Report transcript in: ADASS East - Nat talks about the importance of people being involved in setting priorities and coproduction

Please Report the Errrors?

to this.

So are you happy to be recorded?

Yes.

Do you wanna tell me your name and where you're from?

Hi. My name's Nathaniel Clarkson, and I'm from Ipswich in Suffolk.

Brilliant.

I'm wondering why it's important for people like

you to be involved in the priority setting process

in the eastern region.

Yeah.

Um, for me, um,

my journey to the present day has been quite complicated over the years.

Um, I finally found out why that was when I was in my late thirties.

I was diagnosed as being autistic with Asperger's and then later on with a DH. D.

Um, and there was a whole reason,

um,

for that diagnosis was that I ended up in a mental health crisis. The final one.

I'd had a number of crisis through my life

that had led me to that day. And I finally found out all the answers, which

really, for me was like a major eureka moment that then was like, Well,

if I've had this experience,

I'm sure there's many others in society who are the same.

So I I do it for that reason really,

to help make raise the awareness of these things for

adult adults who are in society with these types of

undiagnosed conditions that cause them lots of troubles with the way they focus.

Uh, sorry function in life and process. What's there on a daily basis?

Why are the priorities particularly important to focus on,

um because there aren't

enough resourcing?

But there isn't enough resourcing in society for adults in terms of mental health.

Um, we often see very long waiting waiting lists.

Um, my, my my three year waiting list was what ultimately caused me to go into crisis.

You know, I started that process just about OK,

and then as that process went on longer and longer and longer,

I went deeper and deeper into crisis.

And, as we all know, without diagnosis, you don't get support. So

you know when you're surrounded by individuals who don't

really understand what it is that's going on,

you don't have understanding.

You often get more stigma that then compound

your situation and pushes you deeper into crisis.

So there's a lot of very simplistic things that I can see that

can that maybe small changes that can be made in society that actually might

help alleviate some of these issues.

And one of those things is these horrendous waiting lists within

the N for adults in terms of mental health.

And I know that we spoke about before when we met around how

these priorities really do make sense to people about having good lives.

Um, why is co-production so important in relation to developing the

local and national,

um, priorities around the eastern region, particularly ADA priorities?

So in each area, they'll have a set of priorities.

Why is it important locally and nationally and

the role co production can play in that?

Yeah. Um, so for for me, co-production seems to be a

very good tool to bring us together as humans.

Again, I feel like there is a lot of hierarchy and a lot of, um,

bureaucracy within the system as a whole.

So what CO-PRODUCTION does is it enables us to come together again as humans.

Um, it brings together

unlikely people in into the conversation that haven't ever been there,

which again will create a different outcome.

Um, I feel that if we have some,

uh, coordination with the national and the regional local co-production, um,

processes that we can make it not not uniformed, but we can share insights,

share experiences of what has worked in the process of co-production

and hopefully that can then become something that's more,

uh, commonly known about and more discussed, um, at at a a

higher level so that when you do go to different parts of the country,

it's not a a head scratching moment, but actually oh,

we do get that we we recognise that

and and it then hopefully speeds up the process of the Coro

production that goes ahead

and ultimately gets results far quicker.

Brilliant.

why is social care

so important to you personally?

Because I'm a member of society that cannot

or does not have the ability to have private

um care. So I don't have that luxury. And I'm very aware that through my experiences,

there are a lot of people who are very,

very stuck in the system who don't maybe know how to navigate it.

Uh, they may not know how to reach out and speak for themselves,

and I feel compelled because I have a voice.

Um, and I was deeply affected by what I went through on my journey that

I want to see those positive changes in society,

so others don't have to have these unnecessary struggles.

Um,

I also feel that that that social care is is

a very important part of people's lives as they grow.

So from a child going into being a teenager, going into being an adult,

if there is poor mental health at the beginning,

we are then sending that through that person's life for a very long time.

And there's your reasons.

There's your answers to why we have social and economical problems that we do,

because we don't have enough in intensive support

at the stage when it's needed.

It's always when it gets to crisis or

people are falling apart before anything is done,

and that is way too late.

So what would a good

regional offer

look like to you? So if you had a magic wand, what would good look like?

Um,

to investigate thoroughly

the processes involved with diagnosis to thoroughly investigate

the system and how it administers mental health within

the NHS as a whole and look at so.

It's a combination of research, a combination of, um,

working with patients and and people who who

who who need to use these systems and services

and then look at the way that it's built and and structured.

And actually, are we following the paths of what's been before?

So almost falling into that groove again?

Or can we actually make some positive changes and having having some

proper funding and and and investment in these areas will help?

Hopefully highlight exact the exact reasons why

a lot of these failings are happening.

So we've talked a lot about health. But actually,

it's probably important to say that the the support you're

talking about happens within social care and within people's homes and

communities, which is so important.

Do you have any, um, top tips,

Any messages you wanted to share about this process and why?

I know you said why co production is important.

But some of your hopes, uh, experiences. Um, yeah,

yeah.

Um, I think from from a social care point of view, I have really,

really struggled myself to be able to get to a place where

I feel like I've been hurt or my needs are met.

Um, and I've often had to move towards,

like friends and family who actually support me, but,

um, I feel like there has to be more, um,

understanding of the invisible struggles we have, Um,

and not so much the physical struggles.

Um, and I feel that's where social care does kind of fall down a little bit. Um, and

there isn't a real kind of length or breadth of understanding for the sort of,

you know,

neurological problems that someone might have who may look and appear

to be normal if you want to use that word.

But actually,

the way they process the world and the way they function is far from normal,

but they often don't get that that appropriate support. So it's kind of

looking at that a bit more and and sorry, what? I've gone off a tangent.

What was the other part of the question? Any top tips?

Any advice that you would give around

this piece of work and co-production or what? Yeah,

yeah, OK, so So basically,

top tips would be to maybe start small and with with the discussion,

because sometimes it can be quite overwhelming for people

to have this whole idea about co-production put onto them,

especially if you're you know, the They are a user,

a service user or someone who's in the system.

Um, you know, you don't necessarily have the full insight of what Co-production is.

So starting small helps everybody take those small steps together.

And I feel that there's almost an innate sort of pressure within society.

We have to steam ahead and,

well, actually, no, Let's stop. Let's make sure we go go forward together

and do it at a pace that we all feel works because often I find

that when you're working with, you know, hierarchy based parts of the system and

there's there's sort of systems in place,

the desire to sort of plough ahead is is so

ingrained into some individuals that they really struggle with,

Well, hang on a minute.

We've got two or three people here that aren't quite getting what's happening,

and we need to give them more time to follow that process.

And when you've got demands of, um,

deadlines and budget restraints and everything having to be met at a certain time,

that's where Co-production to some may seem a bit.

Oh, I don't like this because it's holding me up,

but actually holding you up might be the one

thing that's needed to get the right outcome.

I think it actually helps to change what's there

in a way that those who are used to a certain way of

work and will have to change themselves but also individuals in society,

realising

that their voices and experiences are integral

to helping to steer that change that these other

individuals might not be able to see ordinarily,

thank you.

I just wanted to end our, um, our interview with

you told me a quote the other day about people doing the same thing.

Can you remind me of the quote?

Yeah, So if we want a different out, it's very It's a very simple one.

If we want a different outcome, we have to do things differently.

And I said that at one of my panels and

and the mental health teams were quite

sort of taken aback by that and actually thought about it a bit deeper

and and it was based around the concept of we're we're built there.

There was a hospital being built and they were going to

break the hospital up into different sections,

but they didn't have a section for mental health, and also

what I could see was that with this idea of being

able to rebuild a hospital from the ground upwards with no,

you know,

no parameters the blank canvas

that therefore they should have mental health built into

every department at all stages of a patient's journey

from being a child all the way to being,

you know, very senior.

And that was my observation was that they were almost falling back into old habits.

And that was why I said that.

I said, You know, if we're gonna if you're gonna do, if you want a different outcome,

you have to try and do things differently.

So that was it. That was in a nutshell. That's what it was.

Thank you. Any final comments from you,

Um,

co-production week at the moment. So let's shout about it.

And I think, you know,

having spent the last two years going through my

journey out of my experiences and actually being able to

use my voice, um, constructively,

I have actually seen tangible changes that have psychologically given me

a sense of purpose. Now that's sometimes all of us individuals.

Kind of need is to feel that sense of purpose.

So when your voice has been heard and something has been changed because of it.

That gives you a great sense of purpose. So that's why Co-production for me

has been rewarding.

And I've benefited from it and obviously meeting all of

the people that I have on this journey as well.

Brilliant. Thank you for your time.

No problem. Thank you, Isaac.

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cat@curatorsof…

Post date

21/08/2021