Seven Years of Peer Support: Mel's Poem
For seven years, Mel has been a vital presence within our mental health services, offering peer support grounded in lived experience that has made a real difference to countless individuals.
Mel beautifully captured her journey and the meaning of her work in this poem:
‘It’s the best I’ve ever done.
A mental health ward: one of the Peers
But now the job has gone.
It has given me immense joy
To be in CAPITAL’s employ.
I’m using Lived Experience
To further Patient Relevance.I’m living proof of Recovery
And what can be achieved.
I foster self-discovery,
How not to be deceived.
It has given me immense joy
To be in CAPITAL’s employ.
I’m using Lived Experience
To smooth the path ahead.My own trauma was an ordeal,
A dark period I endured.
An experience I may conceal
Now encourages reward.
It has given me immense joy
To be in CAPITAL’s employ.
I’m using Lived Experience
To help the Peers to grow.’Mel CAPITAL Peer Support Worker
Mel turned her own recovery into purpose, seven years of peer support on mental health wards, helping others find hope. Now, like many of our team, her role is ending as services lose funding.
This is what lived experience leadership truly means: people who have walked the hard road and use that insight to change care for others.
As CAPITAL faces an 80% cut to NHS funding, voices like Mel’s will be lost. Yet their value is undeniable, and we will keep fighting for peer-led, lived experience-driven services.
If you commission, fund or shape mental health support: listen to this.
If you believe these voices must remain, stand with us.