Barry’s story

"Five years ago I suffered a brain haemorrhage. As part of my rehab journey I attended a LifeMoves group.

Towards the end of the eight sessions we had a new member added to our group. He was a young guy that had acquired a brain injury in a traffic accident. The second week that he attended he asked if he could address the group and then told us: "Over the last couple of years I've lost count of the people who have told me that they can understand how I must feel but last week I sat in this room and, for the first time, I had a conversation with people that actually could. Thank you".

When I reflected on his words it became clear to me that I had been profoundly affected by them.

I had attended the group believing that it might help my recovery in some way. What I hadn't realised until now was that by involving myself earnestly in the group I could be of help to others.

This was unexpected, my self-esteem had been AWOL since I'd woken up in hospital but now I knew that it could be re-built. In trying to help myself I had inadvertently helped somebody else and that was helping me even more. Where would it end?

Later on I was invited to join a pilot group that would be trained as volunteer peer-support workers.

I took up this opportunity and, since completing the training, I have been part of a team that aims to:

My self-esteem has continued to grow. In fact, I am more proud of the work that I do in this capacity than anything else that I have done previously in my life."