Humans of Scotland – Making connections
- Written by: — Development Officer for Humans of Scotland
- Published: 17th May 2019
The power of stories and being in the right place at the right time.
Our Humans of Scotland series sees people share their compelling stories of living with long term conditions, disabilities and as unpaid carers. Over the months we’ve featured many stories of resilience, of times of triumph and life’s challenges.
Storytelling is important on a number of levels – raising awareness, sharing experiences and the act of giving a person a platform to express themselves is empowering and, at times, therapeutic. But, one of the most inspiring things about sharing stories is the element of human connection they bring. By telling and retelling our life stories, we’re reaching out to others, touching their lives.
Humans of Scotland does this. It connects strangers. People are touched by the experiences of others. We see this in the comments people leave on social media. The impact of sharing vulnerable moments is powerful.
But in one instance the connection has gone beyond the realms of social media. Michael Byrne, one of our early contributors, shared his story of living with Complex PTSD. His story is inspiring, heartfelt and honest. Upon reading it, you can’t help but run a whole gamut of emotions.
Michael has been a generous and kind member of the Humans of Scotland family. He continues to contribute to our work and his input is invaluable. As such he was recently invited, through Humans of Scotland, to appear on BBC Radio Scotland’s Kaye Adams show to discuss his mental health journey.
The story Michael tells stems from a lifetime of traumatic events. Among these is his survival of the Clutha disaster in Glasgow in which a helicopter crashed into the roof of the pub killing ten people. At the time Michael assisted a number of injured people. He helped one young woman who had a head injury, giving her his coat and safely seeing her into an ambulance.
While Michael recounted his story of the disaster to Kaye Adams on the show that same young woman was listening, listening to Michael tell something of her story too. She subsequently got in touch with the show and has now been put in touch with Michael.
This is the power of sharing our stories. Here is a human connection between two people brought back together by the act of speaking on the airwaves, bravely recounting a unique and life-changing event.
When Michael contacted me to tell me what had happened, I felt emotional. I felt emotional because I have such belief in the sharing of stories resulting in incredible things, and here was a beautiful and concrete example of that.
Storytelling is one of the oldest behaviours of humankind. There’s a reason for that. It creates empathy, understanding and relationships. By sharing we make ourselves vulnerable, and by making ourselves vulnerable we open ourselves up to the wonderful and unexpected.
Read Michael’s Humans of Scotland story.
End of page.
You may also like:
In her latest TFN column, our Chief Officer Sara Redmond reflects on the current state of social care in Scotland.
Continue readingKicking off September for the ALLIANCE's 20 year anniversary, Grace reflects on the Self Management Programme
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on the priorities for 2026's Programme for Government.
Continue readingSandra Auld reflects on the ALLIANCE's people focused impact, collaboration, lived experience, campaigns and lasting change in Scotland.
Continue readingMark shares his experience with gambling harms, and how this intersected with the launch of the ALLIANCE's ScotRGH programme in 2020.
Continue readingProfessor Anna Glasier celebrates 20 years of the ALLIANCE and it's vital role in shaping the Women's Health Plan for Scotland.
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on the challenges faced by community-led health organisations in delivering prevention.
Continue readingAnnie shares her experience of youth politics, and how SAFE has helped her make connections and makes sense of the world of politics.
Continue readingChloe Craig reflects on how we have helped connect Scotland’s lived experience voice to conversations happening beyond our borders.
Continue readingDr Irene Oldfather reflects on two decades of growth, collaboration, and person centred impact across Scotland and beyond.
Continue readingDisabled people are some of those who suffer most in crises but are ignored in planning. Our 6-step model builds justice throughout.
Continue readingMaisie Peebles shares her experience working with Aberdeenshire Public Health Team on a ‘digital conversations’ project.
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, on why the Scottish Government and parties must seize the opportunity for change.
Continue readingDirector of the Links programme, Roseann, discusses why we need to focus on person centred care, and why the programme is central to this.
Continue readingReflections on the ALLIANCE Integration in Action: Inclusive Leadership event.
Continue readingWhat does The Scottish Report tell us about how we're supporting people with inflammatory mediated autoimmune conditions (IMIDs)?
Continue readingAvril McLean from Action from ME shares new resources designed to support professionals understand the impact of ME on people's lives.
Continue readingMandy Wright from Home Energy Scotland shares how partnerships positively impact their work.
Continue readingToo many young people are falling through the mental health support gap. How do we fix the "Missing Middle"?
Continue readingJoe McCready from Carers UK shares how important their annual survey is, and why it is invaluable for unpaid carers to have their say.
Continue readingColette reflects on the last 12 years of the Community Links Worker programme, as well as her own experience of being a CLW.
Continue readingWith the current World Cup, gambling presents an even higher risk. How can we prevent young people from getting tangled in this web?
Continue readingDr Anthony McMahon reflects on the importance of the Community Links Worker within his GP surgery - and why it makes all the difference.
Continue readingAs part of our 20 year anniversary, the Integration Team highlight the importance of our Connected Communities series.
Continue readingTo mark ‘What matters to you?’ Day, The ALLIANCE's Barbara Flynn considers the impact of Tommy Whitelaw’s talks for nurses and midwives.
Continue reading