"At the end of the phone call I was calm and happy"

Before I met Lisa I had very little faith in the mental health team, as a whole, I’ve worked with young adults and adults with mental health struggles, and I saw the help they got.

However that first day when rang the team because I was stressed Lisa rang me back, I had my back up about speaking to anyone anyway, but then when I was told I would get a phone call back I was like “Whatever” and to be honest when Lisa answered the phone I was pretty hostile.

“Don’t patronise me” was the first thing that came out of my mouth, so she didn’t. Lisa spoke to me in a way no other mental health professional EVER HAS. At the end of the phone call I was calm and happy and laughing, I even asked her if she could be my care coordinator, she said she didn’t think so, and then two weeks later I get a letter.

Meeting Lisa has changed my life, and that’s a whole statement to say, by her coming around and just treating me like a person has made me want to get better, she’s made me realise that it’s not all “in my head” and I’m not “crazy” or “overreacting” or any of those other things, I’m a person who’s gone through some stuff.

Lisa’s made me realise that I’m living for me, not for anyone or anything else, Lisa has made me fall back in love with care, art, the mental health field as a whole. Secretly my wish is to get better and become like Lisa myself, I wanted to do it before but after meeting Lisa, and seeing the good hearted people that are in the mental health team, had made me want to be a part of it.

I’m not fully there, not by a long shot, I still had more dark days than light, but in those dark days, when I want to hurt myself, and I feel hopeless, I remember once sentence “What would Lisa do” and as corny as silly as it sounds it works, it’s something me and Lisa and my fiancé made up during one of my first appointments, and now it’s a whole thing.

Lisa’s care and compassion towards not only me but my fiancé who is struggling with her own mental health, and mental health team currently is beyond amazing, the fact she will sit and treat my partner with the same care and compassion and understanding as me is something both me and my fiancé have NEVER experienced, and it’s giving us the trust back in other people.

Lisa is also loved by my dog and now will become happy when she hears Lisa’s name, she’s even had a good affect on my dog.

Due to working in the mental health field in the past, I’m a person who’s very much a “I know the techniques” “CBT doesn’t work” ect, but working with Lisa she has changed and altered what and how she speaks to us, she sees and understands we have been here before but we have the pure determination to become better and get out and live our lives,

I actually want to get better, do research, look at things I can do for myself and my partner. And it’s all because of Lisa.