2016 participants speak to Radio 4’s All in the Mind

Two of our 2016 participants have spoken to BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind about their motivations for joining the Think Ahead programme and the work they have been doing in their community mental health teams since September.

I feel incredibly challenged, I feel inspired, I feel that this is the right place for me. Some of the things that I’ve seen have only emphasised why this kind of role and this opportunity is important for me and for the people that I work with.

– Al Tooms, 2016 participant

Al Tooms, a 2016 English Literature graduate from Lancaster University, is now based in a community mental health team in Coventry.

Charlotte Seymour, a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics graduate from the University of Oxford, joined Think Ahead after working as a lawyer in the USA. She is now working in Hackney in East London.

“At this stage I’d say the main thing has been focusing on building relationships,” Charlotte told presenter Claudia Hammond (pictured above).

“I’ve been thrown into some cases where there are people who are in pretty dire straits when it comes to things such as housing and benefits and […] there are some immediate practical steps to take. Once those matters have been dealt with the idea is that you’re working with people on their longer term recovery – their aspirations, their life goals, and their plans for the future.”

To hear the full programme you can visit the BBC website. Or you can listen to the interviews with Al and Charlotte here:

All in the Mind plan to speak to Charlotte and Al again in the spring for an update on their progress.