Rikki shares his experience of volunteering with different groups and projects. He talks about two projects at Future Pathways – Making Pathways Together and Voices for a Better Future. He also shares his experience of opening up at Andy’s Man Club. And about advocating for support with Stroke Association and Stroke Awareness Month.
Please note that the article contains a reference to suicide.
Voices for a Better Future
To be perfectly honest with you, and with everyone I’ve met around the desks and tables, my induction felt like putting on a new pair of slippers. Comfortable, familiar, and quietly life-changing.
After bouncing back from a dark and lonely chapter of my own choosing, I found myself, at the age of 58, under the umbrella of Future Pathways. And that felt safe. I got involved with a group called Making Pathways Together.
One of our first tasks was to design a front page of a newspaper. My headline was a photograph of my great-grandmother from 1893, dressed in her Sunday best with her children. Alongside it, a photo of me and my three brothers from 1963, also in our Sunday best, taken at the Glasgow Barras.
The contrast struck me: in 70 years, children’s lives hadn’t necessarily improved. Perhaps because the grandmother had once been the matriarch, the anchor.
When I spoke about changing the status quo, my voice cracked. Four members of the group responded, saying I couldn’t have spoken a truer word. That moment made it easy to come up with the name Voices for a Better Future.
The rest followed naturally. To celebrate our third birthday felt emotionally taxing like having a child of my own.
Andy’s Man Club
Having a stroke was a scenario I didn’t see coming. It took me three days to accept that I was entering a new chapter one that would change me inside and out, in both the waking world and the quiet corners of my mind. I took the pain and the loneliness and ran with it.
Learning to walk again felt like mimicking a Madagascar monkey but I’ve always found it easy to laugh at myself. After three months and two hospitals, I was discharged. Six weeks of shouting at the care I was receiving led me to discharge the early discharge team myself.
Then came a turning point: a visit from the wellbeing team. As she was walking out the door, she asked if I’d ever heard of Andy’s Man Club. That weekend, I read everything I could about the charity. By Monday morning, I was asking to join a Zoom meeting.
It was a wake-up call. Anger and frustration were still flowing from my pores, but what I heard from those men of all ages stopped me in my tracks. Stories of suicide, grief, loss of sons, daughters, siblings, friends. My head and heart poured out for them.
After three months, the affiliated members asked if I had any wise words for the group. I started sending feedback to Facebook, telling the outside world what I’d learned. A problem shared is a problem halved.
At the last meeting, I sat quietly and thanked them for having my back, like I had theirs.
Stroke awareness work with Stroke Association
Stroke Awareness isn’t just something I do, it’s something I live. I didn’t see the changes at first. But I feel them now. I feel like a content man.
My journey began with confusion, pain, and a stubborn refusal to be boxed in. I’ve spoken at forums, shared poetry, and offered practical advice to others navigating recovery.
I advocate for better transport, digital access, and respectful care especially for survivors in rural areas. I use humour to soften the hard edges, and storytelling to make the invisible visible.
Whether it’s helping someone find the right train platform or sharing a poem that captures the fog of fatigue, I try to make life a little easier for those who follow.
Closing Reflection
And if I were to bottle this journey, it wouldn’t be neat. It would hold:
- A bat’s left eye—watchful in the dark
- A Cyclops’ toenail—ground into powder, stubborn and strange
- A whisper of Queen—A Touch of Magic still ringing in the air
- One of Medusa’s living snakes—truth that can’t be tamed
- A mezcal gusano larva—hold the tequila, keep the grit
- Coconut water mixed into a drinkable cocktail of memory and resilience
- And a coin for the ferryman because every crossing deserves honour
People don’t want miracles but a light to guide them will do.
Find out more
Making Pathways Together
Making Pathways Together was a project that looked at how we can improve the experience of the people we support. The project was online and ran from 2020 to 2022. The people who took part created posters. These were like the front page of a magazine or a newsletter. They showed their ideas for how to improve Future Pathways.
Voices for a Better Future
Voices for a Better Future is a survivors voice group. It brings together people who experienced abuse or neglect while they were children in the Scottish care system. Members of the group want to make a difference. They want to help improve services and support.
Andy’s Man Club
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.
Stroke Association
The Stroke Association is Scotland’s leading stroke-specific charity providing lifelong support for all stroke survivors and their families. It provides information and support online, by phone and in the community.
