Rikki shares his experience of opening up.
On a Tuesday morning in June, I was visiting Carlisle Cumberland University Hospital to have a blood pressure monitor fitted. As I sat waiting for the ambulance staff to come and take me to the cardio-respiratory investigations, Chris saw me and made the sign of ‘it’s OK to talk’.
Chris is from Andy’s Man Club. They are a charity that offers support groups. The groups help men with their mental health through the power of conversation. I’ve been attending their online meetings every Monday since leaving hospital at the end of March. Having a stroke made me angry and frustrated. What’s my life going to be like now? Assisted to walk, dress and even to wash, with nursing staff coming to my house twice a day.
Of course I had dark thoughts going through my head.
I have had tougher times in my life. I could still talk and walk and decided to find out more about Andy’s Man Club. I thought I would give it a try and see if I could take a leap into understanding my anger.
I set up my computer and joined a 2-hour Zoom call with 14 other men, opening up to one another. There were lumps-in-my-throat moments. I was only thinking ‘what had I done to deserve what had happened to me?’ I felt so embarrassed and scared, but I spoke with a dry throat and a twisted mouth and no teeth. And I just let everything out.
Yes, it was the taste of my hot tears that flowed down my crooked cheeks. And then I began to embrace being listened to and not feeling lonely. There were so many thumbs up and applause hands. I knew that I could get through what the world was going to throw at me.
It is 6 months since my stroke and I take everything that life throws at me and smile, and that little voice in my head says, ‘You’ve got this Rikki.’
Andy’s Man Club offers free peer-to-peer support groups for men across the United Kingdom. Groups are both face-to-face and online. They aim to end stigma about men’s mental health through confidential, judgement-free spaces where men can open up. Find out more at www.andysmanclub.co.uk
We want to hear your feedback about Future Pathways.
Hearing feedback from people registered with us and services we work with is very important to us. In our most recent impact report, Pathways to Change, we took a closer look at the feedback we received over the last year. You can read the Pathways to Change report here.
Looking at people’s feedback for this report helped us measure our progress by considering key questions such as:
- How do people feel when they engage with us?
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- What do people do differently?
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This helped us to reflect on what works about our support and to see how we could improve. We learned that our approach to support can make an impact. For example, many people shared that they feel safe and able to trust Future Pathways. We also learned that we could do more to hear from the people who are on our waitlist.
In Pathways to Change, we also looked at the feedback we received from our Delivery Partners. This helped us think about how we work with Delivery Partners. For example, through working with us, many Delivery Partners learn about the challenges and needs of people registered with Future Pathways.
There are many ways you can give us feedback.
Delivery Partner questionnaire
If you are one of our Delivery Partners, you can give us feedback through our Delivery Partner questionnaire. This is for service providers that we commission support from. We are particularly interested to hear about what has changed for you since you started working with Future Pathways. And about what you think about our new approach to commissioning.
You can take part in the questionnaire here.
The questionnaire is open until Monday 4 November 2024.
Online feedback form
We also have an online feedback form for anyone who wants to give us feedback. The form is open to:
- People registered with us who are waiting for support
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You can access the online feedback form here.
We want to thank everyone who has given us feedback so far. It has helped us learn more about our approach and the difference we make. And it is helping us to improve our service over time.