Reflection: From Surviving to Thriving, Conversation Cafe event – Making Recovery Real. 11th May 2017

The Conversation Cafe event was a full day’s activities starting with presentations from many providers (chaired and ably ran by the SRN), moving to six very specific workshops before returning to the main arena for more presentations and a chance to mingle – service providers and service users – all parts of the day were really well attended and appeared to have been fully engaged with and crucially, useful and enjoyable for all.

For me, assisting with registration for the workshops at the beginning of the day, it was a great opportunity to meet new people, telling them what the MWH does and how they can get involved, but it was also good to meet new peers and providers for my own knowledge and wellbeing. The engagement from all I met was hugely positive and can only lead to a greater understanding of the stigma of living with mental health issues. As ever, it’s the ‘characters’ that deliver the message that need most praise and everyone should pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

“Go Moray Wellbeing Hub!” and everyone else involved in seeking to improve the understanding in our area.

Andy, MWH champion

I went along to the Scottish Recovery Network’s Conversation Cafe to support the Moray Wellbeing Hub and my friend Viv of Mind Your Head Moray. As soon as I approached the entrance I met Robert, who gave me a very warm hello. He has a happy knack of making a person feel valued and a worthwhile colleague every time you meet him. There was a period before the main event began when people could visit various stalls, and the difference in the visitors at this event from others which had been “drop in” affairs was quite marked; there was no need to sell the concept of Wellness and Recovery, people were engaging right away. One of the benefits of this was that I felt energised and connected and more observant and empathetic.

I had two significant conversations with new people we could partner with and I was also privileged to see two examples of spontaneous caring where fellow Champions displayed great empathy and skills in supporting others. I wouldn’t have known how to help that effectively in these situations and felt privileged to see it.

When the afternoon session came around where Heidi was presenting, I was pleased to be asked if I would share my experiences and then the format of Michael asking questions was so successful in making it a seamless process that I felt his skill was as much a part of sharing the MWH experience as our stories. The choice of format was inspired.

At the final exercise of the event, I was lucky enough to land at the table of Hannah Laycock, who had moved me earlier on with her film presentation of her depiction of her journey into living with MS. She was a very insightful young woman and seemed somewhat surprised that her telling of her story had resonated with so many people in the room – her zest for life in spite of life was inspiring.

All in all, on so many levels, it was a very good day and I was grateful that due to my experience in MWH I could appreciate it all.

Chris, MWH champion