Thank you Hillcrest

It's been six months today since I was admitted into a mental health ward - I thought that milestone would be a good time to look back and actually praise some elements of the service I received. Obviously the purpose of an action group is to improve what's on offer and the very nature of the group means it's going to attract people who are dissatisfied with what's going on. But my aim is not and has never been to attack the people who work day in day out for Redditch residents, the people who really care.

The decision to be admitted voluntarily into Hillcrest in Redditch was the hardest thing I've ever done. Sitting in the Alexandra Hospital knowing I was being transferred over the road to become a mental health inpatient was nothing short of terrifying. I remember thinking I just wanted to look back in a week, a month or a year and feel like I made the right decision.

A lady came to transfer me and she was truly the most wonderful person, my mom told me she had tears in her eyes as she left me on the ward. I wish I knew her name as her actions that day truly touched both myself and my mom. From that moment for the rest of my stay at Hillcrest the staff were incredible and I wish every single one of them could know how grateful I am to them.

For the first time, I felt supported, cared about and worthy of help. Up until then it had been a fruitless six months fighting against the system. Now I could see my friends and family visibly relax knowing they were leaving me in safe hands. Now I finally felt safe. I felt I could open up and chat about my feelings to professionals for the first time - I wasn't a number or a hassle, I was a person.

There are huge flaws in the system and there is much still to campaign for - something myself and other MHAG members will not stop doing - but it's also good to stop and thank the true heroes of the system from time to time. Everyone's experience in a mental health hospital will be vastly different but mine is definitely worthy of praise.

So this is my public thank you to everyone who works at Hillcrest - you and my friends and family helped turn my life around and I hope I can repay you in some small way by making the system you work within that little bit better.

I'll end this on a piece of advice one of the student nurses told me on one of my first days which will always stick with me:

"If you have a bad day, remember it's a bad day not a bad life."

Harriet