Hector's story: Using lived experience to help others
As a Trust, we are supported by around 400 volunteers each year who bring their own individual skills, experience and passion to the Trust.
We recently spoke to Hector, a visual artist who joined the volunteer programme as part of his own mental health recovery. Below is his story, in his own words.
Hector's story
My name is Hector, I am a visual artist, and I have been dealing with mental health issues for most of my life.
Recently, after two years of intense therapy, I decided to join the SLaM Volunteer programme as part of my recovery. I wanted to gain confidence in myself; I needed a purpose. The programme gave me the chance to motivate myself towards something I felt good about.
I could relate to other patients living with mental health challenges and could share the fact that crises are temporary and, to whatever the extent possible, manageable.
My own years of difficulties became valuable experiences to share and to understand others going through similar tough times.
My therapist suggested to me that with my lived experience, my creativity, my character, sensibility, and intuition, it was a very good idea to take a path in the therapeutic field.
What does your role look like on a day-to-day basis?
I volunteer once a week to the John Dickson Unit at Maudsley Hospital and Rosa Parks Ward at Lambeth Hospital where I coordinate activities such as crafts, painting, games, writing postcards, playing instruments, or playing ball games.
Often it is the patients themselves who initiate or suggest activities, and sometimes we create from scratch the toys to play with.
What is more important is spending time keeping service users company and really listening to them. I find getting to know "their side of the events" and accounts of their experience most valuable and rewarding for them and myself, as it provides a sense of human bond in times of often pain and confusion.
It is particularly touching for me personally when service users leave and ask me to visit them, or when someone returns to the ward and are happy to see me again as if recognising an ally and someone to relate to amongst strangers.
How do you think your volunteering has supported service users and staff on the wards
I think volunteers create a breathing space between the service users and the staff. Both parties are busy attending to and abiding by all the many other items of their care.
Having a friendly volunteer around softens the edges between the service users and the hospital environment, as there can sometimes be a perceived mistrust towards the staff due to the difficult nature of a hospital admission.
How has volunteering affected you personally?
My experience as a volunteer has affected me deeply. It has showed me the fragility and depth of the human condition, the importance of care, and the realisation that mental health crises reveal valuable information about real and profound human needs such as safety, connection, self-realisation, and nonsensical fun.
Reflecting on your experiences, what advice would you give to somebody thinking about volunteering?
Volunteering inspires me to find more ways to improve care and has fuelled my passion to go further in that field. I gained the confidence and purpose I needed to continue my life after years of struggle. To anyone thinking about volunteering, I would tell them to be patient, kind, generous and curious, without realising one is rewarded with a stronger compassionate heart and a wider understanding of what it means to be alive.
It demands resilience, constancy, and self-care but it yields civics and good qualities in a person such as humility, love for others, equanimity, and humour.
Thank you to Hector for sharing his story with us and using his experiences to help others. If you would like to explore opportunities in our volunteering teams, more information about our volunteering services can be found online.
See more of Hector's professional artwork