On World Mental Health Day I had an urge to speak out on! I’ve worked in lived experience roles for the last 10 years.
Helping others helped me heal, it turned my pain into purpose! World Mental Health day usually involved a conference, a talk or an event to bring people together and raise awareness.
This year is different, I’m sitting at home reflecting on the last year…
October 2023, I entered the lived experience ‘Graveyard’ after stepping away from the work I loved doing without a plan of what I would do next. I was burnt out, physically and mentally exhausted.
I was going through menopause and needed space to work out my place in the world of work after experiencing ‘square peg, round hole’ culture. Lived experience working had been part of my identity for 10 years, who was I now without it?
Did lived experience working have a shelf life? I felt lost, deflated, stuck, my work direction didn’t have a purpose, and I didn’t know what to do next. I felt alone, almost back to where I was when I first started the lived experience work…
It was a tough place to be but through soul searching, therapy and coaching I discovered a lot. I wasn’t great at putting boundaries in place, I didn’t have good work/life balance, there’s more learning but my biggest discovery was that I am Autistic and ADHD. That’s the first time I’ve written that in public and it feels good! It is part of who I am, even if it did take 51 years to discover it!
No wonder I felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round holes! I can now have some true self compassion for my differences and continue to put them to good use in the world!
The whole experience that felt like a ‘graveyard’ has now been reframed to THE BRAVEYARD! This year has been a brave year, and it has helped set the course of my future direction.
Next week I am excited to be starting a new lived experience role, I’m now a Flow Games host and I’m working alongside so many other lived experience colleagues and organisations who are being brave and exploring the reality of lived experience working.
It’s heart work, its painful, its powerful, its people led, it needs to happen! Please take a look at this blog and report from an event Leanne Walker and I organised in partnership with Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition.
I am so grateful to all the people who have helped me get from ‘graveyard’ to BRAVEYARD this last year and so happy to have found Catherine Asta who provides a space for late diagnosed women to have a voice-there is much to do in this space!
I never thought I would be strong enough to openly share this and here I am. I know how much hearing someone else’s experience can help people feel less alone. Maybe you needed to read this today.
No matter where you are on your life journey reach out, connect, find your tribe, help others but remember to have compassion and help yourself too.
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About Wendy & the Speakers Collective
If you are interested in Wendy Minhinnett speaking at an event or providing a workshop please contact info@speakerscollective.org or call 020 8123 8250 with any enquiries.
If you would like to join our growing movement find out about Becoming A Member Please do contact us via info@speakerscollective.org
Speakers Collective is a Social Enterprise. We work together with a shared commitment to challenge stigma, facilitate important conversations and promote learning on a variety of social issues.
Further Information & Support
We have listed helplines and organisations below that can offer support;
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide - https://uksobs.com 0300 111 5965
Let's Talk About Loss - https://letstalkaboutloss.org/
Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org 116 123
SHOUT - https://giveusashout.org/get-help/ text 'SHOUT' to 85258
CALM - https://www.thecalmzone.net 0800 58 58 58
Hub of Hope - https://hubofhope.co.uk
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