"Mental Health and the Recovery College"

This is a bit complicated but I will try to summarise.

I was a senior business person who retired in 2015 without a plan! Just after that I had some relationship difficulties and the combination resulted in an extreme breakdown which resulted in a month in Springfield Hospital followed by a difficult two months at home before I even felt vaguely better.

I decided earlier this year that I was ready to do a course at the Recovery College  and chose the eight week Assertiveness Skills course which was totally amazing. I thought I was a person who being used to having a senior job wouldn't need this training. My ex boss thought it was hysterical that I needed assertiveness training as this was definitely not seen at work! It turned out that I needed it to sort my personal life, and over the duration of the course things were transformed - in fairness not entirely due to the course but it made a huge contribution.

The course leaders Anna Maria and Peter, supported brilliantly in the last week by Owen, made it hugely enjoyable and thought provoking. The group came together well after the first few weeks and eventually became hugely self supporting. Only sad thing is to note that in week one there were about 24 of us, reduced to about 10 by the end so people that could be helped maybe missed out by others not embracing it. Added to all this I made a new friend which was great.

Highly positive experience and I would really like to help the College on a voluntary basis - apparently this may be difficult with current NHS guideline/policies but if anybody reading this has an idea how I might make this happen then hopefully you can track me down.