Liv
(she/her)
“My participation journey began while I was in therapy. Making YouTube videos was helping with my recovery, and I showed one to my therapist. She asked if I would like to use my creativity to help with participation and put me in touch with Lucy. Lucy and I had a video call, I was anxious, but she was so open with me about her recovery and put me at ease.
Lucy and I spoke a few more times and then I felt confident enough to join the Young People’s Participation Group. I remember three of us went along regularly, I didn’t turn my camera on at first but after a while I felt like I could. At the group I felt like my voice was heard for the first time since being under services. It made me feel validated and gave me a sense of purpose. I had a job so couldn’t attend every time; it was fine to go along when I could. The groups were fun to go to – at Christmas we had a quiz, and all wore Christmas jumpers!
I was offered the chance to get involved in other projects and going to the group had given me the confidence to do this. The first thing I did was attend staff Leadership Training online and speak about my experience of using services. Lucy helped me to prepare for this and although it was scary, I felt empowered, like I was doing something meaningful, and my voice was being heard.
After this, I took part in lots of other participation opportunities including attending a Participation Committee Meeting where I presented a video I’d made about my mental health recovery journey to professionals. This gave me valuable skills, I later used when applying for my current job. The biggest thing I did was take part in a video about communication which was very professional and exciting – it was like being a movie star!!
Participation has helped me gain confidence, build my self-esteem, learn new IT skills, become more confident about public speaking (which I never thought I could do) and helped me overcome my anxiety. It also made it easier to transition over to adult services.
I’m still involved with participation, it’s a part of my job with the Trust and I help to deliver Participation Training to new starters. During training I tell my story and share what other participants have said. I wish participation was something I could’ve got involved in when I had my initial assessment - I would’ve been able to help make changes sooner and get better quicker!”
