"found staff supportive and caring"

Thank you to all the staff on Emerald Ward. When I first came here I used to push people away. I’ve done it in the past, all my life. I did not trust anyone, I felt really paranoid. What made things change was the staff came in my room, time and time again – when I was really struggling, and said no matter how hard I tried to push people away, or made complaints, they would still come back and care about me; saying ‘we will help you and we are not going anywhere’.

Since then, I found staff supportive and caring and going out of the way to do things for us. Even when they are short staffed they still go the extra mile.

When I first came, I hated it here, the rules and boundaries. Thought I’d never progress and never thought I would get as far as I have now. I go to Day Services in my own clothes and have glasses. If someone had told me I would be doing all this by now I would not have believed them.

Staff need to be praised, hear positive things about the work they do, not only negative things. The women on this ICU can be really unsettled and full on at times but staff still go out of their way to help us

I would like this to be mentioned as Emerald are a really good team and they deserve praise and credit for all the things they do.