What is a Health Sponsor?
Inspired by the sponsorship model of Alcoholics Anonymous, we aim to provide free, peer to peer support, available when you need it. We hope that calls with a health sponsor can provide encouragement, advice, and a space to connect with someone who understands what you’re going through.
While a health sponsor can be a source of information and support, health sponsors are not medical or mental health professionals and cannot diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any specific conditions. Working with a health sponsor is not a substitute for medical care, and all treatment-related decisions must be made by the individual in conjunction with a qualified healthcare provider.
What CAN a health sponsor help with?
Sharing wisdom and knowledge from their own experiences living with a chronic illness, navigating the healthcare system, and finding the best path forward in an uncertain space
Providing emotional support as a trusted peer - offering hope, perspective, and empathy from a place of similar experiences
Brainstorming ideas, questions and strategies for the client to research independently and discuss with qualified professionals
Our Approach
What CAN’T a health sponsor help with?
Diagnosing, treating, curing or preventing any specific medical conditions
Prescribing any specific treatment or making a formal referral to a medical provider
Performing any form of physical or mental therapy
Acting on the client’s behalf in any medical or legal contexts
Anyone experiencing a chronic health issue is welcome to reach out to either one of us for free coaching. We have direct experience with certain conditions like Long Covid, ME/CFS and POTS, but are willing to work with anyone who feels they may benefit from our support.
We offer 60 and 30 minute support calls that you can book through our respective Calendly pages. You can schedule a call every week if you want, or book one whenever you feel like you could use the extra support.
Calls are relatively open-ended and built around what will be most helpful for you. We are happy to share our experiences and what has worked for us as well, and we’re here to listen to your story and provide support and advice as best we can.
Why do sponsors matter?
Peer support for health issues has proven benefits. A recent literature review of peer support for underserved populations found that 94% of people reported significant benefit from the peer support (Sokol & Fisher, 2016).
Peer support helped was found to be effective across a wide range of conditions, but it was most effective when the peers had experience with a similar condition. That’s why we want to focus on supporting people with Long Covid, ME/CFS, and POTS— we know firsthand how these symptoms feel.
Peer support has been shown to increase treatment outcomes, as well as have positive effects on individual’s feelings of self-efficacy, treatment engagement, and self-care behaviors (Joo et al., 2022; Sokol & Fisher, 2016).
Even if you have a good medical team on your side, extra support can be helpful. As Joo et al. (2022) put it, “peer support is viewed as different from and complimentary to professional healthcare services”.
Going through a chronic illness can feel lonely, but there are thousands of people who have experienced something similar— and many of them have found healing and recovery. We’re here to provide community, guidance, and camaraderie.