Is there anything that in particular that helped you deal with the whole experience?
I don’t think so. I think as a parent if you are reasonably intelligent and with access to the internet and stuff like that, you just deal with it and get on with it. I think probably working in mental health for as long as I have has sent me a bit mad [laughs] and my norms and values are kind of blurred and I think you find that a lot with mental health people. I am mental health people, I am very mental. That because you see so much of what is not normal that your values do change over time so I am not really fazed by anything, you know, I am kind of, I am never really shocked about things that happen, you know kids that get abused or whatever, I am never shocked by that because I used to see and deal with a lot of the emotional stuff with that in my own childhood and in families that I would deal with through my work.
And then when I moved over to the Autistic Society, it was 24/7 autism, do you know what I mean? So I have been there, seen it, done it kind of thing, not that every experience is very real for every person. But I kind of know with … as soon as they start talking and you are talking about whether it is education or whether it is about an ex husband or whether it is about difficulties in relationships, you know where it is going. I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old and I am 40 now. So 22 years experience of working in mental health, and being married in mental health and all of those things to sort of help me understand things better.
