Georgina Wakefield

Georgina Wakefield is a media volunteer for Rethink and has helped them with many projects including their anti-stigma campaign. Anyone who hears Georgie speak or reads her books cannot help be moved by her passion to improve services for all carers and users and raise awareness of some of the wider issues involved.

Georgina teaches on the three clinical short courses in the section of Mental Health Nursing, and is an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, providing both a carer and user perspective of recovering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She is also an examiner for these three courses and runs workshops on the subject. She delivers presentations to a wide variety of audiences using a unique and very memorable delivery style which includes a mix of family experiences, poetry, statistics, information and training techniques. She also runs ‘Spotlight On Schizophrenia’, a management consultancy offering advice to mental health carers and training to practitioners at all levels. In addition to her work for the Institute of Psychiatry, she works with several NHS Trusts and universities and has spoken publicly at many national conferences. Georgina has also undertaken consultancy work for the voluntary sector and has worked for 2 years as a fellow for Carers Nimhe Eastern Region.

Often described as the morbid Pam Ayres, she manages her own ongoing recovery through speaking and writing poetry about her experiences. She has written a number of books and alongside the family has been part of a BBC 2 documentary on living with mental illness called "My Family Loving Christian". Georgina and her family have also taken part in eight other films highlighting the carer’s perspective and the benefits of Direct Payments. See her website at www.georginawakefield.co.uk