“I worked for 30 years in mental health services initially as a clinician and for many years as a manager. Real Lives has given us opportunity to invest in and develop our workforce whilst providing people with a service that is designed for them, as well as running the lovely Crocus café. I want to contribute to a positive, recovery focused culture, making sure there is lots of fun and laughter along the way.”

“I worked for Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust for many years before setting up Real Lives as a non-salaried co-director. I worked as a community nurse, a team manager and lastly as the project manager for the Peer Support Service, all demonstrating to me that what people really need is someone to believe in them, the chance to develop their skills and the opportunity to use them in their daily lives.”

“I have worked in a healthcare setting in an admin capacity for over 30 years. I am passionate about supporting people with mental health problems and proud to work at Real Lives, a company that makes a real difference to those we support, where the company ethos is to treat everyone as a person and not a number! My main role is to keep the building up and running and make sure all the paperwork is in order.”

“Having worked in the not-for-profit sector for the last 19 years providing administrative support to a number of Nottingham-based charities and community organisations, I have gained great satisfaction in helping to support the local community and particularly those residents in need. I enjoy being part of the Real Lives family and in helping make a difference to people’s lives. I work full-time in the office and will usually be the person at the other end of the phone for anyone wishing to ring the office phoneline.”

“I have worked at Real Lives since 2014 when studying for my health and social care degree. I am down to earth and have a casual working style in a non-judgemental way. I enjoy helping organise where needed, attending people’s appointments, helping out around the house, as well as community activities such as walking and groups. In 2018 I became Assistant Manager, this role now includes setting up and co-ordinating packages, developing wellness and safety plans and supervising PALs.”

“Having worked for Real Lives since 2013 I have a good understanding of the ethos and have developed my role within the company, I love working here as I am passionate about recovery, peer support and ensuring people receive the care they deserve. I have experience supporting clients in many activities such as meetings, appointments, housing, community inclusion… I also am a PAL mentor within Real Lives so I support new workers get started on their journey as a PAL where needed.”

“I have worked for Real lives since 2015 and I am passionate about community support work, and enjoy caring for and encouraging people to reach their goals. I am an active and motivated person and Horse riding is one of my passions alongside the gym, swimming, shopping and walks. I feel I am easy to get on with, I give my all in helping people out and I have a lot of compassion and care to share in my working role, whilst being efficient in the more practical tasks!”

“My support style is open and positive. I enjoy getting to know people by listening and chatting. I am patient and reliable – if I say I’m going to do something I will do my best to make sure I do. I like supporting people to find solutions and am happy to find out about different options, so people can make choices that suit them. I’m happy to support people with different tasks. I enjoy finding out what people are interested in, as well as sharing my own interests.”

“I have years of experience supporting individuals with complex issues such as mental health, domestic abuse, substance misuse and all round advocacy needs. I am trained to NVQ level 3 in Health & Social Care, Advice & Guidance and have a strong knowledge of mental health issues, therapies and medications. I have also recovered from lived experience of mental health, which gives me passion and empathy to support others in similar situations. I have extensive experience of how stigma and lack of understanding can affect sufferers, and I am passionate about changing universal knowledge on these issues. I am really into music, health & wellbeing and spending quality time with family.”

“I am a friendly and empathetic person. I grew up in Switzerland and attended an International school, thus, have met and interacted with many different types of people from different countries. I grew up loving animals and find great comfort in them. I have previously done support work, mainly for the elderly, however I have also had experience with children and young adults.”

“I became a support worker because I like to make a difference to someone’s day. That can mean cleaning the bathroom, doing some paperwork or supporting someone to a social event. I am focused on the needs of the person I am supporting and am happy to learn about their interests. I like making things and enjoy arts and crafts. I like visiting local art exhibitions. I like reading and visiting bookshops. I enjoy going to the cinema. I am not very active so I would like to start some (gentle) exercise. I have two years of experience working as a support worker. I have a degree in Health and Social Care.”

“I have worked in mental health for around fifteen years, including as an Occupational Therapist, in both the NHS and not-for-profit sector. I really enjoy spending time getting to know people and finding out what is important to them and supporting them to achieve their potential. My approach is patient, reliable and laid back. I am happy to offer varied support including emotional support, getting to know the local area and finding new interests or practical tasks like dealing with mail, tidying, benefits, appointments depending on what the person I am with wants and needs. From my training, I am good at breaking down goals and tasks with people to make more manageable stages so they feel less daunting. My interests include travel, animals, being outdoors, photography, music, and reading, but I am always happy to try new activities and find new interests.”

“I have been working with Real Lives since 2013. I provide recovery-focused, person-led support drawing upon my own personal lived experience, training and work within mental health services. I value honesty and healthy, balanced approaches, taking small steps to reach the individual’s goals. I work very hard at organising myself in order to stay consistently reliable and dependable. I also work on the Real Lives IT systems and provide support to other members of staff.”

“I have been a PAL at Real Lives since 2014 and in that time supported a number of clients. I am able to be a consistent role model in a someone’s life and adapt with them as their journey develops. I would say my support style is relaxed and flexible. I work well with people of all ages, both men and women. I have a good track history for doing good cleans, shops and helping people organise their homes. I am currently studying at University and I enjoy Yoga and other sports.”

“I have a background of working with young adults with emotional difficulties, and have studied within the health and social care field. When it comes to the difficulties we all may face in everyday life I feel an inclusive society is the way forward in helping everyone reach their potential in life. I am a person centred and hands on PAL, I like to take my time in getting to know someone and pride myself in being an approachable person.”

“I have two years of support work experience so far and am looking forward to meeting more clients through my position as a PAL. I like to be active and enjoy providing encouragement for others to keep active, I appreciate the benefits of spending time outdoors as well as becoming involved in the community. I am very keen to support individuals to make their homes comfortable and clean environments to be in, so am not afraid to get stuck into helping organise belongings and cleaning in the home. I like to connect with others through common experiences or interests, as well as embracing differences. I hope I can provide some much-needed motivation and support to anyone seeking help in their lives and help them to move forward.”

“My past experience is helping people in the community and volunteering for disability direct. I like walking, I like fishing, playing pool or snooker, going to play golf, going to the gym, swimming or just having a good talk about anything.”

“I have quite a gentle, calm support style, I enjoy supporting people to get out or to complete everyday activities and tasks. I am interested in nature, science, learning, animals, cooking (although I am vegan so would not be happy cooking meat myself), nutrition and wellbeing, women’s rights issues. I love cinema, music and enjoy poetry and art exhibitions. I worked as a social worker for 10 years working with different groups. I have lots of experience in decision making for people with cognitive difficulties. I do school talks and cooking demos for Animal Aid. I am part of a local activism group and cover Regenerative Culture – to support the wellbeing of the group. I am currently training to be an acupuncturist.”

“For many years I worked in industry but for the last decade I have worked within the health sector. I love being outside walking, kayaking, rock climbing and gardening. I love theatre and film and enjoy reading, which I do as much as I can when I’m not watching or listening to cricket.”

“I first got involved with Real Lives around 8 years ago as a volunteer in the Crocus Cafe. My time at the Crocus was key to my own mental health recovery. After a number of years working with the Crocus Cafe, I was able to build the confidence and stability to enter paid employment in food using the experience I gained there. Having pursued this successfully for a few years, I have come back to Real Lives to help others live their lives as happily and independently as possible and to move into the care sector. I love to help others and I am a very supportive person; I hope to enable others to access the support and passion of Real Lives to enable them to enter or continue their own recovery. Outside of work, my hobbies include handmaking visual art; writing, designing and running home-made Dungeons and Dragons adventure games as well as playing the game myself; board games; learning rap songs; cycling; cooking and slackline rope-walking.”