Talking #TeamCWPT blog

Dr Alex Cotton is a mental health nurse and the chair of the LGBT staff network at CWPT.  She leads the Street Triage Team, working closely with the police to support people experiencing a mental health crisis. Her 37-year career has been impressive: she has earnt an MBE, an honorary doctorate, and has even founded a charity. For LGBT History Month, we caught up with her about her many career achievements, her impact in mental health, and why making space for LGBT voices matters.  

From operating theatres to mental health nursing 

Alex started working operating theatres when she was 17 but soon learnt that she had a desire to talk to people. She moved from the South of England to train as a mental health nurse in Birmingham and began working on a ward as a staff nurse, but it was a placement in the community during training that really inspired Alex.

At the time, there weren't many opportunities for early career nurses to work in community mental health services, but roles in Coventry had different entry requirements so she applied. She says: "that was a very good move because you've got 28 years out of me!"

After commuting from Birmingham for 5 years, Alex finally decided to make Coventry her permanent home. She says: "Your friends at work are so important. This becomes like a community through connection. I'm very proud to have moved for work and saved a fortune in petrol!"

The little moments make a difference in mental health 

In mental health nursing, Alex says it is the littlest things that can have the greatest impact on those we support. It's the conversations that have led to someone accessing mental health support, the family member who feels better able to help a loved one, or the person who has hope in their recovery.  

"It's not like surgery where you might need something major, but it's those small things that have the largest impact and building on those. Those small acts of kindness, respect and all the values that we bring from this organisation to the patient to make them feel that they can continue, because we must give people hope. I think that's what we're in the business of doing."

Finding a voice and making space for important conversations 

Now a confident and outspoken advocate for mental health and LGBT issues, Alex has had to overcome challenges along the way both in her professional and personal life.

To combat an intense fear of public speaking, Alex undertook an intensive 6-week course in stand-up comedy. She stood up in front of an audience of peers to deliver a 10-minute stand-up routine. She says: "It treated my social anxiety of public speaking. I believe the Chinese proverb that people who listen don't speak and people who speak don't listen. I'm hoping that I'm now in the middle ground."

When Alex was growing up, discrimination towards gay people was common and there wasn't a space for meaningful conversations about identity and sexuality. It led to feeling as though she had to hide a part of herself: "I couldn't say I was gay at school. I probably knew, and my teachers probably knew, but we couldn't discuss that and it was a feeling of not belonging."

Now chair of the LGBT network at CWPT, she is passionate about ensuring all our staff have a space to have their voice heard and their experiences recognised. The network is open to people who identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as allies.

"I think that we have got to be really mindful of people who have had discrimination when it was okay to be discriminated against. Discrimination puts you in isolation and what we want to do is create a safe environment where people can be themselves and talk about their experiences."

A lasting legacy in mental health 

Throughout every moment of her career, Alex has found inspiration from the services she has worked in, being a driving force behind initiatives that have improved access and outreach to mental health services. In 2018, she was awarded an MBE, followed by an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick for her work in suicide prevention and for setting up it Takes Balls to Talk, a charity to support and engage more men in conversations about mental health at sporting fixtures.

When talking about her MBE, Alex says: "It wasn't about the award, it was about making a difference and that's where I get what I call my 'ching moments'. It Takes Balls to Talk came from working on street triage and in a different organisation, hearing the impact of suicide on the communities that we live in. We wanted to reach men in particular, because 3 out of 4 suicides a male."

The goal was for volunteers to start conversations about mental health where men go, and the charity is now celebrating it's 10-year anniversary.

"For me, the 'ching moments' are when we've spoken to someone at the football match. Maybe it's not the person who is feeling low, it's the relatives of people. A chap came back one year and had come to say thank you because what we said helped his brother to get support and he's here. And that to me, that's it."

Last year, Alex took the lead on bringing inspiring real-life stories to the stage in WoW (Willenhall or Warwick) Street Triage: The Musical. This incredible community event and its team of volunteers brought true-life stories to the stage in two powerful performances, to show that mental health support is always available to those who need it in Coventry and Warwickshire. The cast have just been announced as finalists in the Coventry Health and Wellbeing Awards.

"The musical was a different way of communicating and educating people on mental health awareness, because awareness is a first part of how we can support someone through this journey. The proudest bit is seeing people with lived experience being able to share their stories."

"What I've learned is we all make the NHS a better place by working in it and I'm sure that's all that we would want to do. Everybody wants to do that. We come into work because we're trained and we want to improve people's lives."

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Thank you to Alex for sharing her incredible career story this LGBT History Month.

Find out more about our staff networks and incredible career opportunities with #TeamCWPT.