There is hope….

We saw a familiar face on one of our Mission 2 Mend workshops recently, when one of our learners, Ali arrived to facilitate the class. Read on to discover her journey from learner to tutor to learner!

Due to redundancy I lost my job after 19 years. I felt at a loss and my confidence was at rock bottom; I felt hopeless. Being a woman of a certain age, I felt like I would never be able to get a job again. I needed some support. I picked up a leaflet for the Recovery & Wellbeing College and have been attending ever since. I was also struggling with pain and health issues and the College covered all my needs.

The first time I went to the College, I felt welcome; the Facilitators were so warm and calm. One of the first courses I did was on confidence and even at my age I felt I truly learnt something new and how there is hope and a way forward and how you are not on you own. I felt like telling the world to come to the Recovery College!

The courses have given me information on all sorts of subjects; pain management, craft courses which helped me regain my emotional connection to art and crafts, something which I had lost. A Peer Mentoring course has helped build my career prospects and get my confidence back and to remember all my positive points.

I have started to work freelance so I can work around my pain issues and through this work with ‘Woven in Kirklees’ I got the opportunity to deliver a workshop at the Recovery College. The College means a lot to me and I felt I knew what would be needed to facilitate a class and despite being nervous, I felt ready!

I still want to continue as a learner. I’m dyslexic so retaining information is not always easy and I might want to remind myself about managing anxiety, being assertiveness etc when I have a bit of a wobble. I also mentor teenagers so everything I learn I can pass on to help others. Even when I have a break from the College, I always get enticed back with all the courses on offer and things to try and the support that group work provides.