Radiate network

Today has been a big day for me. 24 hours ago I was having a massive panic attack and feeling so anxious and stressed that I was doubting the progress I've made over the last 5 months. I felt like I was back at square one. My psychiatrist as calm and pragmatic as ever, said that I was making lots of progress and helped me focus on the real evidence of positive change. He has cut my medication slightly, but signed me off work for 3 weeks whilst I complete my community mental health recovery course and start seeing a therapist / counsellor. He was quite clear though that I should go to the launch of Radiate when I told him about it. Even though I told him I felt very nervous about gong to the launch even in an "unofficial / social" capacity. He persuaded me that such a group would be very beneficial for me.

I'm so pleased I took his advice and went to the launch. Radiate is one of RADAR's latest projects linked to the Doing Seniority Differently research report and recommendations that RADAR also launched today. I'll write more about Doing Seniority Differently later, the report is well worth a read - there's an executive summary and an easy read version as well as the full report on the link above.

Radiate is a network of senior managers who also happen to have a long term health condition or disability. It's still in an early stage and tonight volunteers were sought for an advisory panel for the network. But the early aims of the network are to share best practice amongst and raise awareness of disabled people in senior management roles. Lloyds TSB are supporting this whole venture and the network launched included managers from many different sectors including banks, government departments, IT, construction industry, corporate and 3rd sector as well as disability equality.

The launch was well attended and just the right amount of people so I got the chance to talk to most people. There was a mixture of interesting speakers, Baroness Jane Campbell, Phil Friend, Liz Sayce (who read out a message of support from David Blunkett) James Wates, and Helen Waygood and networking time.

I found the whole evening (only 2 hours long, and over by 8:30) very inspiring I also managed to catch up with some former colleagues and met some very inspiring and interesting people. I spoke to a couple of people with bi-polar which was incredibly reassuring, inspiring and emotional for me.

It took a lot of energy for me to go tonight, and I now feel exhausted but also am finding it hard to sleep. I'm hoping that writing this will help me sort things through in my head and then sleep well. I have my mental health recovery course tomorrow and we only have a week to go until I read my final piece of writing.

Tomorrow I'll write in more detail about the actual report and some of the subjects raised at the launch event.