Growing with Your Voice Counts: Summer’s Story

At Your Voice Counts, we believe in the power of lived experience and the importance of supportive working environments that help people thrive. Few stories demonstrate this more clearly than Summer’s.

Joining us as a Co-Production Worker with lived experience of mental health services, Summer has grown in confidence, developed new skills and now reached an exciting next step in her career as she moves into a customer service role with a new employer.

We will miss her at Your Voice Counts but we are incredibly proud of her achievements and delighted to share her story.

Summer's story

“I am a Co-Production Worker at Your Voice Counts and the role began for me in December 2023, after I struggled with a severe mental health episode that kept me in a mental health hospital for the first 6 months of the year until I was discharged at the end of July. I applied to work for Your Voice Counts as it stood out to me that they help people who are struggling, for example people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health, through both their advocacy and community work. I wanted to integrate into the working environment, support my independent living and be part of something that made a difference.

"The interview process was very inclusive and accessible; it made me feel valued for my lived experience and the staff were so welcoming. I was successful with my interview and started working for Your Voice Counts in December 2023.

"At the start of my role, I lacked confidence in many ways, for example, I was very shy, and I struggled to network and take initiative within my role. It was important to me to adapt to the world of work and build my confidence to thrive in my new environment.

"Your Voice Counts were extremely supportive and helped me every step of the way. They helped me build my confidence, evidenced in the fact that I now produce and present workshops often, and I network regularly, which now feels like second nature to me. Your Voice Counts also helped me to develop my own initiative, creating new ideas and presenting ideas confidently on projects. What helped me progress was taking on board any advice given, accepting any training I was offered and ensuring that I was attentive, driven and productive.

"During my time at Your Voice Counts, I made new contacts, shadowed advocates in their role and had meetings with senior staff around what they were hoping for and discussed with them any ideas that I had. Supervisions were a valuable aspect of the job for me, a time to catch up with my manager, discuss my progress and listen to any advice they had for me. These were a valuable tool to help me progress in my role.

"From my time at Your Voice Counts, I have learned many things; how important compassion is, what it is like to be valued as part of a team, how to have my voice heard and just how important co-production is. I have gained confidence; skills and I now know how to thrive in the working environment.

"If I had to do it all again, I would make sure that I trusted myself more in taking initiative from the start and realised that I just needed to take things one step at a time.”

For more information about our Co-Production team, visit Co-Production | Your Voice Counts.

Summer