Why Lived Experience Matters

At MFT, we employ Lived Experience Practitioners whose roles are to use their personal experience of mental health to help others in similar situations feel seen, heard and understood. They offer compassion, support, information as well as help to restore a sense of hope. To show our Lived Experience Team’s work in practice, our colleague Alison wrote a blog explaining how she was recently able to encourage carers in Surrey get support for themselves through her own caring responsibility.

Alison writes:

“My name is Alison, I am a Lived Experience Practitioner, working in Epsom GPimhs (GP Integrated Mental Health Service), to support patients at local GP surgeries with their mental health.

I recently attended the Action for Carers Surrey Carers Fair at St Barnabas Church in Epsom. I was there to represent Mary Frances Trust and our GPimhs service (GP Integrated Mental Health Service), and tell carers about how both can support them with their mental health. I also gave them more information on what the different groups, services and practitioners do which might be helpful to themselves or the person they care for.

The event was put on by Action for Carers Surrey in different locations around Surrey with different charities and organisations attending to help carers be aware of support, resources, services and benefits, as well as their rights, to mark Carers Rights Day. Carers Rights Day is a national event, where carers are encouraged to learn about their rights and Action for Carers push to make sure they get all the support they need.

I am a carer for my 18-year-old son, who has autism, ADHD, dyspraxia and learning difficulties. I understand the difficulties is being a carer, including the fight for services and the lack of understanding about what there is available to support you and who you care for, as well as the isolation and lack of understand of non carers. I wanted to use my experience of being a carer, to help other carers know how Mary Frances Trust and GPihms can support them.

During the fair, I spoke to a woman whose son was on the waiting list for assessment for autism. She shared how it was isolating being a carer, and that she was very low in mood and had little motivation. I shared with her my own experience with my own son’s struggles with getting assessed and diagnosed as well as told her about other benefits that might be available to her. I explained how I found joining groups for parents with children with special needs had given me access to not only other people who understood my situation, but had so much knowledge to help me navigate the difficult SEN system. I was also able to help others and build strong friendships. I showed her some of the groups that Mary Frances Trust is doing including our Online Carers Peer Support Group, which she was very interested to try.

We also discussed how Mary Frances Trust can support her with her low mood and to find motivation again. I shared my own experience of struggling with anxiety and depression as a carer, how it can be very difficult to think of yourself at all, let alone ever put yourself first. She agreed this was very difficult, especially when time is filled with appointments for your child, or having to care for them and not having time to care for yourself.

I talked to her about my GPihms team, the Community Connectors and Mental Health Practitioners within it, what they do, and how they may be able to help her. By the end of our chat, she said she really needed to try talking to her GP to start getting help because her son needs her to be ok. She expressed it was nice to talk to someone who actually knew what it was like to be a parent carer and that she would push herself to join a group, because it was important. This conversation really resonated with me and made me feel proud that I was able to make her feel heard and not alone in her experience. It proves that Lived Experience really does matter!”

Picture of Alison standing at the MFT stand displaying leaflets at the Action for Carers Fair

MFT stand at Action for Carers Fair

Carers Support at MFT

As part of our Community Connections service, Mary Frances Trust run an Online Carers Peer Support Group for unpaid adult carers looking after people with long term conditions (either physical or mental).

This is a wellbeing group offering a safe space to talk about strategies to support your own mental health while
having a caring responsibility. The group is monthly on the first Tuesday of the month, 7:30pm to 8:30pm on Zoom.

To access this group, register as a Mary Frances Trust client online via this link and then contact Mary Frances Trust to book your place as follows:
• Email: info@maryfrancestrust.org.uk
• Telephone: 01372 375 400
• Text (SMS): 07929 024 722

Carers are also welcome to join any of our wellbeing activities, such as physical activities, arts & crafts, nature groups, self-help workshops and so on. To see what’s on, download our calendar or browse our activities list.

Actions for Carers Surrey Support

Action for Carers Surrey is the specialist charity for carers. They run a lot of support groups in Surrey, face-to-face and online. To find out more, visit their events page.

Share