Five years back I had been attending support groups and training sessions at a mental health resource centre run by a local charity called PSS for about 2-3 years. One course on offer was in ‘Peer Support’; it’s a phrase that I have since become very acquainted with, at the time however it represented just another course to help give me some focus, get me out of the house and stay connected with the people and place that had contributed to me have a better time of it of late. The course was facilitated by an outside agency called The Basement Project who worked in the field of drug and alcohol addiction. The trainers were people who had previously accessed these type of services. One of the PSS staff sat in with the initial sessions of the five day course to provide reassurance to the likes of me. I found the trainers willingness to share their own stories very inspirational, as was there skill and patience in helping me complete the work that was required for the accredited award on offer. During the course we explored the role of peer worker, the skills required and also some of the challenges-as a prelude to taking on a role within the resource centre.
Taking on this role was not mandatory and a series of one to one meetings with centre staff allowed time and space for me to decide if and how I would continue in the program. I mentioned how I had been impressed by the trainees stories and wondered how my account or story of depression might be received by a group of new attendees at the centre undergoing an initial 7 week/session course. We decided to run with it, so with some trepidation I was scheduled to speak at a course in a few weeks time. It went really well I felt, I’m sure the familiarity of the environment helped me stay calm, the staff facilitating the sessions were supportive and the attendees who had bonded over the sessions were very interested in my take on things and I think I even remember a spontaneous applause breaking out after I had finished. This was a good start, and I continued in this role for over 12 months, a few alterations but basically the same format. It was a good confidence booster to me-it also acted as a bridge with an environment I had been able to show my vulnerability and take on a new more proactive and high profile role within the service.
I have since gone on to present similar stuff in more public forums, mainly at mental health billed events, on local radio, creative writing showcases, conferences and such like. Some of these presentations have been as part of an ensemble, others as an individual. Last month I was speaking on local radio about mental health with a student who wished to produce an hour long show on the subject, here I was allowed to wax lyrical at length as you can hear, but she was a natural as an interviewer despite herself expressing nerves beforehand. This coming week myself and two other people from the Liverpool mental health consortium service user group are facilitating a 2 hour session with university students studying allied health(nurses, paramedics, social workers etc) where part of the session we each speak for 5 minutes on the subject of our own individual experience of mental health. That to a big group, 60+ if they all turn up; its this that is on my mind now and rather than getting on with writing that script I am indulging in a displacement activity-ie. Preparing a blog post!
Well I hope you liked it;
PS. I’m beginning to think it’s ok sometimes to take a circuitous route in life, to visit familiar territory before embarking on a new adventure, ergo Blog not presentation- in fact, I like that- I think I might include that in the presentation, wish me and my fellow presenters luck on our trip.