48. Pippa Kelly - dementia campaigner extraordinaire!

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

Continuing the recent storytelling theme, and in solidarity with the #StartWithPeople event run by the Public Participation team of NHS England this week ...
For the first time in the series, I'm picking up threads from our #dementiachallengers work, and where better to start than talking to my friend Pippa Kelly, award-winning, blogger, journalist, dementia campaigner, author and public speaker!
Storytelling … and creating ripples ... BIG RIPPLES!!🍋🍋🍋
Enjoy!
Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋

• ‘Wild Card – Whose Shoes’ podcast series is helping great people have a voice
• We don’t necessarily set out to become influential campaigners – our personal stories lead us there
• Great hashtags support storytelling to bring about change … think #HelloMyNameIs, #dementiachallengers, #MatExp!
• Personal stories help others feel they are not alone and help to build communities. Bolder together!
• Telling personal stories is hard. The emotion is bubbling under the surface and we are vulnerable
• Caring for others happens against a backdrop of your whole life and affects the whole family
• Speaking out honestly about how you feel helps others
• Resentment. Do others feel like that? Well, yes, sometimes they do!
• Stories resonate. "Oh, my God, thank you for saying that!"
• Support people who generously share their lived experience – don’t have them as a token, tick-box on YOUR agenda!
• Acknowledge and plan for the fact that stories may trigger difficult memories for the storyteller and the audience
• We have to be authentic – none of us is immune to getting emotional, even if we have told our stories many times
• Huge, unpredictable ‘ripples’ happen when we share stories – some great examples here!
• Personalised care and dehumanising care are two sides of the same coin – learn from both
• Cynicism about the power of storytelling is dispelled when NHS leaders start telling THEIR stories
• NHS language can be confusing - what do people do that don't have a relative who's a NHS consultant to explain everything?!
• There always needs to be a human connection, a relationship between the cared and the cared for
• The ‘battle’ for NHS continuing healthcare is a nightmare –a system that perpetuates health inequalities
• You know your story has ‘landed’ when you see everyone nodding.
• Powerful stories grab people emotionally … 'by the short and curlies'!
• Don’t let your systems become dehumanised ... "The living before the deceased"; 'Certificate of Existence'?!
• Storytelling works! When data and talk about pathways failed … £3 million of public funding was secured by starting with the stories
• Poweful ripples happen and stories interweave when people connect and share
• As always, @Gills_Mum was influential!
• Anna Geyer’s graphic records capture the commonalities and threads between different areas of health care: people, vulnerability, wanting to be heard, to be listened to, to be taken seriously, to be valued.

Links:
Pippa Kelly’s podcast: Well I know now
Pippa's book - 'Invisible ink'

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I tweet as @WhoseShoes and @WildCardWS and am on Instagram as @WildCardWS.
Please recommend 'Wild Card - Whose Shoes' to others who enjoy hearing passionate people talk about their experiences of improving health care.