Lived Experience Forum

[MDT]

Yeah @Former-Member @TAB
It would be.

[MDT]

I think I am too much of a reflective thinker

[Former-Member]

Just breathing when things get stressful @Rhye. when I get emotional overload or can’t function my plan is to get a coffee. Just playing it as it comes, otherwise. This is an important question for myself to consider - good looking out man I appreciate it

[Gwynn]

Just reporting on some positive news from me - a while back, I wrote a 'guide to life in the MHU' and a 'spotter's guide to professionals you may meet while in the MHU', while in outpatient. These documents were championed by a peer worker, who took my drafts into the inpatient ward and asked the inpatients for their input on what should be in those two guides and how they should be presented to new inpatients. The peer worker reworked the documents about four times with the feedback from the current inpatients, and they all were very positive about the potential of the guides to be helpful. I thought they could help newbies get acclimated to the wards more quickly, and reduce the teaching burden on experienced inpatients.

The peer worker has shared the documents within her professional networks, with a view for other peer teams in other hospitals to localise the guides for their own locations - e.g. is there caffeine in the coffee? how does the laundry work?

One of the people she passed the guides on to was an academic Doctor, who is stoked by the idea of consumer-created patient education resources, and the Doctor will make a research project for her post-graduate students to evaluate how our guides can be implemented in the nursing space to assist people with their hospital admission!

[Rhye]

@Gwynn, this is brilliant! You must feel so great hearing the feedback and knowing that you've created the groundwork for a research project. This is really awesome 😊

[TAB]

wow, very interesting @Gwynn 

[Gwynn]

Yeah, it'll be great for it to be an evidence-based, consumer-created, patient education resource, because I think the guides will be able to empower those who contribute to them to share their lived experiences, those who deliver them to find out what they can do to help inpatients in an authentic and practical manner, and those who use them to make their stay in the wards less of an absolute shellshock. And it started with me writing down 'the things I wish I had known before going into the MHU'.

[Delicatessen]

My space is very much all over the place. Very pleased to be asked for some positives.

- I work in the bush and love going to work

- we’ve harvested a bunch of bananas from the back yard so I’ll be baking lots of banana bread soon

- after just over a year I’ve almost reached my goal weight

- my training is on track for a major hike I’ve got coming up

- I really like all members of the team I manage

- I have a wonderful house mate who is my family (beautiful creature)

- I live in a beautiful house in a beautiful part of the world

- my supports and meds are working and I’ve been assessed as stable

- I’ve had to stop there so I don’t bore you…

Thank you for encouraging me to stop and “smell the flowers”. I should do this more often!!

[tyme]

Thank you for sharing @Delicatessen ! Your post was a breath of fresh air to me.

Sounds like the inner self will always yearn for nature.

All the best with your hike - sounds awesome!

tyme

[Denise1]

You'll get there. Love yourself first.

Your a champ 🏆 👍