A seat at the table

We often think of the Summer Solstice as a peak, climactic moment to sum up the best times of our year and a sign to renew our energy for the rest of the year. What if it’s more than that? What if it’s a symbol of opportunities and greater change? For me it marked the transition into my role as an action researcher, nudging me to step out of my comfort zone and embrace a larger responsibility since joining Global Generation 6 years ago as a Generator and later as a Voices of the Earth Fellow.

My journey working as an action researcher for one of our collaborators, Dr Jane Myat, the founder of The Listening Space at the Caversham Group Practice, really began on the morning of the Solstice. I remember sitting in the Story Garden polytunnel, the rain’s beat echoing in our ears. As I listened to Jane Riddiford telling the story of Matariki to the tune of Seth’s fiddle. I couldn’t help but think that maybe the rain wasn’t a coincidence after all, it welcomed us into the space together. Although I don’t remember exactly what was said, I do remember Jane Myat briefly going outside at some point and seeing one of her patients in the garden.

After our Story Walk session which included a number of patients from the Caversham, Jane Myat sat and talked with me, Lucy and Cassie, the two other Global Generation Fellows who were involved in the action research journey with The Listening Space. Our discussion with Jane stuck with me. As she opened up about how The Listening Space was created, I was amazed at how organically the space has grown; it made me realise that health and creativity can go hand in hand, something I'd never thought about before. It was amazing to see the things that have come out of this for both patients and staff of the GP practice and the endless possibilities for opportunities that may open up. What if The Listening Space could act as a template for other practices. Is it fair to say that sometimes being radical might not be a bad thing after all? The morning ended with the question of “what if” floating in the air.

A few weeks later, Lucy, Cassie and I sat in the shade of the yurt in anticipation of the next step; a meeting with UCL partners. I wondered what the meeting would reveal. It was the first time I had been part of a meeting like this and I could feel the nerves trickling in at the realisation that I was to meet the funders for our inquiry and whatever creative documentation we would produce. While waiting for others in the UCL partners team to arrive, Jane Myat gathered herbs and we sat drinking herbal tea with Jo Lynch, the patient connector from the practice, along with Silvie Cooper an action oriented researcher from UCL partners; the warmth of the herbal tea melted my nerves.

Somehow something felt magical about all of us sitting around in a circle discussing what might be possible … a video, some blogs that might capture the essence of how we and others have experienced the healing energies of The Listening Space whether there in the garden in the middle of the Caversham surgery or in collaborating spaces like the Story Garden. Each of us from different walks in life, having come to be connected through other connections, but nevertheless a part of the same community.

So far I have connected to people and thoughts, to stories and memories, but not in any particular order because they are intertwined as seamlessly as our transition into The Listening Space project over the past weeks. As we sat there, in the Story Garden yurt with the sides rolled up, it felt like I was a part of a new kind of movement, fresh and radical. I felt grateful that I could be involved in witnessing and capturing the flow of ideas and hopes for doctoring more holistically. Jane Myat has been doing this through The Listening Space and beyond. It is a safe space for everyone where the focus on healthcare is through relationships and all the creativity that arises through community.

Feeling excitement bubbling up, I frantically took notes, eager to catch every moment, as the conversation flowed from looking at well-being in a wider lens through innovation in healthcare to the garden acting as a portal between the Kairos and Chronos time. As Jane Riddiford reflected, “I felt a real interest in different worlds coming together, the clinical world of hospitals and medical practice and the more organic world of gardens and community spaces.” 

We introduced freefall writing to the UCL partners team, a way to sit with ourselves and openly pour our emotions out onto the paper. It was very moving hearing everyone’s honest thoughts and feelings which is often difficult in formal meetings about healthcare where I am hearing that it is more commonplace to be objective and distant. I felt a strange connection with these people who I had never met before and we all wondered what it would be like if meetings were always like this. The meeting ignited a sense of hope within me. I am glad that we have the opportunity to make a step, as small as that may initially be, towards revolutionising healthcare. 

We met at The Listening Space a few weeks later. This time it was an opportunity to meet patients, staff and doctors at the practice. I heard about ‘Crafternoons’, a weekly craft session run for patients by Jo Lynch, and so many other creative possibilities for the space. This time it felt different; coming alive as everyone picked vegetables to cook with and all of us eating together. It felt incredible because it was the first time I had ever seen an interaction between GPs and patients outside of a clinical setting. I glimpsed new possibilities for how nature and community are a foundation for a healthy and caring kind of healthcare. 

---

Notes from the Garden