A patient has teamed up with an NHS Tayside peer support worker to create a children’s book focusing on the daily impact of mental health.
During their peer support sessions in Tayside’s Carseview Centre, patient Caitlin McRitchie and her support worker Jamie Stewart came up with the idea to channel their lived experience into the book.
After eight months working together, the book ‘Molly and Mr Monkey’ is now published, telling the story of a young girl and her experience of mental health.
The authors say they brought together their lived experience into a child friendly story, where Mr Monkey is a metaphor for the unpredictability of mental health on a daily basis.
Their hope is to encourage children to speak openly and honestly about their emotions, feelings and experiences, all while having fun reading about the hi-jinx of Molly, Mr Monkey and their friends.
Jamie and Caitlin NHS Tayside Carseview Centre.
Jamie, who works in NHS Tayside’s quality improvement and practice development team, says his graphic design background helped:
“We came up with the story pretty quickly but it was tweaked many times as we wanted to get the right message across, that was important to us both.
“I would draw out a rough storyboard and we would discuss the text. I have never really drawn cartoons on the computer but l know my way around graphics programs, so we set about painting backgrounds with water colours, scanned them in and started to draw the characters.
“I loved being in a team with Caitlin. Both of us are very proud of how it turned out. It was hard work but so much fun!
“When I showed my team the progress we had made, they could not have been more supportive, they helped me with the next steps to get the book printed.”
The Carseview staff supported Caitlin and Jamie to access funding to bring this story to life through vibrant, hardback books.
The team continue to be involved in helping the story reach as many people as possible, say senior nurses Danielle Gorrie and Donna Robertson.
Donna adds:
“This is a wonderful example of the impact that the peer recovery worker role can have on person-centred care.
“Peer recovery workers offer unique benefits in mental health settings by using their lived experience to support and inspire others in their recovery journey.”
Caitlin says she hopes the book brings “as much joy to people as it did to me and Jamie in creating it.”
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