Volunteering for this project
Louise Meiklejohn
Hello, I am Louise and have just completed my master’s in museum and heritage development. During my course I was given the opportunity to volunteer on this project and to learn about oral history. And to help explore and preserve the local heritage of Nottingham’s mental health provision. This project has been a fantastic experience as it has allowed me to expand my skills, as well as to engage with individuals on a personal level on a topic that is of interest to me. This project taught me how to edit audio clips, which was a completely new skill to me as well as developing my organisational and communication skills. My favourite part of the whole process has been talking to the individuals who shared their experiences with us and learning about their personal experiences of Nottingham’s mental health care provision. It has enabled me to gain a new level of understanding into health care provision within Nottingham and has enhanced my understanding beyond what I could have gained solely from reading about it. It has been really wonderful to be part of a process that has enabled people to share their experiences and stories.
The process began with me and my fellow colleagues being trained in oral history. As a result of the lockdown due to COVID-19, I learnt how to record interviews remotely. This process taught me so much about how to conduct an oral history interview but also about Nottingham and mental health care provision more widely. I found this a fascinating process that was made even better by the openness of my colleague and supervisor Verusca Calabria. The supportive environment made learning the process of how to conduct an oral history interview easier with plenty of opportunities to practice and reflect on our own skills as well as our colleagues, creating a really supportive learning environment. The reading also allowed us time to reflect on what oral history is and is not and helped to shape my approach to my interviews.
One of the reasons I was so excited to be part of this project is the importance of recording oral histories. I feel it enables individuals’ perspectives to be recorded and maintained for the future, helping to give a better understanding of the past and enhancing our depth of understanding of different people’s experiences. It enables us to see the bigger picture while allowing us to explore a multitude of experiences that may not be recorded elsewhere. My first degree was in history and I know the importance of recorded material for giving insight into the past. I always loved personal accounts as I felt these transported me back in time and gave me a clearer idea of ordinary people’s lives. With this project I hope we can go some way to illuminating people’s multiple experiences of mental health care. It has been such a rewarding experience recording individuals’ memories and gaining first-hand knowledge of what Nottingham health care provision was like and how it has changed over the years. I hope you enjoy listening and reading about the oral history interviews within this website as much as I enjoyed conducting them and that it gives you a glimpse into the world we have tried to uncover.