British Psychological Society event….

Yesterday saw me trundling back to York, but this time at silly o’clock on the train!
This time I was meeting Philly Hare in York from Innovations in Dementia as we were speaking at an event for Clinical Psychologists.We would be doing 2 bits, the first being ‘Dementia Words Matter’ where I’ll be with playmates talking about how healthcare professionals need to consider the language they use and then a 20 minute session in the afternoon where I talk about ‘My journey from paid work in the NHS to volunteering as an expert by experience’ and then Philly asking me some questions……

Anyway…….it was another dark rainy morning, doubly dark as the lamppost outside my house isn’t working so it’s now pitch black😳 It also means there’s no light inside the house at night when I get up so again it’s pitch black…..I did think I would need to ‘phone’ the council to report it, but amazingly I could do it all on line – brownie point East Riding council, as long as it’s fixed within the 5 days you state on the web site😶

I’d arranged to meet Philly outside Barnitts, a well known shop in York. Goodness knows where this idea had come from as I’ve never met anyone there before and was surprised when Philly told me that’s what I’d asked🙄

Too dark to take piccies – that’s probably why I’m rambling……🙈

Anyway after signal failure at Selby……..🤐 I arrived 25 minutes late so had to rush to our meeting point but still time for one photo of the Christmas market just setting up….

Philly was there waiting for me. Once to got the hotel, which has changed it’s name since the invite when out🙈 we were met by those setting up to find them in chaos…….event boxes not arrived, the venue han’t provided a laptop, ……usual event stuff when the venue isn’t quite as equipped as you imagine…….however my anxiety levels reduced when Philly spotted the Yorkshire tea bags, got me a cuppa AND refunded my expenses…….obviously a worthy 2 brownie points😇

Me and Philly went round and sorted out the signage🙄 and then we came back to find there really wasn’t a laptop………..🤯

Anyway…………..then we didn’t have proper labels either…………but it was nice when Chris Norris, living with dementia arrived from Kent DEEP group, the Forget me knots😊

The chair started with a half empty room as the trains were delayed……….the organisers had one trauma after another today…….the artist in residence was also running late…….and the microphones decided not to work……..

We started off with a run down of the FREDA Principles (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Dignity and Autonomy) They went through the Experts by Experience position statement and strategy of the Division of Clinical Psychology.
They mentioned being bound by the Human Rights principles which was good to hear.

It was such a confusing start that I couldn’t tune in to the story being told by Esther ‘The password is I love you’ by Marian Moore (an expert by experience) My mind was still trying to focus on all the changes and confusing start and my mind only calmed down towards the end, which was a shame as the end sounded wonderful!

Next up was Philly, me, Chris, and Gina from Liverpool joined us, to talk about the importance of language. Philly showed the ‘Dementia Words Matter’ film and then asked us how words made us feel and how we’d like them changed – how positive language by professionals could help reduce the stigma of a diagnosis.

Then it was Sarah Butchard and Gina Shaw from Liverpool. They spoke about her work with children. Children don’t make assumptions, they’re very accepting and ask anything and everything. They then showed the film the children made……wonderful……children trying to explain dementia😊

Lunch time…..and as me and Philly went to the loo, we realised the management had decided, in their wisdom, to take down all our signs…..🤯 – which was not only very rude but very unhelpful. When Philly challenged them they said there was a sign showing the way to the Toilets……..we weren’t impressed…….Philly made her point and when I went back after lunch, some of them were back, but not all as they’d obviously no idea where they were needed🤐

After lunch it was the turn of Sarah Butchard talking about ‘A Practical Approach to Human Rights in Health Care’
“Human beings don’t treat Human Beings very well”

Lovely cartoon showing everyone to be awesome😍

‘Person centred practice’ is something health care can ignore but Human Rights law is a legal way to behave towards people and can’t be ignored.

She then showed 4 short films that dealt with Fairness, Equality, Dignity and Autonomy – Sarah still has to do Respect and Identity . These will then be promoted nationally.

They all ended with : “These Rights are our Rights and this is the Law” – which will be the title of the campaign. Magic

Next up was Philly for the final session before I left. Philly’s first bit was on Human Rights, where she showed the film ‘Rights made in Yorkshire’. The focus was on transport – ‘the right to get out and about’.
She spoke about the project ‘Getting out and about’. Philly spoke about the Blue Badge campaign from the Scarborough group. It was then Minds and Voices Transpennine experience to Scarborough. The Bradford FIT group concentrated on bus travel. All three projects have made connections with those that can make change. Brilliant slides of so many familiar faces😊 and a wonderful cartoon by Tony Husband who came with us for the day.

A cartoon about Rita from Minds and Voices where they shared the last glass of Prosecco😂

I finished with my talk on my experiences of moving from work to not working after a diagnosis and then Philly asking me questions………good job I had my words written as brain was disengaging….

I had to leave early so I’d get the last bus back to the village. It’s always feels safe sharing the stage with Philly as you know she’ll look after you. However, I wasn’t impressed with the venue at all – little sign of smiley faces or helpful staff.
Although the people were very nice and friendly at the conference and said some nice comments to me as I was leaving, the whole day seemed very confusing and I didn’t leave with a very good feeling as I left……shame……..