Conversation with Thom Stewart

10/07/24 • 55 min

This podcast is with Thom Stewart We met in Dublin city recently where Thom showed me two of his favourite trees. Thom introduces himself as having a foot in two camps. Thom speaks about system change and working inside and outside and his involvement up a peer cafe in Galway - The Galway Community Cafe. Thom outlines why he thinks peer support is a contradiction within a health system. Thom has a wonderful overview of society, systems, care and the professionalisation of peer support: Peer support is relational Requires a real emotional connection Can be practical in nature Thom talks about systems, managerialism and service culture using humour and sarcasm while bringing it back to how people who receive services are sometimes failed. Thom then looks at the health services and how professionals jossle and where peer support fits and how peer support can be prejudiced against. Thom finishes with what peer support would look like in a cooperative and the social determinants of health. Care - Cork University Press Cassie Thornton (feministeconomicsdepartment.com)

Previous Episode

Language giving voice to identity and expressing our soul

In this episode I am delighted to be exploring the place of the Irish language (indeed any indigenous language) as a field of healing. And no better a man to explore this than with Conor Ruadh, who along with many others is an activist in our reconnection with Irish language and culture.

Considering language as a field of healing may at first seem strange. Yet within the language of healing and recovery in mental health, we often consider connection, identity, meaning, belonging and sense making as part and parcel of a recovering journey. In this conversation those concepts are central to the relationship between the Irish language and ‘being’.

The limit of my language means the limit of my world (Wittgenstein)

This is a sentiment reflected in the work of many philosophers and communication theorists. Language gives meaning to our known world, who we are, making sense of ‘us’ in relation to ‘other’ creating cultural identity that grounds us in connection and shared meaning making.

What if all of that is eroded, though colonial cleansing and post colonial shameful perpetuation of that cleansing by the new republic. And a new identity, new meaning making, cultural abys and a disconnect between environmental sense making and prescribed scripts of life replaced a transgenerational identity?

Simple things, some languages do not have a word for ‘I’ as they only understand and reflect being as a collective. In English you are something specific, e.g. Mad. In Irish something would be ‘upon’ you, tá brón orm [sorrow is upon me], a temporal condition, rather than a branded meaning.

If language shapes our world, then in Ireland our world is shaped by and through the lens of colonialism. And it is here we will first explore that impact and reality, before thankfully exploring where and how our own language can be a field of healing.

This episode is slightly longer than usual, though there are two obvious themes, with the first 28mins about colonisation of language and by association a people and the remainder specifically looking at Gaeilge/Irish language as a field of healing.

We could have conducted this episode through Irish, except the point of this exploration was not to push the Irish language itself, it was to realise the importance of its connection to healing and by its absence, some of the shared indigenous challenges in being human through the linguistic lens of ‘other’.

Next Episode

Social Farming: Connecting with land, with community and with history

Welcome to the latest Mad In Ireland Fields of Healing podcast episode. It seems fitting that as we move into the time of Imbolg the time when ewes are pregnant with their spring lambs, that we are speaking to a sheep farmer and how he has integrated Social Farming into his family’s organic farm. I realise when talking with Matthew that the ‘social’ in the faming programme is key and can incorporated anything from weaving folklore into the names and traverses of the landscape to popping in for a spot of lunch to the local community centre.

Social farming provides a deep connection to the land and the seasons. It increases self-esteem and improves health and well-being on many levels. The meaningful farm activities that allow people to participate in day-to-day farm activities are only one aspect of the experience. The beautiful scenery, trips in the jeep, social connections, home cooking, and family welcome add a different level of expertise that is unmatched by any other opportunity, in Matthews's opinion. Another aspect of social farming is the interaction with the local farming community. Participants can feel at ease and become part of the community while they are out on their placement. It is a fantastic opportunity for people living in town settings like Dundalk, who usually wouldn't have the chance to work outdoors and be in nature.

Social Farming in Ireland has the potential to grow, transform and support the well-being of many more people across the generations, from teenagers seeking to leave school to older adults. Matthew celebrated with social farming teenagers who reached important life milestones, and he recently had a lady participate in social farming on her 80th birthday. Social farming has been proven to be effective for participants across a range of services, including intellectual disability, mental health, physical disability, addiction services, asylum seekers, long-term unemployed and at-risk youths.