS’ which also included information on the ‘DecodeME’ study that is due to start soon. This is an innovative approach to biomedicine with thousands of individuals signing up to take part via social media in the largest DNA study of ME/CFS looking primarily at T-cell receptors.
Workshop presentations were held in the morning and afternoon; titles included:
The use of wearable fitness and health trackers in the treatment of CFS/ME and other primary fatigue conditions
Partnership working, Dysregulation vs deconditioning
Diet and nutrition
Trauma Informed Therapy & Therapist’s Self Care, Sleep
Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy techniques for ME/CFS and Occupational Balance
Later in the afternoon sessions on sharing innovations gave some highly insightful ideas on
What we know about depression and anxiety in adolescents with CFS/ME (Dr. Maria Loades), Sensory Interventions in ME/CFS (Joseph Bradley)
Ways of thinking about ME/CFS: A Q methodology study (Anna Rickard)
Virtual consultation during Covid-19: Young people and their parents’ experience (Dr. Stephanie Proulx-Cabana)
Overall this was a busy, interactive day with an opportunity to share thoughts, ideas, and resources within the field of CFS/ME.