"I have made some great friends at Recovery College"

I completed the Recovery College course "Taking Back Control" in Tolworth with trainers Stella & Helen. I have made some great friends and connections. We are all staying in touch and I am currently planning our second trip to the cinema together. I am proud of myself for completing my first 8 week course as it is a big achievement for me. Receiving the certificate at the last class on Wednesday was fantastic. The peer trainer, Stella was fantastic and very supportive and felt more like a friend on leaving rather than a trainer. I hope I see her again. The course was pastoral support for me through a difficult personal circumstance and friends I made in the course as well as the trainers supported me and gave me the confidence to battle adversity. I am being kinder to myself, accepting who I am and embracing "me, " as a direct cause of the Recovery College. I am looking to the future with optimism. I am able to identify early warning signs, triggers and crises and I have a "First Aid Box" of tools to use when I identify these. My mental health is on more of an even keel. My diagnoses will not go away, but the Recovery College is helping me to live with them, accept them and work with them. I am forever grateful and I intend to do more courses.