Individual representatives
Co-production is an important part of how mental health services are delivered in Powys, and one factor of this is a group of representatives who have either used, or care for somebody who has used, mental health services. These unpaid volunteers sit on regional and national partnership boards, alongside professionals who are involved in the delivery of services. This includes representatives from the Police, Ambulance Service, medical professionals, Powys County Council adult and child social care managers and voluntary groups.
The reps are there to make sure user/carer voice is included in the planning of services and they are always on hand to listen to your experiences and issues so that they can feed this back to the partnership groups. You can contact the reps by emailing the Participation Officer on mentalhealth@pavo.org.uk or calling 01597 828649.
Also if you would like to discuss becoming a representative yourself contact the Participation Officer for more information.
Meet your rep events
We will be holding regular Meet The Rep events in Powys now that lockdown rules are much more relaxed.
These will be very informal drop in sessions where one of the Mental Health Service User reps will attend. Sarah Dale, who will be the rep attending these events, said “I will be popping in to Ponthafren in Welshpool and Newtown for our ‘Meet the rep’ event. Here you can come and have a chat with us and share your experiences of using mental health services or caring for someone who uses mental health services, so we can better champion service users and carers’ voices at a local, regional and national level. There will be tea and biscuits available.”
Sally Houghton-Wilson
My name is Sally and I have recently joined as a Carer Representative. I want to make sure that carers have a voice in how mental health services are planned in Powys as we can easily be forgotten about. I want to use my experiences to bring about some positive change and make the service better for anyone else who has to care for a loved one with poor mental health. I am quite new in the role but I am really looking forward to getting involved with the other reps, and hopefully meeting other carers to hear their stories.
John Lilley
Hello my name is John Lilley.
I was diagnosed with bi-polar in 2013 and before that with clinical depression as a result of life changing neurosurgery in 2000. After a three month stay as a patient in Bronllys, and attending Patients’ Council meetings whilst there, I decided that following recovery I would join Powys Patients' Council as a volunteer. I believe this helped in my recovery and boosted my self-esteem and confidence.
After being a volunteer for over 5 years I became a Mental Health Service User Representative in 2021 as I felt my experience as a service user, and as someone with lived experience of mental health issues, could help to give a voice and attempt to improve access and care within the mental health services.
During my time as a rep I have also joined the Wales Mental Health and Wellbeing Forum to represent Powys. This is a national forum that meets regularly and reports to the Welsh Government on issues affecting service users and carers locally. I have also been a member of the Powys Crisis Care forum which oversees the delivery of the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat in Powys. This measures the effectiveness of how Powys deals with people in Mental Health Crisis.
Email John at john.lilley@mhreps.org.uk
Rhydian Parry
My name is Rhydian Parry and I’m service user rep for the partnership board here in Powys. I was diagnosed with bipolar back in 2002 when I was 17 in what was a very serious episode. I have been in hospital due to my condition quite a few times since then and it’s from my experiences in there and in the general ‘system’ that I decided to become a rep. I wanted to try and help change mental health services for the better by bringing my experiences and those of other service users to the table. It’s good to have this opportunity and in the majority I do feel listened to and respected on the board. I think that we are making a difference, although the pace of change can feel a little slow at times.
Feedback survey
Do you access Powys Teaching Health Board mental health services?
Individual reps encourage people to provide some feedback about their experience of these services.
You can access this feedback form online HERE.
Experts by Experience newsletter
Over the last 2 years PAVO and the individual representatives have been collecting details from people interested in becoming ‘Experts By Experience’. Up to now we have had over 50 expressions of interest and we were aware that we might not have enough opportunities to give all the respondents a chance to be involved in the planning and delivery of services.
We are addressing this by circulating a regular newsletter collecting current co-production opportunities, both regionally and nationally, and highlighting work done by current reps. Moving forward we would like to see more people take an active role in the work that individual representatives do, providing them with a depth of knowledge of people’s attitudes and experiences of mental health services that they can utilise in their partnership board meetings.
Experts by Experience newsletter December 2023
Experts by Experience newsletter September 2023
Experts by Experience newsletter July 2023
Experts by Experience newsletter June 2023
Experts by Experience newsletter April 2023
Experts by Experience newsletter October 2022
Experts by Experience newsletter July 2022
Experts by Experience newsletter April 2022
Experts by Experience newsletter November 2021
Experts by Experience newsletter April 2021