My name is Obinna Ugoala; I have recently become employed as a Community Development Worker at Fanon Mental Health, part of Southside Partnership, my catchment area is the Surrey Prisons. Prior to this I worked for Southside' Prison Project on a voluntary basis, for a year, as a Peer Advocate supporting the resettlement of prisoners with mental health support needs.
During my time at Southside I have had the opportunity to develop and improve my skills through my duties at work and a variety of training opportunities. Towards the back end of 2008 I was informed of the BME Leadership Programme that was due to start in January 2009. I was successful in my application to join the programme and subsequently I started on 28 January 2009.
As a man of African origin who has a history of substance misuse, had dealings with the criminal justice system and suffered with mental health issues, the leadership programme was of great interest to me. I say this because as part of my on going personal journey of recovery, it has been important for me to acquire as much knowledge as possible in order to sustain a successful recovery. Different individuals use varying recovery tools to avoid any form of relapse. For me one of my best tools is my desire to improve myself through the accumulation of valuable information.
What can I say about the BME Leadership Programme?
Well to be honest as far as training programmes/courses go, this is up there with the best, in my opinion. From the very first session I felt a strong feeling of empowerment, a feeling of ‘I am so glad I was accepted onto this programme, it's going to be great'. The various people that were invited to speak and deliver sessions on the complexities of good leadership, the unity and support that was evident amongst the group members and the beautifully articulated facilitation techniques used by Janice and Kultar, made this whole programme such a memorable experience. I have gained so much from this programme, new friends and colleagues; an excellent understanding of what good leadership is all about, a clear insight into policies, procedures and government legislation, and how these affect people from BME communities who have mental health issues.
I would like to say a little about the programme from the perspective of an ex-offender. Firstly I feel that being on this programme was enlightening and refreshing for me as an ex-offender. To be able to share very sensitive and personal details about my past, as I did during my presentation on the last day, proves to me that there is hope and life beyond prison for ex-offenders who have the desire to turn their lives around in a positive way. I felt all along that there was no one discriminating against me because of bad decisions I had made in the past, in fact quite the opposite, I felt a supported, safe and comfortable sharing details of my troubled past with my peers and the group facilitators. As an ex-offender this programme has definitely me helped me to take further significant steps on my journey of recovery.
Towards the end of the programme there was sadness amongst the group, as we all could sense that we would be departing and going our separate ways. To combat this sadness we agreed to sustain our affiliation as a group and continue to meet quarterly. We had our first meeting on Tuesday 21st April at The Southside Partnership Head Office.
The meeting went very well indeed; a few of the issues we discussed were roles for group members, the direction of the group a name for the group.
Over all the way our first meeting was facilitated was a triumph and I believe a testimony to the power, quality and importance of the BME Leadership Programme.
Yours truly,
Obinna Ugoala
Community Development Worker