Road 2 Recovery Conference

On Thursday, 28th February, 2008, the 2nd ‘Road 2 Recovery’ conference took place at Crewe Alexander football stadium. Before 200 guests, the speakers described their experiences of mental health care.

After CWP Service Manager Tracie Haskell’s welcome, author and Macclesfield Express columnist Vic Barlow opened the agenda with a sometimes characteristically funny, but often harrowing account of the panic attacks that almost crippled his life while he was a young and successful businessman. He described how he was given time off work, which gave him more to worry about and more time to do it in.

Spinning in circles between doctors, specialists and even a priest, and getting no answers, he feared he would never recover until a new doctor recommended a book written by Dr Claire Weekes which recognised conditions generated by fear. This helped him to realise that he had to ‘unmask the fear’ from which his depression originated. He recognised that he himself was making his condition so bad and eventually, he was able to face life again.

Rosemount’s own Peter Wilkinson then described how his ‘wellness toolbox’ helps him through the trials of life, and even when he’s just feeling a bit down. In an engaging talk, he showed us photos of himself with his wife, including one taken on the beach featured in the film he kept calling ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandarin’!

He showed us knick-knacks such as “a brass thing” he bought in Lindos that for some reason plays an important part in his wellbeing. Another of his treasures was a Spike Milligan DVD. Peter reminded us that few of us “suffered as much as Spike”, who was haunted by depression and breakdowns throughout his life.

Peter advised keeping a journal of all the things that went well that day, week, month or throughout the year. The journal can be referred to anytime, to help focus on how good life can be, or if you are worried about something, as a reminder of how well you coped with problems that you had previously overcome.

Simon Jennings and Divisional Lead Therapist Linda Cannon’s talk used a car metaphor to vividly describe Simon’s experience of mental health treatment from ‘helpless hostage’ to ‘determined driver’. Read the forthcoming feature on this blog soon for more on this excellent presentation. Linda then introduced us to the website set up for the Wirral Partnership Trust. It is a well designed site and well worth a look: www.recoverywirral.com

If anyone was about to start flagging, they wouldn’t get the chance, as the afternoon was enlivened by the ‘speed dating’ section. Here, groups of guests moved between 5 different demonstrations, where the speakers had only 5 minutes to get across their tips on how to achieve recovery.

Ruth Mitchell-Hill and Mike Heale described her ‘Common Sense Guide’ (I hope to review this soon). In ‘The Carer’s Recovery’, Bill Swann (assisted by Honor Simpson) described his experience of coping with depression while caring for his wife, who suffers from schizo-affective disorder. He repeated the piece of advice that helped him the most. Of his wife’s illness, he was told: "Don’t let the disease claim two victims".

Yvonne Phillips’ ‘Peace Not Panic’ described how the ‘Freedom from Fear’ recovery programme had helped her; and occupational therapists Anna Mann and Sally Atkinson described their ‘12 easy steps’ recovery programme. Peter Wilkinson completed the five, explaining how the ‘Wellness Recovery Action Plan’ (WRAP) works. This will be described on a future occasion.

The CWP’s organisation of the day’s programme was good, though my one niggle would be over lunch and the refreshments: consideration for dietary restrictions would have been nice, and considering the importance of fluids in mental and physical health, a choice of drinks that weren’t caffeine-laden or just plain water should have been essential.

Altogether, the day was a successful blend of the enlightening and the enjoyable, and it’s good to know that professionals are listening more and more to what the ‘experts by experience’ have to say.