Today Meg Lewis is a prolific speaker and campaigner for mental health and passionate about making the health and social care system more personal, from the inside. She is also an ambassador for Shared Lives Plus and, in 2019, was presented with their human rights award for free expression.
“To those of you out there with whispered voices...what you have to say is important and valid and deserves to be heard”
Today Meg Lewis is a prolific speaker and campaigner for mental health and passionate about making the health and social care system more personal, from the inside. She is also an ambassador for Shared Lives Plus and, in 2019, was presented with their human rights award for free expression.
Meg has found her voice and is encouraging others to find theirs. But life has not always been like this. She experienced a traumatic childhood and spent many years in and out of hospital, resulting in a lengthy, four-and-a-half-year stay at a specialist mental unit:
“I remember a time when I barely spoke more than a few words. I didn’t trust the ears they were falling upon. I also remember days when I talked for pretty much 12 hours straight. Utter nonsense. High on adrenaline and anxiety. For a time my words were angry. Today my words come from my heart and I have never been so grateful and so proud to have a voice and to share it. I’ve learnt over the years that your voice doesn’t have to be the loudest – it just has to be kind and truthful.”
Coming to the end of her last hospital stay, Meg had processed the traumas, come to terms with her past and was ready to move on:
“It was time to leave but no-one knew where was best for me to go. I didn’t have a home I could go to, but I knew I needed to feel part of something and to be genuinely cared for, away from a clinical setting.
“I found Shared Lives after a lengthy online search one day. I took the information to my consultant, used my voice and told her: ‘this is what I want’.
“And that is what I got. An amazing Shared Lives home with a brilliant carer, Hayley, who encouraged me to speak up, express myself and to stand up for what I believe in. Confidence came hand-in-hand with that.”
Meg’s story has now been captured in a powerful new film (see below), which chronicles her early struggles and how Shared Lives supported her transition back into the community:
She reflects: “For most people it seems pretty normal to live on your own with your dog, but my home means everything to me – it’s a massive achievement and something I never thought possible.
“I’m pretty sure without Shared Lives I’d have given up. I probably wouldn’t be here at all. Shared Lives really has saved my life.”
Meg has now been speaking to audiences about mental health and her Shared Lives experience for over two years, appearing at conferences and events up and down the country:
“I choose to speak up for several reasons, one of them being so that I don’t have to pretend that a large chunk of my life doesn’t exist. Yes, it wasn’t exactly pleasant but trying to pretend that it didn’t even happen created heavy dysphoria and dissociation.
“Those years are a bit of a taboo subject in social settings and wouldn’t go down well with either beer or tea and cake, so speaking about my experiences at events gives me that platform to acknowledge those chapters in my life, whilst at the same time helping the audience to understand things from different perspectives.
“I want people with any sort of authority or means to influence decisions about people’s care to really hear my story and see how much Shared Lives has helped me to grow and feel how passionate I am about wanting others to be stood right here next to me because they found their voice.”
Meg’s message to anyone who has struggled in life is clear: use your voice to empower yourself, but also to use it to help others: “I want people to find their voice because in finding mine I found my power and that’s a feeling that I want everyone to experience. I believe that when you reach a goal or milestone you should turn back around and help the next one in line.
“To those of you out there with whispered voices, who blush when you try to speak, and those of you who use sign language and communication boards, what you have to say is important and valid and deserves to be heard: let’s speak up and help others to find their voice too.”
Meg’s story helps to demonstrate how Shared Lives, traditionally seen as a form of social care, can support a range of health issues including mental ill health, stroke recovery or a combination of medical and non-medical needs. You can read more about the work Shared Lives Plus has done with NHS England here.
If you are a health commissioner or senior manager and want to find out more about how you can grow Shared Lives in your area, why not drop us a line, or give us a call on 0151 227 3499.
