On Friday 20th September I had the pleasure of heading down to Tooting to meet the staff of Talk Wandsworth. It was such an uplifting "meeting" - not sure I can call it that but we'll go with it - that I decided to share it with you all.
Who are they?
If you're in their catchment area, Talk Wandsworth are your first port of call if you're struggling with your MH, essentially. They are a NHS service that will provide the initial assessment and then refer you to the most appropriate support following that. They also provide workshops and outreach to communities in the borough - providing skills like stress management, and hosting support groups for new dads, that kinda thing.
What was I doing there?
I was invited in to talk to the wellbeing practitioners team during their monthly "reflective practise" session. The aim of their reflective practise sessions is to provide an opportunity for the team to discuss cases that may have been particularly challenging, or uplifting, or different, or difficult... you get the vibe. It offers the practitioners an opportunity to share their experiences with the team and explore
- how it has affected them, directly
- how the emotive response it invokes in them, might affect their work
It's a chance for the practitioners to support each other, and raise concerns or questions or simply just air it all.
Another reason they host these monthly meets is to encourage the practitioners to think a little outside the box with their work... which is where Run Talk Run fits in nicely.
I was asked to 'present' RTR. Not just based on the service we provide but also because of the reasons that it exists in the first place (which is essentially a result of my resistance to formal therapy). It was BRILLIANT. The questions that were asked about our peer-to-peer service gave me so much reassurance that our message was truly heard by these legends working in the community.
It was so cool to indulge myself in talking about RTR with a team of people who truly "get it".
The Outcomes
Many of the practitioners made a point of saying how this is going to be fantastic for the communities that they are serving, and how needed the space is - it will be another alternative support service that they can now offer to the people they are liaising with, which is brilliant
They also picked up on the fact that we are a preventative measure against relapse
They liked that we are tackling a problem of isolation/loneliness in the borough
One lady said she was conflicted about whether she wanted to even tell her clients about it, because she so desperately wanted to go to it herself!
They provided me with further details of the workshops that they host that I can share with the run-talk-runners in that local area
Talk Wandsworth are putting together ideas on how they can support the RTR Run Leaders for the Wandsworth borough - what workshops/support they can provide (e.g. training in suicide prevention, etc).
A personal outcome, aside from RTR... I was told how powerful my story is, and this gave me a real confidence boost that I needed to hear (hey we all need some praise sometimes) which has prompted me into wanting to really refine my "RTR journey" talk. I may seek some public speaking coaching.
On 16th October I will be attending a very similar service, in the borough of Westminster. On the back of yesterdays conversations I am super duper excited.