Winter Edition 2020 Issue 24 Your Expeerience Counts Editor’s Foreword Hello Again and welcome to our Christmas 2020 edition of Your Expeerience Counts. This edition provides feedback on a number of aspects of our service and includes the regular contributions from peers, volunteers and staff members. One of our peers has submitted a poem, one of our GP Link workers has produced artwork and our volunteers have produced ad- ditional prose contributions with a festive theme. This edition starts with a Christmas challenge to match the Christmas songs to their initial letters and also features a candid and relatable written piece from one of our GP Link workers. As we end 2020, it appears there are reasons for optimism around Coronavirus and everyone should be proud of the contributions they’ve made. Christmas is a time to be kind and thoughtful to others and we hope everyone gives and receives that kindness. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great 2021. If you have anything you want to share or add to the magazine, please contact Nicola, our admin worker on [email protected] and she will add your article to the first available magazine. See you all in the next edition. The Editor 2 Contents Page 4: Heather’s Christmas Quiz Page 5: GP Link feedback Page 6 & 7: A piece by Derek Page 8: Living Life to the Full Page 9: LLTTF feedback Page 10: Artwork Page 11: Peer poem Page 12: Peer work feedback Page 13: Peer’s case study Page 14: Amy volunteer Page 15: Christmas poem Page 16: Well-informed feedback Page 18: Quiz answers 3 Christmas Quiz Our peer worker Heather asks you to match the song title to its initials. Answers are provided on the final page of this magazine. 1)SN 2)AIAM 3)OIRDC 4)THATI 5)OCT 6)WTKOOA 7)WSGSUTC 8)OHN 9)RATCT 10)FTS 11)RTRNR 12)JB 13)IWICBCED 14)TFN 15)WC 4 GP Link Feedback GP Link workers provide a person-centred response to the mental health and wellbeing needs of GP practice patients and support them to identify issues that affect their ability to live well. Hi Andrea I just wanted to say thank you again for everything you have done for me and helping me through my tough time. I feel a really couldn’t have gotten through it without you.. Thank you so much again for everything. I would have to say the link worker service has been absolutely invaluable to us and our patients both before and during the covid pandemic. Lucia has been fantastic, picking up e-mails regarding patients and contacting them and following them up. I have spoken to many patients who have appreciated her input over this very difficult time 5 A Piece by Derek our GP Link Worker Loss is a strange beast. Sadly, it comes to us all at some time in our lives, and like every other situation that can affect our mental health it affects us all in different ways. In August this year my life changed in a way I could never have imagined when I lost my wife very suddenly. In “normal” times there would be a decent bit of support I could turn to, but like many other situations these days COVID has put paid to a lot of interaction with friends and family. After the initial shock subsided and I began to let myself feel what was going on I quickly realised that I had lost every bit of resilience, all my self-care techniques and generally my ability to function as a human and resorting to some of the more neg- ative ways of coping. And boy did I beat myself up about that! I’ve worked in mental health for nearly 3 years, I know how to deal with situations, I help people every day of my life deal with similar so why couldn’t I practice what I’ve been preach- ing? How could I take time to breathe and slow down where everything was a trigger to me. How do I manage in a house by myself cut off from my support network due to the restrictions that were ongoing. It was difficult and it stayed that way until the funeral which was almost like a turning point for me, the part I was dreading the most was over, and although obviously still devastated I knew that I had to change something, for me, for my family. People kept telling me “you’re doing so well”, “you’re being so brave”, I was honest with them, if you want me to be curled up on the floor in the foetal position, inconsolable I’m more than capable of doing that – and to be honest I still could some days. But there was this light bulb moment which comes to us all that I could either lie down to it or try and regain some of who I used to be before all this. 6 In time, with support of family, friends and colleagues (albeit mainly digitally) it gave me a chance to open up, to talk more about how I was feeling. This was the start of things changing (as it had been with my previous battles with my mental health over the years). I used a lot of the local supports that I’d referred people to, counselling, self help websites, even the simple things like getting myself out for a walk even if it was just to the shop round the corner, but it all started to make a difference. People hear the word resilience and think that it’s some sort of bulletproof vest that deflects anything that comes your way, the fact is it isn’t, it’s a life skill learned from a young age just like walking, a toddler falls, they pick themselves up and try again. Resilience is something that can become depleted and chipped away when life’s unexpected events come at you but like a flood barrier it can be restored with some work, and like any project when you stand back and look at how far you’ve come you can take that bit of pride and say “I did that”. That’s what I see in the mirror, now when people say I’m doing well I can say back “you know what, I am just now” and not just using it as a standard response like the classic “I’m fine”. As I said there are days I’m not fine, but that’s normal in eve- ryday life. We take the good and the bad it’s how we react to them that makes them better or worse. The trick is not to beat yourself up as I did, if your day is bad enough and some- one has a go it will inevitably make you feel worse, so why do that to yourself? Allow yourself to have that bad day and start afresh the next ( I have to thank my colleagues for reminding of this regularly). This isn’t set out to be a story of my woes, what I want people to see is that many situations in life even the most unimagina- ble can be overcome with the right strategies in place, it’s not an easy or a quick fix but it can and does get better in time. 7 Living Life to the Full 8 Living Life to the Full Feedback I have found the Living life to the full modules very help- ful by way of content, relativity and self awareness. When I struggled I kept going back to the previous modules to find how far I’d come. I also liked the flow of the set up starting at a place where getting out of bed was over- whelming and gradually following on to a module re- minding me of what is good about me, and the im- portance of positive reinforcement. However what has helped me most is the benefit of the vast experience and empathy from Derek Chalmers. Not once did he tell me what I wanted to hear, steer my deci- sion making, or judge my ability to cope with the angst and situation I have found myself in. He also made me feel comfortable from the first call when I was in a bad place. I know I still have quite a bit to go mentally however appreciate the sessions with Derek more than you will ever know. He didn’t just “dump” the modules on me but walked me through them before I completed them, discussing and giving feedback on my progression. In conclusion Derek Chalmers is a credit to everything your service stands for and I hope he receives the plaudits he deserves. He is professional to a fault without losing his natural ability to not only put people at ease but to make each session worthwhile and be of great value to me as a service user. 9 Expeerience Counts Art Mark, our GP Link Worker took up life drawing during lockdown as a way to distract and focus his mind. He has continued to develop this in- terest and these are his two most recent contributions: 10 Peer Poem MONSTER Silent stalker, monster in the undergrowth, gaining trust, respect and loyalty from a vulnerable woman. Gather round you, help you, always at your beck and call and al- ways happy to help. You fed me to the lions and you thought that was the end, but I rise from the ashes, ready to defend.