Hope Kit
By John Nicholson, CPFT NHS FT Heart and Soul
A piece of music, a song, a poem, a book, lines of prose, a memory, a relationship, an object, a place?
In a brief and gentle conversation on the map of their lives, I invite my guest to tell me about the three choices they will put into their hope kit - treasures to help them get through, especially when life gets tough.
Hope Kit Nov 21, 2022
More glimpses of hope
We end our second season of Hope Kit with snippets from the contributions we have enjoyed from our generous guests.
Thank you, Isobel Wilkerson, Adele McCormack, Debi Andrew, Jane Pope, Kieran Crow, Andrea King and Debbie Smith.
Season 3 of Hope Kit will return in July.
Thank you for your interest and support,
John Nicholson
CPFT Heart and Soul
In conversation with Debbie Smith, Director of Operations with CPFT NHS FT
"My background is as a mental health nurse."
"I am very much a people person."
"I've learnt to be quite resilient over the years."
"I like to exercise."
In conversation with Andrea King, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, CPFT NHS FT
"I just really enjoy what they give you."
"I also find New York very homely."
"Christmas Day was at home, and Boxing Day was on the beach."
In conversation with Kieran Crow, Ward Activities Coordinator, CPFT NHS FT
"We cook a massive, full English breakfast."
"People have to put up with my terrible northern accent."
"I learned how to play the guitar."
"Cambridge is my home from home."
In conversation with Jane Pope, Heart and Soul Chaplain, CPFT NHS FT
"I think I bring a lot from my nursing."
"You actually need hope in the moment."
"Depression is a liar."
"I diarised, to prioritise time with friends."
In conversation with Debi Andrew, Learning and OD Manager – Workforce, Education & Development Team, CPFT NHS FT
"There's a whole, big world out there."
"I was born in Coventry but all my family are from Devon."
"That's enough to re-set me."
"If I need to let off some steam. . .I find that really helpful."
In conversation with Adele McCormack, Service Director Adults and Specialist Directorate, CPFT NHS FT
"I managed to fly a plane."
"Exercise is the thing that keeps me going."
"I wonder what my hidden talent is?"
"If you're not tuned into your own core values. . .that's when wellbeing can be really impacted."
In conversation with Isobel Wilkerson, Associate Director of Nursing and Quality with Older People's Services, CPFT NHS FT
"And now I've got hundreds of things!"
"I grew up with hordes of Cambridge United fans walking up the road."
"This was our song."
"I love things about bodies."
GLIMPSES OF HOPE
Meanwhile, why not enjoy this little compilation of clips featuring a few moments from some of those we met?
Featuring: Anthonia Williams, James Fitzgerald, Laura Whitehouse, Phil Alsop, Andy Graham, Claire London, Andrew Lodziak, Jane Rich, Mohammed Rashid, Anna Hills, Tina Filby, Ashton Ntuli, Lisa Shepherd, Anne Wigglesworth.
john.nicholson@cpft.nhs.uk
www.cpft.nhs.uk/heartandsoul
In conversation with James Fitzgerald, CPFT NHS FT Psychiatrist
"It shows that the soul is still alive."
"A dream group. . .to give an experience of mental health that's a bit more humane, and not persecutory."
James explains how engaging with the unconscious and the work of Jung informs and encourages him. Oh yes, there's the I Ching, too.
But will he choose it for his own Hope Kit?
James mentions the Cambridge Psychodynamic Research and Innovation Group. Its twitter page is here: https://twitter.com/CamPsyche
The poem James reads for us is:
1
My heart’s aflutter!
I am standing in the bath tub
crying. Mother, mother
who am I? If he
will just come back once
and kiss me on the face
his coarse hair brush
my temple, it’s throbbing!
then I can put on my clothes
I guess, and walk the streets.
2
I love you. I love you,
but I’m turning to my verses
and my heart is closing
like a fist.
Words! be
sick as I am sick, swoon,
roll back your eyes, a pool,
and I’ll stare down
at my wounded beauty
which at best is only a talent
for poetry.
Cannot please, cannot charm or win
what a poet!
and the clear water is thick
with bloody blows on its head.
I embrace a cloud,
but when I soared
it rained.
3
That’s funny! there’s blood on my chest
oh yes, I’ve been carrying bricks
what a funny place to rupture!
and now it is raining on the ailanthus
as I step out onto the window ledge
the tracks below me are smoky and
glistening with a passion for running
I leap into the leaves, green like the sea
4
Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.
The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.
It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.
Frank O’Hara, “Mayakovsky” from Meditations in an Emergency. Copyright © 1957 by Frank O’Hara. Reprinted by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc..
Source: Meditations in an Emergency (Grove/Atlantic Inc., 1996)
In conversation with Andy Graham, Managing Director of the NHS East of England Provider Collaborative
"I've got one of the best roles in the NHS right now."
"One of the things that gives me hope is a bit of sunshine."
"It's got to be my motor cycle."
"Travel. . .gives my hope and optimism. . .the ability to have different experiences."
Plenty to choose from, but what will Andy take with him in his own hope kit?
In conversation with Gill Wilson, Campus Enlivenment Lead, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
'At the beginning of Covid, almost to the day, I was wheeled into hospital. . .it just got me thinking, where is hope?'
'I never felt bereft of hope.'
'It's [something] I fall back on. . . "
Gill Wilson tells us about her work as BioMedical Campus Enlivenment Lead, and the many ways in which she brings her gifts and her life experience to taking good care of herself and others.
In conversation with Andrew Lodziak, peer worker and MIND facilitator
"Music would be important to me."
"Solitude as well."
"[Peer worker training] gives you a bit of focus back. . .[and] helped me find a little bit of work."
"I'm a big football fan."
Andrew talks about the good things in his life and how he responds to challenges. He is a facilitator for MIND's Good Mood Cafes and a Hearing Voices group in Cambridge.
For more information on MIND in Cambridge, go to https://www.cpslmind.org.uk/
In conversation with Laura Whitehouse, Autism and Asperger’s Employment Advisor Richmond Fellowship
"I was able to rely on my experience working with people with autism."
"Peanut butter M&Ms. . .that's a highlight."
"I have that half an hour of freedom away from work and life."
Laura tells me about her journey to her present role with the Richmond Fellowship and about the perils of riding ponies!
Richmond Fellowship's website and social media details:
Website: www.richmondfellowship.org.uk
Find us on Facebook: RFCambridgeshire&Bedfordshire
Follow us on Twitter: @RFCambsAndBeds
In conversation with Lisa Shepherd, Health Trainer with Healthy You
"Learn to love and accept yourself, warts and all."
"I'm an alcohol health trainer, helping people who wish to reduce their alcohol intake or to stop drinking."
"I love the sea, I love reading. . .I don't want to be out partying anymore, I want to be at home, cosy."
"I saw people with all sorts of disabilities. . .it's all inclusive, and if you can't run, turn up and help out."
"Know your limits."
In conversation with Tina Filby, Cambridge Mental Health Network [CMHN]
'I enjoy coffee and cake, of course.'
'It's a beautiful, peaceful place. There's nothing else there.'
'It's okay to look back and have happy memories.'
Tina Filby gives admin support to Cambridge Mental Health Network, but here she lets us into some of the rest of her life and the things and the people she values.
Cambridge Mental Health Network can be found here https://www.cambridgemhn.org/
In conversation with Jane Rich, CEO Cambridge Community Arts
"We often dance in the kitchen."
"We’re very much people-centred."
"I feel very fortunate that I was born with a very optimistic outlook."
"Spring. . .is full of hope."
It is eight years since Jane Rich set out on a wonderful and successful adventure with her own creation, Cambridge Community Arts: Improving Mental Health with Creativity. In this brief conversation she lets us into her own world a little more to tell us about the things that are dear to her and what it is she finds hopeful.
For more information on Cambridge Community Arts go here: https://www.camcommarts.org.uk/
In conversation with Phil Alsop, Expert by experience
"I've actually signed up to a few web pages that promise to send you only good news."
"I think you have to have a faith that [hope] will eventually prevail."
"I'm the sort of person who takes the gadget out of the box and starts playing with it until goes wrong. . ."
Expert by experience, and influential member of the local mental health community for many years, Phil Alsop shares his thoughts and reflections on the place of hope in his own life and the wider world.
A link to Phil's music choice can be found here
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EksDt5vMxr6VZzcL2HsyW?si=YbjRKq7BT8i3KSibmYYoSw
In conversation with Anne Wigglesworth, Adult Mental Health Engagement Facilitator with SUN Network
"The dark place in which you feel is not permanent."
'Sometimes getting back to the so-called normal, and being involved with projects like the SUN Network can really help."
'If I look back. . .I was challenged by my mental health but was not aware of that."
'I am still passionate about what [my] role offers.'
Anne Wigglesworth and the SUN Network team have had a significantly positive impact on the way in which mental health services are planned and delivered from the point of view of people who use them. And they do all of this with a deep passion for, and an adherence to, doing everything in an equal partnership with people who use those services.
Anne shares her own story and is very clear about the particular things that helped her with her own mental health, and what she has learned from that. She also reveals the steps that led to her current role with SUN Network.
Is a non-profit organisation here to empower you to take your seat at the table and to help you use your voice equally alongside professionals, help you share your experiences, ideas and challenges, and help you develop, change and influence support services in the mental health and drug and alcohol sector.
In conversation with Julie Spence, Chair of CPFT NHS FT and Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
"It's amazing to see people's journey."
"Most mornings I will go for a walk along the river. . .it allows me to start the day in a good frame of mind."
"Lots of men in bowler hats. . .they were like little ants."
Julie Spence is a retired British police officer who served as the Chief Constable for Cambridgeshire until 2010. She is the former president of the British Association for Women in Policing and was the lead on citizen focus issues. In 2006 she won the Champion Award for her commitment and achievement in her role as a gender champion. She is currently serving as Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and as Chair of CPFT NHS FT. And yet, as we discover, she still has time to tell me about the ironing. . . and so much more about her passion for her work, the things she loves in life, and the choices she has made for her own Hope Kit.
In conversation with Keith Grimwade, Lead Governor with CPFT NHS FT
"Something exciting is going to happen."
"I googled your name. Did you write a book?"
"Geography has been absolutely essential to my life."
What will former writer and teacher of Geography, and now an influential figure as CPFT NHS FT Lead Governor, Keith Grimwade, choose to carry in his Hope Kit?
In conversation with Imam Mohammed Rashid, Muslim Mental Health Chaplain with CPFT NHS FT Heart and Soul
"It's the people in your life."
It's faith and family."
"I try to help people understand from a spiritual, religious, cultural level."
On World Mental Health Day we talk with Mohammed about some of the things that have meaning for him and make a positive difference to his health and wellbeing.
In conversation with Claire London, Associate Director of Learning and Organisational Development, with CPFT NHS FT
"Hope is choice in life, and also equality and justice."
"Home is where I am. . .It's not the bricks and mortar that make a home, it's the feeling."
"It changed my perspective on my ability."
If you're going to climb every mountain, why not start at the top? Claire tells us something about her adventurous spirit and the road to where she is today.
Claire mentions the book, The Kindness of Strangers
The Kindness of Strangers https://amzn.eu/d/aghTbZA, a book filled with hope. This book “explores the unexpected human connections that transform the experience of travel (and life), it celebrates the gift of kindness experienced all around the world." Claire says the book 'reflects my own experience. . . [and] has been with me, read and re read over 20 years. It is really positive and certainly a great travelling companion. It always reminds me that essentially the world and the people in it are good, mean well, and are fundamentally kind.'
Claire's mentions this song, Life is Beautiful by Vega4
Taken from the album You And Others
Click here to buy on iTunes http://smarturl.it/YouAndOthers
Click here to buy Life Is Beautiful http://smarturl.it/YouAndOthers
Also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGhAsIYspbo
In conversation with Ashton Ntuli, Service Director, Older People's and Adult Community Services, CPFT NHS FT
"For most of us who come into healthcare and social care in any capacity, it is to make a difference to others."
"It is something that I really, really love. . . "
Ashton shares his passion for people and a love of music that soothes his soul.
What will we find in his Hope Kit?
The song featured in this podcast is Evidence, by Refresh Worship and Naomi Raine.
In conversation with Anthonia Williams, Clinician Complex Cases Management, CPFT NHS FT
"Just. . .don't. . .stop."
"My grandmother raised ten children as a single mother."
"The idea is to get our young people out of the criminal justice system in spite of having mental health needs."
Anthonia shares her experience and understanding of the place of hope in her life, choosing her Hope Kit treasures along the way.
In conversation with Anna Hills, Chief Executive Officer with CPFT NHS FT
"Seaside is really grounding, whatever the weather."
"I live in Hope House."
Anna tells us more about her life and her hopes, as well as the first steps on her NHS career as an orthoptist [whatever that is!].