"A heart of gold."

I have had a very difficult couple of years and a lot of people at Newark mental health team have really helped me. Like Dr Innes, Aaron the peer support worker, Declan my CCO and Rachel the substance misuse practitioner.

Ayshea has helped me a lot. Before I had her help with work, I didn’t know which way to turn, I felt trapped and weak. She has always made time for me, and always really listened to what I have had to say and made me feel comfortable enough to open up. She has helped me to feel good and strong in myself, like I can put my head up in the sky and not need to hide away from the world. She has given me confidence and now I can talk to my boss myself about things that worry me. I was heading for bad money troubles because of how much time I had off work sick because of my mental health. Ayshea helped me get back to work and made me want to tackle my problems instead of hiding from them and letting them build up bigger and bigger.

I’ve spent months hiding away in my house, not even being able to go out and put the bins out. I was maybe going to be losing my house because of not being able to afford the mortgage and bills. Ayshea, Declan and Aaron encouraged me to go out a little bit at a time like meeting me for a coffee, building up to things like going to the post office to pay a bill, and going into town to get my hair cut. When I was really poorly Ayshea took me to the doctors and helped me get my prescriptions. We gradually built up me going out of the house until I could go back to work. I have been back at work now for a couple of months and have been discharged from the employment support team because I can deal with work problems myself now.

Ayshea has always treated me like an equal and always told the truth to me, even when I haven’t liked it, the honesty really helped me. Even when I maybe said things I shouldn’t have, she told me what is acceptable and what is not, and stuck by me and didn’t give up on me. She has been patient and has a very good sense of humour which helped put me at ease. I think Ayshea has a heart of gold and that’s what makes her good at her job of helping people not lose their jobs, and helping people find new jobs.

When things have settled down a bit for me, I am going to ask Dr Innes to refer me back to Ayshea for some help to find a new job.