Fran's Hope Story

Fran was diagnosed with PCOS around 20 years ago and lives with this and other long-term health conditions. With a demanding full-time job and three children, a positive attitude has already helped her to deal with these, alone. 

“I guess other people might look at me and think ‘she’s lucky, she’s working, got kids and a husband’. So, although I live with pain every day, I realise it could be much worse – it doesn’t impact me as much as it could.”

 However, Fran does still have some “doom and gloom” days. She was looking for something to help her to move forwards when she saw the advert for the Hope Programme online. It appealed because it’s so flexible 

“I thought it sounded perfect! I can do it when I want, so it won’t impact the children before work. It’s online, I haven’t got to be at a regular session. You can pick and choose what you do and when you do it”. 

Fran could see that this format would also suit people in different situations from her own “If you weren’t working, you could do the Programme very differently from me. Could spend ages looking at it. It’s got really good flexibility!” Joining the course was all very smooth and Fran loved the app: “It made Hope really easy to find. I really like how it’s set out, all very clear”.

Did she learn anything new? “The mindful eating, I definitely like that!” Fran explains that she has always been a fast eater, since school – gobbling down her lunch as fast as she could, to get to her lunchtime dance club or something similar. 

“But now, since Hope, even when I’m at work, I’m definitely eating slower. That does impact how much I eat later. managing weight is very important for most women with PCOS.

“The goal-setting is really useful. One week there’d been a bit of mayhem in my life. I needed something that was going to impact me. I set a goal to spend time with my husband. We watched a movie together!”

Fran loved the feedback that she got from the facilitator and other people on the course. “The encouragement that people gave each other really helped. There was a nice sense of community. The facilitator was brilliant.”