My future’s in this room…

I was involved in a conference last Tuesday 01/03/2016 which was around women’s services in Manchester and I was heavily involved in the planning leading up to the event.

I was part of the steering group which was made up of selected women’s organisations in the sector and I found this planning quite exciting. I felt privileged to have such a big involvement into the planning, design and delivery and I was lucky enough to open the conference, and also co-facilitated a workshop at the event around co-production. The nearer we got to the day, I started to feel quite nervous!  Nervous because of standing up, talking and being in front of so many people.

I have a huge passion towards women’s services, and was about to talk in a room full of some very powerful, and influential women. I told myself that whatever the background we came from, we were all there for the same reason.

There was a very encouraging, positive atmosphere. One I felt proud to be part of. I received a fantastic reaction from people that day and feel so happy I got to contribute. It was an amazing experience that I continue to reflect on with much positivity. As a result of the conference, the people involved have agreed that it would be a great idea to stay connected and share our opinions and ideas about the future.

I feel between everybody in the room that day, there is a huge amount of valuable experience, knowledge and ambition that could definitely be utilised to shape women’s services in the future. I, once being a woman with multiple and complex needs, accessing services have a genuine understanding to what these women are experiencing, I understand the need for these services to keep existing, and doing the remarkable work they do.