A. People with CFS/ME who are age 18 or over and are members of Action for ME. If you are unable to access face-to-face counselling services online counselling may suit your needs. If you need advice on a medical problem please contact your GP or other professional involved in your care. Our Useful Links may suggest other organisations that can help.

A. You may live in a remote area and have no access to a professional counsellor, or you may find it difficult to travel to an appointment if you are severely affected with CFS/M.E. Another advantage of online counselling is that because you can record the sessions on your own computer, you can re-visit each discussion time after time and get more from it. With private messaging sessions, you can also benefit from longer periods of time between communications, making it easier to pace.

A. Careful listening is the largest part of what all counsellors do. They can assist clients to define problem areas in their own terms and help them identify what to do next.

A. Action for M.E. counsellors will not tell you what you should do. The purpose of counselling is to enable you make your own decisions. Counsellors may summarise what they understand you to have said in order to help you move on and form a plan of action. Our counsellors will not be able to give either medical advice on CFS/M.E. or plan a detailed pacing programme. This would be more appropriate for an occupational therapist or physiotherapist.

A. It doesn't really matter how you start. You can say (type) whatever you like. The counsellor will help you explore the problem areas and will ask you questions to clarify their understanding. The sessions are long enough for you to return to different areas until you are happy that you have expressed what you are really feeling.

A. All Action for M.E. counsellors are professionally qualified. They all understand about M.E./CFS and have previous experience of helping people with the illness

A. Online counselling is available only to Action for ME members and is offered free of charge during our pilot scheme.

A. You will need to register for online counselling by completing the registration form which can be found on the homepage by selecting the register now button. You must be a member of Action for M.E. to use this service. We will send you an email to acknowledge your registration and again when a session becomes available. There may be a waiting list for this service.

A. The aim of the service is to offer short-term support. Many clients find that one session a week for up to six weeks is adequate to help them.

A. When you register to use the online counselling service, you will be asked to fill out our online form stating your name and contact details, your Action for M.E. membership number and details of your medical condition. During your first session with our counsellor you will be asked some questions that will help us get to know a little about you. This is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have. Together, you can decide if online counselling is the best option for you at this time and whether you wish to continue with further sessions.

A. Action for M.E. counsellors abide by the 'Ethical framework for good practice in counselling and psychotherapy‘ set down by the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy). Everything you tell us during your online counselling sessions is confidential - between you and the counsellor. Confidentiality will only be broken only in exceptional circumstances, which include disclosure of personal involvement in any incidence of terrorism or disclosure of abuse of a child where inaction would place the child (or other children – siblings) back in the same situation.

A. If you have any complaints about this service, please write to: Action for ME PO Box 1302 Wells Somerset BA5 1YE

A. When your session is about to start, 'Enter chatroom' will appear next to the appointment time on the booked sessions screen. Select this option to begin your session. You may need to press the refresh button on your browser to update the screen.

A. Type your message to the counsellor and then press the enter key or send message. You can add emoticons (faces with different expressions) to help you express yourself by selecting the appropriate picture. If you find that you are not receiving messages from the counsellor during your session, try selecting the refresh button on your browser to re-establish the conversation.

A. At the end of the session, before you leave the chatroom it is possible to copy the text of your counselling session into Microsoft Word or a similar word processing program for future reference. With your mouse pointer, left click in the chatroom text area. Right click with your mouse on the chatroom text area and choose Select All from the menu. Right click with your mouse again on the chatroom text area and choose Copy from the menu. Start Word (or a similar program) and choose Paste from the Edit menu.

A. When you log in, a personal log-in box saying 'Welcome Back...' will appear on the side menu. This contains a link to your private messages.