World Mental Health Day – Q&A with the IMHN Vice-Chair, Jacob Adams

For World Mental Health Day Jacob Adams tells us about what drew him to become Vice-Chair of the IMHN and more about his role.

Where did you hear about the IMHN and how did you get involved?

The IMHN was one of several groups I joined when I took a career break due to my own mental health. This was about a year and a half ago, when I was just discovering the wonderful world of lived experience! I heard about the IMHN through being a member of FoCUS (Forum of Carers and People Who Use Services).

What drew you to become Vice-Chair of the IMHN?

When I first joined, I had the great compliment of being nominated – by whom, I still don’t know! – to stand as Vice-Chair of the IMHN. At the time I felt I was too new, but this time round I decided to give it a go. I’d spent five years as a manager in my previous job, so I have bit of a leadership experience, and in the year that went by I discovered I was quite good at supporting others to share and use their lived experience.

What does your role involve at the IMHN?

I support David our Chair to guide the overall direction of the Network and stand in for him where needed. I recently chaired my first coordinating meeting which was pretty daunting at first but I felt a definite sense of achievement afterwards! My role also has a responsibility around membership; my first task has been designing a survey to gather feedback on members’ experiences of being part of the IMHN.

What are you looking forward to in your role?

Firstly, hearing what members think and feel about the IMHN! People who know me know that I really love feedback! – positive, negative, constructive, corrective – you name it. Feedback helps us to make sure we are always listening, learning and adapting.

Beyond that, I’m looking forward to recruiting new members and supporting existing members to pursue the issues that are important to them. I’m keen that we hear from all voices, not just the loudest or most confident, so I hope to do some work around improving the diversity of the Network and building our relationships with a range of communities.

What do you do when you’re not volunteering for the IMHN?

I have other roles in mental health including as a Governor with Surrey & Borders Partnership and co-leading the service user involvement for the creation of Waythrough – a new national charity that launched last week following the merger of Richmond Fellowship and Humankind. I volunteer with Include.org, a charity that delivers speech and language therapy-based community activities for people with a communication difficulty, and also with a local amateur theatre company.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me trying out new recipes (usually ones which outstrip my culinary skills!), listening to and making music and learning a new language (or 3!).