Stepping Forward Into Recovery

There's a new website called Stepping Forward Into Recovery

It's the website of Terry Davies from Gorseinon in Swansea who was diagnosed with manic depression, formerly known as bipolar disorder, at the age of 22, following a thirteen-week-stay in hospital. It wasn’t until he found out about self-management some thirteen years later that he was able to begin to turn his life around…

It wasn’t until his last hospital admission that he became so frustrated with the lack of support and understanding from the mental health services that he sought help. Discovering self-management and how it was possible to manage his condition himself. It was the first time anyone had ever told him that it was still possible to live a normal life.

It was a light bulb moment.

“Gradually he learned the tools and techniques that would enable him to manage his condition. These included learning to recognise triggers and early warning signs that might precede an episode of illness, then learning what action to take in order to stop it in its tracks. This might involve keeping a diary, implementing a coping strategy or getting support from other people with a similar diagnosis as himself.

Terry says: “Self-management isn’t rocket science. For me it was a revelation!”

These days, Terry is married to Miriam a senior midwife and they have three sons. He's a successful trainer and course facilitator in recovery-management, having over twenty years worth of personal and professional experience of mental health recovery. With roles such as NHS Expert Patient Coordinator, Self-Management Programme Coordinator for MDF Wales and Guest Lecturer at the Swansea University School of Health and Human Sciences to his credit, Terry has an abundance of proven experience of teaching practical recovery skills - to both staff and to service users.

Terry's unique advantage comes from the fact that he has been in the position of both service user, implementing recovery techniques and also the position of professional, assisting people with their recovery. Sessions can be delivered in a practical, hands-on workshop format or in a more formal lecture style, depending on the needs of your organisation.