“It’s slowed down some of my worries”
Lindsay and Isla were matched through our Scotland Peer Support service. They talk about why they both got involved – Isla as a volunteer, and Lindsay as a service user.
Lindsay:
I’ve been diagnosed a couple of years now. I’ve engaged with a lot of webinars and things like that and I volunteer on the Living Well programme. I’ve got a lot of other responsibilities – I’m managing fulltime work, two other jobs, and I’m a carer for my mum, dad and partner. So my life is very hectic and it’s had quite a big, significant effect on my MS symptoms. My MS is quite stress related; the more stressed out I get the worse I feel.
Somebody mentioned Peer Support in a webinar, and I thought “you know what? I’d quite like to do that!” Because sometimes when I’m on bigger webinars, I’m a bit reluctant to share my stuff that’s not quite positive.
What I wanted from Peer Support was to feel less overwhelmed and hear somebody else’s experience around work. It’s a different kind of relationship than with a friend – we focus on things that are troubling me. It’s slowed down some of my worries and thinking and feeling overwhelmed.
My MS is currently stable, but I still get worried about stuff. I don’t give that impression, so people think I can just keep going forever and ever. So for me, Peer Support is about somebody saying “How can we make that better for you?” or “You don’t have to accept that.”
I’ve really appreciated that, when Isla shared her experiences around work, it helped me quite a lot.
Isla:
I came across the form to become a peer supporter the day before applications closed and I thought, well, it’s meant to be! I’m a good listener, I’m good at talking to people, I’m quite good at getting people to open up about things.
Lindsay and I clicked right from the beginning. We’ve got on really well right from the start – our experiences have been broadly similar. I’ve been through a lot of things that Lindsay is or will be going through, like dealing with work parking spaces, the blue badge, changing working pattern, working from home. I say “Well, this is what I felt/did when I was in that position”, and we explore it from there.
It reminds me of the time I met a woman on a train. She arrived at the wheelchair space where I already was, because we were both using mobility scooters. And then we started talking to each other about all the challenges that mobility scooter users face, and it was just so brilliant to actually talk to someone else who understood exactly what it was like trying to fit use of the scooter into having a normal life! So having experienced that, I thought that discussing shared experiences could be really, really valuable to somebody else.
Peer support, offered through the MS Society Scotland Wellbeing Hub service, is different to clinical and professional services. Instead, the support comes from a peer volunteer who has MS. Over six sessions, they can help bring a fresh perspective to your challenges by offering support based on their own experiences.
