Renee Torrington
When I first started working with Wellink Trust, I thought it might be better to hide behind other qualifications that I had rather than be seen as loony amongst my co-workers.
I quickly came to realise, though, that my experience of using mental health services actually meant I had something to offer. You simply cannot learn in textbooks what I learnt by living through stigma, discrimination and my own personal journey to recovery from mental illness.
Being at Wellink Trust gave me the opportunity to totally reframe my experience of mental illness from something that should be hidden away to something that can actually be viewed as a strength.
Disclosing my history of mental illness to Wellink was a pretty natural process. Now I'm a disclosed consumer and I don't feel like I have ever been made to feel different or sidelined because of my experience of mental illness. In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
When I've had to have time off work or needed a bit of extra support because I've hit a rough patch, it's barely raised an eyebrow. It's just the same as if I had been struck with an awful bout of the flu.
My employers know that when I'm back on board I put in 100% and when you weigh it up with what people with what people with mental illness have to offer a mental health workforce any time off is seemingly inconsequential.
Renee has worked with Wellink Trust since 2002. She started in support work and now is the Peer Services Leader. In her current role, she develops and manages peer services like the Warmline. She also manages 25 volunteers, devises peer support training packages and acts in a consumer advice role on a number of Wellink projects.
