A week in the life of…Averil

January is the Perfect Opportunity for New Beginnings.

I now work predominately within the connecting care team. Like Tina, I enjoy being able to fully engage within one team. I still support the Recovery College, enjoying delivering the odd course to support the team and doing the occasional ILP.

In the connecting care team, I work under professional clinicians in providing person centred care. We support people towards their mental health recovery goals.

Mental health recovery goals are unique to everyone.

Marvellous Monday: Start of the day

This starts super early with a mad rush through the door followed by 10 minutes of calm. This is my time for self-care – depending on what takes my fancy I might so for a brisk walk, do my kettlebell exercises or simply grab a cuppa and mindfully relax and enjoy the peace on the sofa. At 8.00 I check in with colleagues in the team on MS Teams chat and then start to process my emails and tagged messages. I enjoy using the Inbox Zero Technique and have four favourite folders named: Inbox, worked for reference, follow up and sent. There is a lot of administration involved as a peer support worker within the Recovery College.

After processing my emails, I log onto another computer system to check for messages from patients and then go onto my Dashboard within my OneNote to organise my day.

Within my dashboard:

I have daily, weekly and monthly checklists which help me to organise and manage my time within the two teams. This prompts me to complete little tasks which may be overlooked when you’re busy (e.g. my expenses) and keep a log of my activities.

Working part time for two teams with two completely different set of rules, boundaries and task frequencies, I have learnt skills about engaging my second brain so that the finer details are not missed. I have been complimented a few times on how proactive and organised I am, which is nice to hear when I have shared my techniques.

The connecting care team start their day with a Triage meeting which discusses any new referrals and gives people the chance to have a catch up and discuss cases.

Middle of the Day

My role is to have in-depth, non-directive and supportive conversations to talk about barriers to mental health recovery, life and day to day challenges and how they are feeling at that moment. I can help people engage with, build connections, and feel a sense of belonging to their local communities. This could include helping people attend courses within the Recovery College.

Lived Experience

Within this unique role I can share my lived experience to connect with people and help people by giving them a sense of hope and wellbeing. I can enable people to gain satisfaction in different parts of their lives, give reassurance when needed, help people gain insight into their unique goals and can support people to gain a sense of control over their lives.

End of the day

I check out with admin staff and drive home. At home, I type up the consultation notes, research and signpost services and resources, organise and plan my next visit.  Then I process my inbox and action any flagged mail. At last, but not least, I input my expenses for the day, tick off everything on my daily checklist, switch on my “Out of Office” and check out on MS Teams chat.

After work is mostly just chores and prep for the next day. I prioritise an early night and if I’m lucky I will take 5 minutes time of to write in my diary. Writing is definitely one of my top self-care routines and I have had a diary since I was 13 years old! Writing in a diary is my “Brain Dump”. I use the “Go Girl Diary” where I can write a reflection of my day, my to do list for the week, my habit tracker and my goals/hobbies and notes section each week.

Terrific Tuesday is pretty much the same as Marvellous Monday as I work the same 8.00 until 18.00.

Wiggle Wednesday I work just 3.5 hours, which consists of a visit to see a patient followed by hopefully a trip to my work’s education centre, where I visit the library, do my admin and if time permits, develop my role. I enjoy going to the education centre as I always see a friendly face or two and have had the opportunity to meet some inspirational people. I even got put in the Trust’s 2024 Christmas video whilst being up there!

The rest of the week: I switch off from work and concentrate on serving my other role – my family and time for myself to unwind.

One reflection to my weekly blog is that “5 Minutes Matters”. Not like my life is perfect – it remains a work in progress – there are times when life gets in the way and these 5 minutes don’t happen (the messy middle). I’ve learnt to be kind to yourself, get back on track and when they do happen, they give so much to your sense of identity and purpose in life. It’s just about finding out what works for you and what you enjoy. You’re worth it!!

The Recovery College is great for trying new experiences and interests and becoming more aware of yourself.