Patient and carer stories
Battling dementia – how Janet’s helping research
20 May 2013
Seventy-seven-year-old Janet Ovenden is proud of the home she’s lived in for 50 years, her two grown up daughters, her four grandchildren and her King Charles spaniel, Patch.
A poem about depression
10 August 2011
Trapped between the darkness and the light, In my head I scream out but no one listens to my plight...
"Have a bit of faith in yourself..."
11 January 2011
Looking at a photo of Rose Pope, dress size 22, from September 2009 you wouldn’t recognise her. Now a size 10-12, happy and energetic, Rose, an outpatient service user, tells us of her amazing New Year’s resolution and how she shed five and a half stone. “My medication made me feel tired an ...
Peter’s Story
04 October 2010
I have been involved with mental health services of one kind or another since the age of six. As a child I was described as maladjusted and diagnosed with ADHD. Throughout my childhood I attended a series of special schools. I got worse as the years went on and it all came to a head four years ago w ...
Reza’s Story
04 October 2010
I was admitted to Roehampton Hospital three years ago, with post traumatic stress disorder as a result of my years as a soldier in Iran. A few years after coming to live in the UK I had a nervous breakdown and was in need of help. Three years on I’m still attending weekly counselling sessions b ...
Pardip’s Story
04 October 2010
“I thought my world was over. One minute I was a care worker, the next I was a patient. That was one of the hardest things to come to terms with.” Pardip was a healthcare worker for ten years in nursing homes, in the community and in a busy A&E department. Used to being in a fast paced en ...
Carer at Broadmoor Hospital
02 September 2010
I used to have an extremely negative view of Broadmoor Hospital. When I think back, I remember hearing about Broadmoor and thinking it was such a harsh place. Media reports were all I had to go on and I was convinced patients were locked up at all times.
A forensic patient's story
02 September 2010
A service user from West London forensic services, told his story at our recent nursing conference.
Jane's story
02 September 2010
My son had a traumatic birth and, and a result, was diagnosed with mild brain damage. He has always been a wonderful kid, though he has battled with mild learning difficulties and dabbled in cannabis as a teen, like many young boys.
Chris' story
02 September 2010
My life is turning around as I’m now living independently, in the community. I’d never have done it without the help of the patient advocate on the John Conolly unit.