Kirsty has helped hundreds with MS

Volunteer Kirsty Bennett is up for a top award.

A charity volunteer from Galashiels, who inspired hundreds of people with a long-term health condition to take back control of their lives, has been shortlisted for a national award.

Kirsty Bennett, 34, was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2009 when she was just 21. Three years later she was volunteering for MS Society Scotland, helping other people with the neurological condition feel more in control of their health and wellbeing.

Now, in recognition of her volunteering work, she has been nominated for the Self Management Champion of the Year Award at the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland’s Self Management Awards 2022.

Kirsty, who works part-time as a payment support assistant at Scottish Borders Council and recently completed a psychology degree with the Open University, said: “I was really humbled to be nominated for the award, I thought it was really nice of the MS Society, but I never, ever thought I would be shortlisted. So to get the message to say I’d been shortlisted, I was very surprised.

“Self management is how you manage your own condition by the small things that you do during the day. For example, sitting down to do the dishes is self management because it helps you to manage your symptoms if you can’t stand for too long.

“Self management helps you to continue to do things for as long as possible and to do them independently. It just helps you get through every day.

“It’s definitely not about doing everything on your own. There are some times when you can do things independently and manage things on your own just fine. But there are also the occasional times that you do need a bit of professional support or you need a bit of help from your friends and family. Asking for help is a big part of self management.”

Tracey Harrison, who manages the MS Society’s Living Well programme, nominated Kirsty on behalf of the charity.

She said: “Kirsty typifies everything the self management model looks to achieve. After completing one of our Self Management courses, she put into practice what she had learnt and could directly see the benefit this had not just on her, but on her husband and wider family. She decided then that she wanted to give that same support to others who were starting out on their MS journey.”