Nicola offers one to one peer support to individuals around bi-polar, depression and mental health recovery as well as alcohol addiction. Nicola first experienced mental health difficulties in her mid-twenties after an incident of self-harming. From that time until her first hospital admission over twenty years later she struggled outside the system without knowing she had bi-polar mood disorder. Today, her professional competencies from the corporate world of IT enable her to undertake group facilitation, committee roles and public-speaking to share her story and work to reduce the stigma around mental health difficulties. In all of her roles, the recovery-orientated themes of ‘Hope, Empowerment, Support’ are in play.
Service User Support Roles (whilst in Ireland)
- Chair of the Galway Mental Health Forum representing service user issues to the HSE (Irish NHS)
- Committee member as a service user representative for several HSE Service Improvement initiatives
- Co-facilitator for an 8 week information support programme for bipolar service users
- Co-facilitator for the Galway Recovery College
- Ambassador for See Change, reducing mental health stigma via media engagement and the green ribbon campaign
- Committee member of Galway Mental Health Association
- Sole facilitator for SMART Recovery an all-addiction recovery
Achievements
- MA Public Advocacy and Activism
- Mental Health First Aid
- WRAP Facilitation 1
- Mental Health Awareness – FETAC L6
I am a member of the Association of Mental Health Advocates and have signed up to the Mental Health Speaker’s Charter.
