USA: News from the Bateman Horne Center

Trish said:
Can anyone who takes part in these sessions or watches them afterwards report back on whether they find them worthwhile?
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I haven't taken part in any or watched any of the recordings but I have read most of the recaps and I find them interesting on a personal level in terms of hearing how people cope and what they have struggled with and also find interesting some of the reflections from the facilitator.
 
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Trish said:
Can anyone who takes part in these sessions or watches them afterwards report back on whether they find them worthwhile?
Click to expand...
I used to attend their support group sessions when I was doing better.

They'd open with a slide containing a few questions on the topic to get people talking about their experiences. There was no conversation between attendees. People were just saying their thoughts and feelings one by one, sometimes referring to something someone else had said. There used to be around 200 people on the call, so they tried to give a chance to everyone who wanted to speak.

Often the person leading the sessions (who is a certified therapist and patient) commented on what had been said. I found his perspective and comments really interesting, as opposed to superficial which is often my impression with therapists.
 
I listen to the support groups regularly mostly because the social worker Timothy Weymann who leads them is very helpful, compassionate and has a chronic illness (RA, I think) as well.

His commentary comes at the beginning of the sessions and are summarized in the "recaps" which also contain comments from the chat and that of the participants who speak during the hour-long session.

The other offering: Coffee with a Clinician has been less helpful for me personally. I will sometimes watch them them later when the slide pack is published with the video.
 
shak8 said:
I listen to the support groups regularly mostly because the social worker Timothy Weymann who leads them
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I thought his background was in psychology because he provides therapy for living but now I see he's LCSW and they can be therapists as well.

It's possible that's why I liked him - he's able to put things into the context of society and systems affecting our lives instead of putting all responsibility on individuals and their "flawed" way of thinking.
 
Blog post from Batemen Horne Center:

NIH/NIAID Highlight Post-Infectious Illness

Bateman Horne Center said:
Leaders of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently published a comment in Nature Medicine [comment published 16 January 2026] outlining a proposed new strategic vision for the institute. ...

In the article, NIAID leadership states that the institute will support research aimed at better understanding long-term inflammatory and post-infectious illnesses. These are conditions that can develop or persist after an infection.

The authors specifically mention several conditions, including:
  • Long COVID
  • Chronic Lyme disease
  • Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
  • Adverse events following vaccination
They also note that infections may play a role in triggering or contributing to other chronic diseases, and that studying these connections may help scientists better understand immune system dysfunction.

For many people living with ME/CFS, this recognition reflects growing awareness of how infections can lead to long-lasting health effects.
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Bateman Horne Center said:
The new NIAID vision identifies post-infectious inflammatory syndromes as an area of scientific interest. In addition to ME/CFS and long COVID, the authors suggest that research may explore how infections could influence the development of other chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis.

This type of research may help scientists better understand how infections interact with the immune system and why some individuals develop long-term illness afterward.
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"Coffee" with a Clinician, from Bateman Horne Center:

Topic: Post-Exertional Malaise, Part 2

The Coffee with a Clinician sessions are dedicated to sharing key principles and practical tips from the BHC Clinical Care Guide.

The goals of this session are to share:

- How patients and caregivers can communicate PEM (post-exertional malaise) to healthcare providers and others in a way that differentiates it from other conditions
- Screening tools that can help measure the severity of PEM

Topic: Section 4.3 Screening Questions to Identify PEM and 4.4 PEM Screening Tools
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Wednesday, April 8, 10 am MDT (9 am PT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET)

Coffee with a Clinician is free to attend, with an optional $5 donation to support BHC’s education and outreach programs.

Advance registration required - Registration link
(registration link shows time in your time zone)
 
Dr Bateman having retired would explain a lot of things. I'm a little surprised that she would leave her name on a clinic that she no longer controls though. I'm not sure how I missed her retirement - the BHC don't seem to have made a big thing of it.

This excerpt is from an announcement of a new Executive Director. It seems that this new Executive Director is responsible for the problematic Clinical Care Guide.

Tahlia steps into the Executive Director role following the retirement of Rob Ence and now works in close partnership with BHC founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lucinda Bateman, who will retire from patient care at the end of 2025.

“To carry forward Dr. Bateman’s legacy leaves me speechless,” Tahlia says. “But like her, I have someone counting on me. My sister—and now, millions more.”

Tahlia’s leadership has already helped BHC scale its reach and deepen its impact. She led the launch of several cornerstone initiatives:

  • The Clinical Care Guide for ME/CFS, Long COVID, and Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions, reaching more than 40,000 readers in its first month
  • The expansion of the Medical Education Resource Center (MERC), which has trained over 15,000 clinicians across 46 states and 90 countries
  • The ME/CFS Crash Survival Guide, viewed over 300,000 times by patients and caregivers worldwide
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The Bateman Horne Medical Center's website suggests that Dr Bateman is the Chief Medical Officer. So, I'm not sure that the planned retirement has happened.

It seems that Dr Brayden Yellman has been the 'Medical Director' of the centre, but the page about him that was on the website shows as 'Page does not exist'.

The staff list on the clinic website has Dr Bateman as Chief Medical Officer, with four female Medical Providers:
Melanie Hoppers - doctor
Jennifer Bell - nurse practitioner
Jennifer Bliss - nurse practitioner
Megan Oudekere - nurse practitioner
 
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