An Act of Kindness

Over 30 years ago I experienced a mental health crisis and spent 2 months in hospital and it was the kindness of the people around me that made sure I wasn’t alone on that journey.

The friends, colleagues and family who came to visit most days. It was the patient who showed me the lovely walks around the hospital grounds full of cherry blossom and daffodils. It was the patient who shared sad songs with me on her Sony Walkman.

It was nurse who let me run round the dining room in distress in the middle of the night and talked to me so calmly and kindly. It was the patient who took me out with my camera who reminded me I was an artist/photographer, not just a patient, that led to me creating a photographic exhibition about my mental health journey, that toured Galleries nationally and led to TV programmes, on BBC 2 & ITV being made about my experience.

Without that reminder to bring out my camera, I may not have created something that took me so powerfully through that experience. There were too many examples of kindness shown to me in that situation that I can’t capture them all here today. An act of kindness can make all the difference to someone having a bad day, and can also have far-reaching benefits for ourselves and our communities