“I like to use my mental health ‘expert by experience’ insight to support the Trust” – Lynne’s volunteering story

I’ve been volunteering with the Trust since November 2014. Initially, I started volunteering in relation to my roles with Calderdale and Kirklees Recovery and Wellbeing College and Enfield Down. I have co-facilitated family and friend carer courses at Calderdale and Kirklees Recovery and Wellbeing College, and worked alongside the occupational therapy team at Enfield Down in Kirklees, delivering a ‘Words in Mind’ reading activities support service.

Being a carer for a very close family member who was part of a team that worked to establish the Recovery and Wellbeing Colleges, I was keen to offer my ongoing future support for the Colleges.

I’m retired now (in theory) but I undertake a lot of other volunteer roles too, in Kirklees and also within West Yorkshire and nationally – sharing my service user and family and friend carer lived experiences with professional partners. I do this in order to support services to be the best that they can be with the resources that are available.

I see myself as more of an ambassador for the Recovery and Wellbeing Colleges these days. I highlight their significant value at every opportunity. I am currently involved in many co-produced activities relating to our Trust’s delivery of services, including many aspects of family and friend carer support.

I like to use my mental health “expert by experience” insight to support our Trust to improve services for patients and their family and friend carers, whilst also ensuring that their voices are heard and acted upon. I undertake my volunteer roles for the benefit of other people, including staff. My aspiration is to prevent patients and their family/friend carers and staff from having negative and challenging experiences – ensuring instead that there is a clear focus on achieving safe and effective person-centred outcomes.

I meet up with staff team members to share my recommendations. I use my lived experience insight to provide guidance relating to appropriate support for families following bereavement.

I was also a member of the steering group that co-created the Trust’s trauma informed personality disorder pathway. I have continued to support the trauma informed approach to service delivery.

The Trust is a safe place to volunteer because of all the checks such as Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), as well as the mandatory training (initial and refresher) and the additional optional training opportunities too. We don’t cut corners with any of this and that supports keeping everyone safe.

I think it is also important to highlight the Trust’s positive response to the need for volunteers to have reasonable adjustments. For example, if a person experiences migraines that can be triggered by onscreen activity, paper copies of all documentation are provided and the option is given to join online meetings with audio only. It’s great when reasonable adjustments are proactively made.

I would recommend volunteering with the Trust. I think volunteering is a good opportunity to try things out in practical terms, and it also provides the opportunity to experience different roles in order to identify what might best suit you.

My volunteer aspiration statement is “One team, one goal, many different journeys, more positive outcomes”.