I did my presentation to a class of mental health professionals at Bradford University. I actually enjoyed doing it (thanks to the confidence I've gained at my ASC speakers club). My uni talk was about how the mental health services used to be in the sixties and seventies, highlighting many of the issues which are still relevant. We discussed what needs to be done differently to prevent people today having similar bad experiences of the system to those that I, and many others, have had.
The following day Professor Phil Thomas, one of the founders of Critical Psychiatry, came to Bradford University to do a presentation, and I was invited to that. I couldn't find anything to argue with him about. He was lovely. After the session I plucked up courage to give him one of my book promo cards. He said he'll get it. I hope he does.
Next thing coming up on the book front is this Friday when, along with some members of the Leeds Survivors Poetry Group, I'll be doing a reading at the Ilkley Literature Festival.
A few weeks after the Ilkley festival, I've been invited to be Guest Speaker at the AGM of a Mental Health Advocacy Group. I'm delighted that over a year after 'The Dark Threads' was published I'm still getting spin offs. I do hope that at least in some small way I'm helping to right some wrongs by speaking out.
But I must-must-must get on with writing my novel.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You're doing amazingly with your public speaking. I guess it must help being passionate about your subject. Frightening to think there are issues today that were relevant in the sixties and seventies.
Good luck with your reading, though I'm sure you don't need it :o)
Thanks, Karen. I think the Ilkley event last night went very well, despite some last-minute organisational problems. I enjoyed it anyway, and the audience seemed to like it.
Post a Comment