Home 
Stories Submitted thoughts and stories The Adventure of My Life: Recovery Continued
Stories Submitted thoughts and stories The Adventure of My Life: Recovery Continued
The Adventure of My Life: Recovery Continued |
 |
 |
 |
activism | community/socialising/inclusion | coping strategies | creativity | hobbies | letting go of the past | male | medication | music | peer advocacy | peer support (informal) and befriending | schizophrenia | self help | self knowledge/learning/growth | self management | sense of self | service user involvement | social enterprise | support from mental health professionals | taking control | volunteering
|
Author: Jason Smith Published: 28 September 2007 First update: 04 August 2008 Second update: April 2010 Jason Smith first shared his personal recovery story in September 2007 and updated it in August 2008. In March 2010, Jason shared new developments about his recovery journey, detailing how he is now involved in Peer Advocacy training. Jason’s story highlights how volunteering, a shift in perspective, taking control and having supportive relationships can support recovery. UPATE: Many of the things I’ve written below are still true, but since updating my story in August 2008, I’ve moved on from working with Red and Black (formerly AskClyde) and have since become involved with Peer Advocacy training. I am a proactive person, and am always looking for new opportunities to expand my recovery plan and career path. I want to gain new knowledge and wisdom in my life as I believe this will help me improve my health and help me with my future plans. It also helps me to have strong people around me with a balanced view point to assist me to achieve my goals and to believe in my vision for my life and future plans. For me, recovery has been in three different stages, there has been a beginning, middle, and an end. Also my pace of life has to be slowed down, so I can cope better with life problems. I work on my recovery every day. Everyone has choices in life and I choose what is right for me and I have taken control of my life now. I hope that by telling you more of my life story, I can help you save some time and effort building a different life for yourself. I had to leave my old life and experiences behind me, which included my family. This meant me having to change my house, career, friends, memories and surroundings so I could move on in my life. All these changes have helped me develop a deeper awareness, common sense and understanding over the years of my recovery. I have found reason and meaning to my life. We all need to find our own solutions, there are lots of different paths and the trick is taking the right direction. AskClyde, a local social firm that helps people with disabilities and those recovering from mental ill health, continues to be a part of my life. Its mix of in-house training and educational activities help me keep connected to human society and back on the road to recovery. Volunteering at AskClyde brings no pressure, stress or deadlines for me. I’ve developed new skills like creative writing and researching on the internet that stimulates my mind and body for the future. Volunteers can pick and choose their work to suit their abilities and skills at AskClyde. The staff encouraged me to use my initiative whenever possible – I’ve been involved in writing up reports, surveys, copy typing and working on our organisation’s newsletter. I had to create myself a recovery plan that was built around lots of varied activities but which was also simple and easy to use. The routine kept me well and grounded, reducing my anxiety and stress levels. Although I still try to ‘bend in the wind’ it does not affect me as strongly as before. I found other useful services available in my community, like support groups and mental health forums/ I developed new hobbies like photography, skills like drama and qualifications that broadened my mind, as well as giving me new experiences that took my life in a forward direction. For me, being a part of my community, involves helping and educating to breakdown the stigma and taboo around people experiencing mental ill health. It can be difficult work, with loneliness, isolation and stress, but it all adds interest to my life. This is one of my goals in life and helps with the healing process of recovery. I enjoy team work the most – the company, sharing skills and combining experiences – I see it as individual people supporting each other in a crisis and getting through it together. It challenges and rewards at the same time, and to me that’s friendship. Companionship is a big part of that; I’ve continued to build bridges that bring me closer to others and help me to become part of the fabric of their lives. This bonding makes me feel included; part of the ‘family’. What’s clear to me now is how important it is to build up good and trusting relationships. Empathy and understanding with the people who continue to mentor and support me in my recovery have kept me connected to my community. From this I started to slowly re-discover my courage; confidence, hope, belief and love followed. My medication is a mixture of anti-psychotic, anti-depressants and beta-blockers that stabilise my mental health – it remains a part of my life too. After some time spent struggling with my life and circumstances, I realised that I needed some help from doctors. I had a lot of big choices and decisions to make before my recovery could start. Family and friends can sometimes hinder rather than help. I choose to do what was right for me. It took time and effort to begin to achieve changes – gradually turning old habits into new, more positive patterns of behaviour. And I’m still changing and moving towards recovery – everyday of my life in fact. I take each day as a challenge to rise too. Reading books like biographies, fiction and books on mental health is a useful tool to gain knowledge and information that I use in my everyday life as well as at my work place. Insights I’ve learned from others’ past experiences have helped me overcome difficulties in my life – I’ve drawn strength and developed my coping skills. Music is like therapy to me – it can lift my mood and helps connect me to how others’ feel – it gives me a sort of community, a sense of belonging. Anything from Mozart to Travis, and James Blunt to Strauss! As I grow, and mature, so does my recovery plan – it’s getting very multi-layered now and allows me to cope with new developments, and the peaks and troughs, in life. My routine (like a bus timetable) helps keep me on track and motivated – I can take the control back in my hands. Working with the NHS and the doctors, nurses and psychiatrists is a hard job in itself – they have the medical knowledge and experience, but I have the illness. My condition, schizophrenia, affects everyone in different ways – depending on age it’s diagnosed and how severe it is – there’s a huge spectrum of symptoms, some positive and others negative. Everyone thinks they know about schizophrenia – the voices and hallucinations – but they don’t know so much about the creative and natural talents that the ‘illness’ can bring out, let alone how these can enhance other areas of your life. All this has taken me twenty years to achieve. I view everyday as a new experience that I look forward too. In short, my journey along the road to long lasting recovery has been all about hard work, perseverance and patience. I have learned my lessons from my past ‘mistakes’ and have turned my life around.  Jason's original story submission published on 28 September 2007 (149.35 kB)Further information: AskClyde Tel-0141 952 5406 email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it If you’d like to share your thoughts or experiences on recovery then contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 0141 240 7790 to discuss. Click here to go back to previous page |
Story Tags
activism community/socialising/inclusion coping strategies creativity depression employment (+) exercise female hospital male medication medication (-) peer support (informal) and befriending seeing things differently self knowledge/learning/growth self management sense of self support from family support from friends support from mental health professionals supportive spouse/partner taking control talking therapies voluntary mental health services volunteering Story disclaimer
The stories presented here are for information only. They are meant to inspire hope and show that recovery can and does happen. The stories highlight various examples of recovery and we do not advocate any of these experiences as the ‘right’ way to recover. Recovery is an individual and unique process, each person must decide for himself or herself what will work for them. Please carefully consider any decisions you make about your own recovery and consult with someone you trust if you feel unsure. See our Submit Your Thoughts pages for details on how to submit a story to us or you can contact us.
 |
 |