Play your recovery cards right!
Participants had the chance to put all their cards on the table at a recent community planning development day!
Our Projects Officer John Beaton tells us more…
Recently we co-hosted a Recovery Conversation Café with the Mikeysline team. This is part of our work to shape the NHS Highland Mental Health and Learning Disability Strategy. Work that is putting local people at the heart of change. So, when Emily Stokes, CEO, asked me to join her to deliver a workshop as part of the Highland Community Planning Partnership’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Delivery Group I jumped at the chance!
The challenges
Emily posed us an interesting set of challenges. How could we promote the importance of meaningful engagement? Share the priorities gathered from work already happening in local communities? Explore the Delivery Plan commitments in relation to these things? AND! Do something a bit different on the day!
I sat at my desk scratching my head. We had the existing four commitments the group had for its current community-based Delivery Plan. We had the four priority commitments people are looking for from the NHS mental health strand of their new strategy. How could I get everyone to share this information, build on ideas and identify opportunities to work together?
The answer
Then I had my eureka moment! Channeling my inner game show host, I yelled out ‘LET’S PLAY RECOVERY CARDS!’. My grandchildren love playing cards with me. They also love coming up with the rules so everyone gets a chance to take part (like a good grandfather I taught them to play fair!). This would be the perfect way for everyone to ‘put all their cards on the table’ and compare hands!
This practical and informal workshop gave people a chance to share ideas and reflect together. They looked into the relationship between the delivery plan and the NHS strategy and their respective roles and responsibilities. It was a chance to connect, collaborate and learn from each other, and in a fun way. A chance to identify common themes and plan for the future of mental health and wellbeing in The Highlands.
Partnership working, meaningful engagement, and cross sector collaboration. Now that’s a game we all want to play!
John
