AUTHOR EVENTS
For those of you who might be interested in having me along to one of your events, whether that be at Book Festivals, Book Clubs, Writing Groups or more specialist forums such as this, where I was talking with students about START. Here is some feedback to help decide if you would like me along. Ideally you would be able to get me along via the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature project – of which I am an author member - https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-authors/live-literature
That would mean I would get paid which is something that I always welcome!! You can find a host of different Authors there if you are interested in different subjects or disciplines.
Any way here is my feedback – I love these events but always doubt my ability – the organiser helpfully gave me these comments to help me realise it makes a difference!!
FEEDBACK:
I found Graham fascinating, and the hour was over so quickly. Probably could have talked to him and about him for hours.
I liked his open and honest approach talking about his mental health. Especially when he talks about the evil inside him. He looks like he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. I realised what a struggle this is for him, living with this daily.
What a remarkable life he has led and the accomplishments he has made are phenomenal, but he really downplays it. The fact that he advocated and was involved in the making of the mental health (care and treatment ) (Scotland Act ) 2003 , continually fighting for people's rights, who have mental health problems; after the poor treatment he was receiving.
It has reinforced that every single person needs to be treated as an individual as they are all fighting their own demons.
I'd like to thank Graham very much for taking the time to speak with us. I enjoyed his sense of humour. Maybe Ted Talks is a way forward for him. What a lovely, interesting man.
I will keep this short, because I could babble about this book for ages, but I have 5 minutes. Please let Graham know I found his book very inspiring, and it was wonderful to read a subjective and positive account of what it is like to live with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Obviously, he has gone through a lot, but it was very nice to hear of him finding love again and holding down a job- you very rarely hear of anything positive in the media once a diagnosis is involved. And even then, it's just the diagnosis, not the person if that makes sense. His account of what it was like to get back in touch with his family, and losing his family, really impacted me as someone who has loved and cared for people diagnosed with mental disorders, and I have often wondered if they feel loved and cared for- excuse me for oversharing and being emotional, but his accounts of the warmth from Wendy and reuniting with his brothers and sisters made me cry and gave me hope that the people I love will find that in the future, no matter what dark days they face. Overall, I am glad I attended the group and read the book, it has had a positive impact on me and I know I will be giving it to at least one person for Christmas! Please let me know his book recommendations and wish him and his family the best for the holidays from me.
I think Graham provided valuable insight from the "other side" so to speak, and a lot of what he was saying really resonated with my experiences of being the patient too. I think its valuable for MHN students to hear patient experiences as it can be really helpful for those who haven't experienced mental illness to understand how the patient sees the professional, and how professionals can actually contribute to stigma, even subconsciously. Talking about diagnoses and labels is important too, as I think people tend to assume that the symptoms a person is displaying is because of their diagnosis, and that leads to people being tarred with the same brush, when the symptoms could be for any number of reasons, like a reaction to circumstances in the person's life where an 'adverse' reaction would normally not be questioned in a person without a diagnosis. Not sure if that makes sense but I know what I mean...
But yes, Graham's contributions were very helpful and I would like to thank him for being so honest, vulnerable and open with us. Insight from service user/patient experiences is so important for developing a good therapeutic relationship and allows for better understanding and a more empathetic approach. I know that when I've spoken with MHNs in the past there has never been talk of how I feel about the interventions etc., more so just talk about the experiences and symptoms at the time, and I feel like the patient's POV within their care is easily forgotten about.
Thank you for setting up the book group, and Graham was great and inspirational.
I enjoyed listening to Graham, there was a great mix of honesty and humility with what he shared. It really married up with a lot of our learning as well and was a great chance to spend some time learning from someone with lived experience which for some may be limited to our time on placement and dealing with patients.
I think he as well opened discussion around some interesting topics, particularly boundaries and how they may make a patient/service user feel, certainly left me with lots of food for thought.
I would like to feedback that I felt this session was extremely thought provoking and very helpful to understand how Graham feels as a patient which will have positive impacts on how I practice. I would like to thank him for being so honest and open , which must have been difficult for him and Thank you for answering my list of questions that I had.
I really hope that some of this lets you see how others view you and the wisdom and warmth you bring to your interactions. It is my view (for what that's worth) that sessions such as yours yesterday are critical to educating the mental health professionals of tomorrow so that they are able to understand what people want and need from them. Your contribution yesterday was hugely insightful and powerful but also very balanced and pragmatic, and as such an incredible learning opportunity for the students.
I also thought that once you settled into the session (which didn't take long), you ran it brilliantly, encouraging interaction and discussion. You didn't come over as nervous or unsure at all, but neither were you over-confident - you struck a really nice balance and were approachable and warm.
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