Speak up to help others

I was privileged to spend today at an event hosted by Breakthrough Breast Cancer here in Edinburgh. It was described as a “converstation” and the aim was to hear stories of experiences and gather information to use as a basis for developing their support programme. I met ladies who have had treatment for Breast Cancer, specialist health professionals, researchers and supporters – the role I had today as my friend who had Breast Cancer could not get time away from work and asked me to go as her “Bosom Buddy”!

One of the Speakersbank training programmes I deliver is called Speak Up Speak Out. During the training we ask participants to practice and develop their speaking skills by talking about something that they fell passionate about. The aim is that this will improve confidence and encourage those participants to take the opportunity to speak up about issues that are important to them.

The power of this was so ably demonstrated by the ladies who spoke up about their experiences – good and bad - today. There is enormous benefit to including learning from experiences like those in future planning.

Most of the ladies I spoke to ( and some men) said that they were very nervous about speaking up – but they did.  And we should be grateful for that!