@seesaw

I've been involved with my psych hospital for a while now. Back in 2011, I saw a notice on their Facebook feed that they were recruiting consumers for their constituencies council, which brings together different stakeholders to provide feedback to the hospital. I applied and was selected. ]

Then in 2015, they asked council members if anyone wanted to be part of the inaugural Steering Committee, which basically was responsible for recruitment, setting the agenda for full council meetings, and doing an annual presentation to the board of trustees. I said, sure I'm interested and was selected. Serving on that committee was a phenomenal experience. Last Nov. I was lucky enough to be given the chance to present to the board of trustees on concurrent disorders and that was really well recieved, and ultimately led to me having a very long one-on-one conversation with the head of addictions services.

Unfortunately 9 years is the maximum you can sit on the constituency council so I timed out. I was looking for ways to stay involved with the hospital, and learned from the hospital staff person who was the liaison to the steering committee, that the Patients' Advisory Council was recruiting, so I applied. I had a rather grueling 1 hr interview and then was selected.

For me, there's definitely been a bit of being in the right place at the right time, but mainly I've just responded to things that sound interesting and put my name forward, and being comfortable enough talking about my mental illness and addiction to be open about it.

Hope the above made sense.
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