A week of endings and the beginning of a new chapter.

 

Friday evening saw my final session and completion  of David Gilbert’s excellent Patient Leadership Training Programme. It’s the first ‘formal’ learning I’ve done for some time and can safely say it has been a thoroughly enjoyable and informative course. There was a great mix of people with a huge range of life skills, professional backgrounds and personal experiences, with a great international mix of delegates. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with the group and later this afternoon meeting many of those who have already been on the programme.

Saturday then saw the official completion of the 12 week case study that TEWV NHS mental health trust have run, along with Tristan Eaglen Coaching, to test out the impact a tailored programme might have on difficult to treat, severe depression. I struggle to put into words just how big an impact it has had, not only for me, but my family too. 

In a nutshell, with the support and coaching, in 3 months my PHQ-9 depression test score has gone from 25/27, severe depression, to 0/27. I exercise at least once a day and often far more. We are now waiting to gather the final pieces of data around my physical and mental health, before starting to write up the full case study. I hope we do it justice and that it helps influence and inform the development of further interventions that can support others.

The blog I’ve been writing for the Trust’s staff intranet has been well received and I’ll continue to write fortnightly while the blog still gets visits and feedback. The piece I wrote for next Monday took me much longer than usual. I’d debated whether to try to answer a question my wife asked me a while back. Namely what made the difference that changed me from thinking suicidal thoughts, to acting on them? I’m not sure I’ve answered the question, but I do think a contributing factor was the switch of medication to Fluoxetine. I’ll be interested to see what comments the blog attracts.

Work remains a challenge. The Positive Pit Stop live online weekly show has eased me gently into trying out using some of the skills I’ve retained. Writing the scripts, creating the promotional images, promoting the show. All enjoyable, all the more enjoyable as it means working with some good friends and having some fun too. The icing on the cake is seeing a lot of happy people watching and taking part in the show. There’s been some really lovely comments across social media about how much people value the focus it has on mental health and how we’re open about talking about the challenges we’ve faced personally. 

I’m not sure what the next chapter of my life is going to look like just yet. Hopefully it will include two COVID vaccinations!

Finally, if you think or know that a mate is struggling, send them a message. Don’t push them for an answer, but don’t be afraid to contact them. You might not get an answer, or you may get one eventually. It’s highly likely though that it will be read and appreciated. 

One way of signing off is this.

“Please don’t feel any obligation to reply to this. I know how difficult it can be to deal with things when your mind isn’t right and I wouldn’t want you to feel any pressure.“

Love and hugs before the end of summer? 
Blot