A personal reflection on Module 2

This blog was written after last years module two and reading it brings it all back...never thought I would be asked to speak the following year. 

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Really enjoyed today's session, the trepidation I felt when taking the leap for module one has all but vanished, it’s making me hungry for more. Having filmed Helen for NewHCvoices last year a lot of module one was in a way familiar by virtue of having covered some of the ground before hand.

As I tweeted, "joining SHCR was right out of my comfort zone…come on in the waters lovely" ... being in the midst of academics and qualified medical people is quite intimidating if you are me. From my perspective what academics do is so alien I am convinced you must all be wizards:)

So as I had fed back to the SHCR team for me having a look at Mod 2 before the WebEx was then going to give me a bit more time to focus on the chat line and Twitter and still absorb the content.

I certainly read slower than most and also have to diligently proof read anything I tweet, I still struggle with 5 letter words, and use tricks like "The Infra Red" as an aid memoir in order to spell "Their" with the i and e the right way round:) Once I discovered spell checkers I also discovered I love writing, especially the discipline of Twitter.

One of the most gratifying experiences on a personal note was having 2 of my tweets read out by the team, the sense of genuinely being part of the conversation via Tweets that distilled things for people was a real buzz and very empowering.

One tweet was "chaos theory says it just takes the beat of a butterflies wing to initiate a storm" the other " #SHCR is the big consultancy of the future".  I'ts genuinely so compelling to be around that much positive energy.

I am just a bloke who works from home, so there is no team it's just me, I've put in a huge amount of personal time developing my visual language for people with learning disabilities over the last 4 years, then writing blogs about it and trying, from my front room near Saffron Walden, to slowly gain traction in the wider world via twitter.

It has been a long process from a standing start, but slowly in the last 6 months I started finding the odd person that got me and more importantly liked what I had been doing.

One thing led to another and thanks to Rachael Garvey I was introduced to new healthcare voices last Sept, I went to an event of theirs in Birmingham where Helen was speaking, filmed it as a gift, met Jodi and we clicked in an instant. Then she sent me stuff about #SHFR and I thought "why not let’s have a go" and push a few personal boundaries. 

My main motivation for joining was very simple, my mission is to get my suicide prevention tools into the NHS tool kit. I also have a series of other related and joined up projects so thought this would be a brilliant way of being heard from the inside as the NHS behemoth had seemed so impenetrable.

This is the thing that has really rocked my boat, I was wondering how I would get on with module 2 as it was unfamiliar ground so I read the course notes as soon as Helen put them out last night.

As I went through what I expected to be alien concepts they were in fact detailing with some precision the very strategies and thinking that has got me here writing this as a student. I have it seems been living module 2, and following the book without having read it. It’s been life affirming to know I can trust my instincts’ and things I believe in others do too.

It's also fascinating to me that someone has deconstructed the intuitive into the material in Mod 2, as that really does stop it feeling so lonely, you all get me.. and I believe I have something of value to people to offer. Can always tell when I am happy I hum and there has been a lot of that going recently.

I am about to launch 3D software company (we all need a new career at 60! which has many applications for the NHS, its been 6 years in development but I have a lot more alliances to build first:)

Will you fit in at the School for Radicals?

Worried you will be an outsider at the School for Radials?

So you have no medical or care sector background or training but you want to engage with SHCR because you want to make difference and join in the conversation and learn about bringing about change….

I fit in to this category, I am a video director and software developer and describe myself as a “creative problem solver with a warm heart” but being dyslexic I have no formal qualifications as I learn experientially and am just not wired for the academic approach to learning.

My biggest fear was that I was not going to fit in, that my lack of experience, training and qualifications in the field of health and care would make me “the odd one out” and that my voice wouldn’t have value amongst so many “experts” and yes that I might make a fool of myself.

For me going back to school after 45 years was in itself a personal challenge so when I started to engage with the SHCR team it came with a lot of preconceptions and a strong sense that I would be and outsider as a “citizen radical/rebel” so yes I was actually quite shy, nervous and daunted about enrolling.

How wrong I was! From the very first contact with SHCR I was welcomed by all, I very soon felt part of something important and valuable. A lovely surprise was to discover we were all there for the same reason “we care” and wanted challenge the conventional wisdom in positive and innovative ways to improve health and care at all levels.

I got a huge amount of personal support and encouragement from the SHCR team to join in and then throughout the term and I soon found myself chatting people I would never normally have contact with, doctors’, surgeons, nurses and people from all sorts of specialties and backgrounds. In short I felt part of the family, part of something that has no hierarchy, where everyone is equal, where views are both respected and validated and as you will find the sense of “energy” is quite tangible and lasting.

There is no such thing as an outsider at SHCR, so no matter what your background be it patient carer, advocate, third sector or you just want to be part of bringing health and care into the 21^st century …come on in the waters lovely. 

The school needs people like us because we don’t know what we can’t do and so our perspective on things can really add to the conversation and challenge entrenched thinking. If anyone had said to me over the last 45 years I was going to be on the faculty advisory group for a school, I would probably have asked you how much you had had to drink?

As I have found the skills you acquire and the new friends you meet carry on and develop and can be used in all sorts of ways to understand and bring about change.

Feel free to chat to me @chicustard it’s a unique experience and you will come away inspired and motivated at being part of such and amazing and truly global conversation with people who care in the same way you do. It’s a fantastic tool to have in your tool kit.