Vanessa's story
In this week’s story we spoke to Vanessa, who supports people in London as a Family Worker. She told us about one of her proudest moments supporting someone through a mental health crisis.
“I’ve been working within the drug and alcohol field for 30 years. During that time I’ve had the fortune and pleasure of being able to help people who need support, but lack the capacity to request it verbally.
About five years ago, I came across a person going through a mental health crisis. Four people in his family had committed suicide and he was having great difficulty processing that. I decided to hold regular check-ins with him, and I made an agreement with him not to leave anything off the table for discussion. People need to be able to feel like they can bring anything in to our sessions and be listened to without fear of judgement. Eventually, he began to talk about his own thoughts of suicide.
Breaking down barriers
Throughout the weeks that followed, he talked and I listened as he opened up to me. Nobody could understand how to engage with this man, they couldn’t get him to talk about the fact that he was having thoughts of suicide and even had worked out a plan for taking his own life.
I didn’t know this at the time, but when our sessions came to an end I had other professionals ringing me up and saying that he’d been telling them all about the wonderful interactions he’d had with me. It really lifted me up and made me feel so proud of the work I do. Whenever we see each other now I see him smile, and I think that speaks volumes.
Some of the consultants from the Maudsley mental health hospital even got in touch with me to ask me about my work with this person and how I’d achieved results and got him to engage. I told them it was about being person-centred; about listening and being empathetic.
I believe this was my finest work to date, a time when I believed in someone else and also in myself. I’m not a person that likes to big myself up, but there have been some great moments that I’ve felt so proud of.
Growing through experience
That was one of my proudest moments. Another would be working with a pregnant woman who was using heroin, and we only had about ten minutes to get a doctor to confirm her pregnancy, so that she could get a prescription for opiate substitute medication from the pharmacy that was about to close.
I ended up running up the road to a doctor to explain the situation, but we got her prescription just in time! I ended up working with that woman throughout the full nine months of her pregnancy, and another two years after that to help her navigate social services.
Experiences like this have helped shape the person I am. I came into this work as a volunteer and throughout that time I’ve seen so much, but it’s all helped me to be a much stronger person and to understand about addiction and what’s going on with people. You see how vulnerable people can be.”
If you’re struggling with your mental health, please don’t be afraid to talk about it. It’s nothing to feel ashamed about, and you’re not alone. Around one in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year.
Asking for help might seem scary, but it’s a step towards changing your life for the better.
You can read more of our advice and learn about other services that can support you by following the link below: