We recently had the pleasure of catching up with one of our learners who came to ACL looking for help and support with her mental health and wellbeing.
Hayley joined our mental health recovery program, firstly to get some information about stress awareness and strategies for supporting her mental health.
She told us “I’m a full-time family carer for my mother-in-law who has advanced mixed dementia (Alzheimer’s and vascular). I also care for my husband who broke his back in a car accident when he was 20. He has significant physical damage and complex mental health issues including PTSD.” Hayley also told us about her own situation – “I have a health condition myself and PTSD, plus anxiety. As I’m sure you can imagine my life is very stressful”.
Our learner has been a long-time participant in the courses, finding them consistently helpful for managing stress. She particularly appreciates the safe and supportive learning environment created by the tutors, which enabled her to share as much, or as little as she felt comfortable with. The pace of the course was well-suited to her needs, providing a balance of learning and reflection.
Our learner went on to give the following feedback.
“I would absolutely recommend ACL to anyone who was struggling with their mental health or looking for an interesting course to do. If the course wasn’t free, I would have found it extremely hard to attend as we live on low income”.
“I chose ACL because the course looked interesting and the tutors’ past experience with mental health. The benefit of choosing an ACL course is there’s a chance to learn ways to cope meet new people and develop confidence”.
“Before I started at ACL, I was in a bad place no confidence struggling to cope and feeling very alone. After coming to ACL, I feel more positive that I can manage my mental health and stress. I know that there is support available to me that I can access”.
“What surprised me the most was how much I learned and how safe I felt in the classroom. Also, despite lots of different mental health needs in the classroom, we all felt some degree of commonality with each other and not so alone”.
“Carly and Dee are two of the nicest tutors and people I’ve met. They made me feel so much more positive than I thought possible”.
