International Health Humanities Network Membership
Tony Devaney
I am a semi retired former Careers and Training Advisor and a performance poet with a background in Industry, Commerce, Education and The Arts. As a Careers Advisor I worked for many years with long term unemployed, socially disadvantaged and special needs clients. I was also involved with developing creative and expressive arts in the curriculum in South Birmingham schools.
I became severely disabled with Fibromyalgia and rapid onset Rheumatoid Arthritis back in 2004, and was virtually housebound for some time. I have experienced a degree of social recovery in recent years - initially through sharing my own creative writing, narrative and poetry in the area of healthcare. This has led to collaborative work as a service user and health researcher, working alongside local NHS staff at all levels to develop a Recovery focused approach to service provision. I have also been engaged in mentoring and supporting people using mental health services to develop and publish their own creative work and personal narrative.
It was through my own experience of mental health problems and a period of therapy in my early thirties, that I first became aware of the importance of poetry and creative arts as a powerful aid to healing. In the early stages of therapy I began writing spontaneous poems and personal reflections. My poems have continued to 'arrive' ever since. For the last thirty years or more I have been writing and performing my poetry to large and small groups all over Britain and abroad.
I am currently involved as a service user researcher/consultant and project team member, with the 'Creative Practice as Mutual Recovery' research project, based mainly in Birmingham. I have also become a Fellow of The Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham.
I am a member of the College of Medicine and The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Birmingham Research Alliance (CAMBRA), based at Birmingham University.
My particular interest and involvement with Recovery focused initiatives within Health and Care Worcester NHS Trust (HACW) has included co-editing and presentation of the original Recovery Vision and Pledge document to the Board of Directors and gaining of their approval to implement Recovery based training and practices across the whole of the Service. I was also involved with the initial design and development of the 'Big Recovery' website and newsletter. The HACW 'Big Recovery' project is part of wider National developments with Implementing Recovery and Organisational Change (ImROC).
As current HACW Resources sub group lead and as a poet and narrative practitioner, I have a particular interest in developing the Creative Reflections area of the Recovery website. This includes Art, Poetry, Recovery narratives and Digital stories from service users and carers. The website also invites contributions from Health Staff, in a true spirit of 'mutual recovery.' I still co-edit the Recovery Newsletter, which contains news and updates on developments with Recovery Education College, Staff and Peer support training and ImROC, as well as art, poetry and narrative contributions from service users, carers and staff
As a member of Suresearch, a Birmingham University based network of mental health service users and their allies in Research and Education, I have become involved with several different research projects. These include 'Creative Practice as Mutual Recovery' and another research project exploring the effects of current mental health service provision on people's sense of Self and identity.
As someone living with a long term disabling illness, it is great for me now to be working alongside so many creative individuals and finding that we can all help each other along the way. Whether this is towards full physical and mental recovery and training or employment - or 'social recovery' and learning to live creatively with ongoing health problems, there is real value in our work.
For more information on the Recovery ethos in Health and Care Worcester NHS Trust, go to the following link at: