Post by flyingcarpet46 on May 5, 2022 9:38:15 GMT
interview to Mary Nettle
26 July 2018, interviewer: Kasumi ITO at Mary's house
Kasumi Ito
Yes. When did you get involved in UK movement?
Mary Nettle
That's another long story, because I became involved with an organization called Survivors Speak Out.
Kasumi Ito
Yes, yes. And also you are member of the Mindlink.
Mary Nettle
Yeah. Both Survivors Speak Out and Mindlink are gone, disappeared, they don't exist anymore.
Kasumi Ito
Really? I didn't know that.
Mary Nettle
Mindlink was abolished, but that was the most important thing for me because I was the chair of Mindlink and it was a separate organization within Mind, the National Mental Health Charity. And Mind decided that having Mindlink was stigmatizing, was discriminating because there was a special place for users/survivors
Kasumi Ito
But I think Mindlink was established 1990, no.
Mary Nettle
Yeah about 1990s. And then it was abolished in 2005, say. It was therefore 10-15 years. And it was very good to have an organization that we could then be members of ENUSP because that's a membership organization.
Kasumi Ito
Yes.
Mary Nettle
But individuals as well. And the same with all the other. If you needed to be a member of an organization, Mindlink was a good one to be a part of. And Mindlink sponsored us to go to Vejle which was another Danish event.
(Mary became Chair of the European Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry)
....
Kasumi Ito
You are also member of the Survivors Speak Out.
Mary Nettle
I was yeah, but that's finished now as well.
Kasumi Ito
Why and when?
Mary Nettle
Why and when? Put on the internet and see what it says because it was no money. No money. And Survivors Speak Out was very important to me. It was very important. I was a very passive patient for two decades in my 20s and 30s. And when I was at the end of my 30s, I was aged 39 something; I was in a day center, a patient in a day center.
Kasumi Ito
Yes, yes.
Mary Nettle
And some worker came into the day center and said you might be interested in this. And it was a letter from Survivors Speak Out talking about a 2-day workshop away in Edale in Derbyshire which was a in a youth hostel and it was very good. It was very encouraging. And so I rang the people in Bristol who were going and they said I could come with them. And it was amazing. It was completely life-changing. It was called, I often heard it referred to as a Paulian moment,. St. Paul on the road to Damascashad a conversion. It was Because I had never met anybody who was radical about their mental health, I had never heard of the word survivor, I didn't. There were people there who didn't want to take medication. They thought medication was bad for you. All the things that I now know, quite often I hear people say, but it was very, very new to me, very radical At Edale was a survivorpaid by Mind to start what was called the Mind Consumer Network at that time. It became Mindlink. She said, come on, you can be elected from the Southwest. I said I cannot be elected the Southwest of England. I said I cannot be elected. Well no, but we want you to come so come anyway.
There was a democratic structure for Mindlink and it had the support of Mind, therefore it was funded. And when it started, Mind was based in Harley Street just off Oxford Circus, which was the center of London. And so I used to come up for meetings and then eventually I got elected chair. And Mind supported us to go to their annual conferences, they don't do them anymore, which were very, very interesting. We were speakers. We were on the platform. It was very remarkable. But I would have never got to that place without Survivors Speak Out in the first place.
Kasumi Ito
When you met Survivors Speak Out, you were in the day center.
Mary Nettle
Yeah.
Kasumi Ito
Then you left at the day center. Did you leave?
Mary Nettle
Oh yeah. I met other people who were self-employed, worked for themselves as consultants, talking about mental health issues, and doing research but not academic research ? asking people for their opinions.
Kasumi Ito
Yes.
Mary Nettle
Because when I was well, I worked in marketing research, which says in the CV. So I knew about research, asking people what they thought about products and I was amazed how in the NHS or the health services nobody asked your opinion about what you thought of the service. And the wheel was beginning to come towards paying people, valuing them for their time because this Mental Health Taskforce I told you about. In England the movement was beginning to ? so its users were experts by experience and had value. I did all sorts of things.
26 July 2018, interviewer: Kasumi ITO at Mary's house
Kasumi Ito
Yes. When did you get involved in UK movement?
Mary Nettle
That's another long story, because I became involved with an organization called Survivors Speak Out.
Kasumi Ito
Yes, yes. And also you are member of the Mindlink.
Mary Nettle
Yeah. Both Survivors Speak Out and Mindlink are gone, disappeared, they don't exist anymore.
Kasumi Ito
Really? I didn't know that.
Mary Nettle
Mindlink was abolished, but that was the most important thing for me because I was the chair of Mindlink and it was a separate organization within Mind, the National Mental Health Charity. And Mind decided that having Mindlink was stigmatizing, was discriminating because there was a special place for users/survivors
Kasumi Ito
But I think Mindlink was established 1990, no.
Mary Nettle
Yeah about 1990s. And then it was abolished in 2005, say. It was therefore 10-15 years. And it was very good to have an organization that we could then be members of ENUSP because that's a membership organization.
Kasumi Ito
Yes.
Mary Nettle
But individuals as well. And the same with all the other. If you needed to be a member of an organization, Mindlink was a good one to be a part of. And Mindlink sponsored us to go to Vejle which was another Danish event.
(Mary became Chair of the European Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry)
....
Kasumi Ito
You are also member of the Survivors Speak Out.
Mary Nettle
I was yeah, but that's finished now as well.
Kasumi Ito
Why and when?
Mary Nettle
Why and when? Put on the internet and see what it says because it was no money. No money. And Survivors Speak Out was very important to me. It was very important. I was a very passive patient for two decades in my 20s and 30s. And when I was at the end of my 30s, I was aged 39 something; I was in a day center, a patient in a day center.
Kasumi Ito
Yes, yes.
Mary Nettle
And some worker came into the day center and said you might be interested in this. And it was a letter from Survivors Speak Out talking about a 2-day workshop away in Edale in Derbyshire which was a in a youth hostel and it was very good. It was very encouraging. And so I rang the people in Bristol who were going and they said I could come with them. And it was amazing. It was completely life-changing. It was called, I often heard it referred to as a Paulian moment,. St. Paul on the road to Damascashad a conversion. It was Because I had never met anybody who was radical about their mental health, I had never heard of the word survivor, I didn't. There were people there who didn't want to take medication. They thought medication was bad for you. All the things that I now know, quite often I hear people say, but it was very, very new to me, very radical At Edale was a survivorpaid by Mind to start what was called the Mind Consumer Network at that time. It became Mindlink. She said, come on, you can be elected from the Southwest. I said I cannot be elected the Southwest of England. I said I cannot be elected. Well no, but we want you to come so come anyway.
There was a democratic structure for Mindlink and it had the support of Mind, therefore it was funded. And when it started, Mind was based in Harley Street just off Oxford Circus, which was the center of London. And so I used to come up for meetings and then eventually I got elected chair. And Mind supported us to go to their annual conferences, they don't do them anymore, which were very, very interesting. We were speakers. We were on the platform. It was very remarkable. But I would have never got to that place without Survivors Speak Out in the first place.
Kasumi Ito
When you met Survivors Speak Out, you were in the day center.
Mary Nettle
Yeah.
Kasumi Ito
Then you left at the day center. Did you leave?
Mary Nettle
Oh yeah. I met other people who were self-employed, worked for themselves as consultants, talking about mental health issues, and doing research but not academic research ? asking people for their opinions.
Kasumi Ito
Yes.
Mary Nettle
Because when I was well, I worked in marketing research, which says in the CV. So I knew about research, asking people what they thought about products and I was amazed how in the NHS or the health services nobody asked your opinion about what you thought of the service. And the wheel was beginning to come towards paying people, valuing them for their time because this Mental Health Taskforce I told you about. In England the movement was beginning to ? so its users were experts by experience and had value. I did all sorts of things.