Guest Speaking

Beck attended the University of Cumbria and shared her story with our second-year nursing students as part of the Learning from the Lived Experience module. Beck’s story takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions and highlights the fact that struggles with mental health are not selective and can happen to anyone. The most striking element of Becks story personally was the fact she has been able to take such an awful experience and turn it into an overwhelmingly positive thing that aims to help others. Our students were awe inspired and took huge learning from hearing about Becks lived experience. The group is of mixed fields and our Adult Nurses particularly were able to reflect on how their roles are integral to making a positive experience for anyone accessing services that may also be experiencing a mental health difficulty. Thank you, Beck, for sharing your experience and doing what you do for others.

I work in a large NHS organisation, and asked Becky to come and talk to my colleagues, as part of a staff Mental Health day. Having read her book, I knew her story of breakdown, abuse, fortitude, and recovery. Following introductions to the day from the Chief Executive, Chair and a leading psychologist, Becky began to tell her story in her easy, laid-back style and with remarkable candour. She immediately had the audience’s attention, and took us on her journey with her: her love of her work in the police force, her vulnerability, and her commitment to returning to public service. This on its own is an incredible inspiration, but for NHS staff who are all committed to public service and many of whom deal with their own struggles, it resonated very strongly. She has shown incredible strength in coming to terms with her traumatic experience, but has all drawn strength from it. The name of her Community Interest Company – Strength in Struggle – is both apt, and clearly something she lives by. She’s been an inspiration to me and my colleagues.

Beck recently spoke about her journey and the services offered by SIS at Lancashire Minds VCFSE and clinical networking event. She was engaging, informative and several attendees have since commented on how valuable a service Strength in Struggles is.

I had the pleasure of meeting Becky in a force wellbeing event last week where she was a guest speaker in the area of mental health within the police. Becky spoke honestly and bravely about her experience of being a police officer whilst suffering with a mental health condition and how badly she was treated.

I can honestly say I was captivated from from the start to the finish and I could have listened to her all day. Her harrowing experience and suffering she endured and was subjected to by professionals was extremely difficult to comprehend, but her bravery in sharing this is truly commendable. What she is doing to try and develop can only help to educate police forces and other professional organisations on how best to deal with mental health within not only the police but much wider than this. 

I am now reading her book and it is gripping. I can not put it down. It is a difficult read as it is sad to find out the awful treatment Becky endured, but I know that Becky is sharing her experience to make positive change in the future. Thank you so much Becky. For being so brave. You are an inspiration to so many people and I absolutely know will go on to achieve great things with your journey. you deserve nothing but the best for your future.

Our profound thanks to Beck for the outstanding session she delivered to the Cumberland Council Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) team.
It is rare for a training event to be received so unanimously positively, but this was one of those exceptional occasions. Every attendee found the session deeply moving, highly accessible, and extremely relevant to the work we do in supporting people experiencing mental health challenges.
Beck’s story is extraordinary. The honesty and clarity with which she shares the extreme lows, fears, and humiliations she endured—along with her courageous journey of healing and rebuilding her life—make her presentation not only powerful but transformative. To see how she has channelled those experiences into a life of purpose, balance, and service through her charity Strength in Struggles is profoundly inspiring.
Approved Mental Health Professionals work alongside doctors to conduct Mental Health Act assessments, often in complex and emotionally charged circumstances. Our intention in collaborating with Beck to create this professional development session was to ever further deepen the compassion, respect, and humanity that underpin our assessments. Beck’s training more than fulfilled this aim; it has genuinely strengthened our practice.
We look forward to continuing to work with Beck and to supporting her mission to ensure her story—and the work of Strength in Struggles—reaches an ever‑widening audience.
We highly recommend Beck’s training to other AMHP services and to all aligned professional groups, including the NHS, ambulance services, and the police.

Beck came and spoke to a group of GMP student officers, she was a brilliant speaker; open, honest and really encouraged the students to ask her questions about her experiences. If anyone is currently involved in Police training and looking for a credible voice on mental health & policing, reach out to Beck! I’d also highly recommend her book!

I also attended last week our inaugural Mental Health at Work day, run by Clare and Ben, the leaders of the 1 in 4 mental health network. Whilst there is undoubtably much further we can go to destigmatise mental health at work, it was really uplifting to see how far we have come in such a short period of time, thanks to the powerful storytelling and examples set by supporters of that group. I think some of the session recordings will come out next week through BHT Today – I would particularly urge colleagues to watch the video of Becky House about her time in the police; you’ll struggle to come across a more grounding and braver story.

I just wanted to share how much listening to the lived experience today impacted me. It really reinforced the importance of truly listening to the people we care for. Becks’ story was incredibly eye-opening and has deepened my understanding of the need to be person-centred in our roles. I found her passion for helping others with their mental health and empowering them to find their voice deeply moving. It’s inspired me to reflect on my own practice, especially the importance of slowing down and not rushing – something I hadn’t fully considered before.

Police officers are often exposed to situations which are stressful which often includes providing support to our communities during the worst times of their lives. We accept as a service this may have an impact upon our staff and their emotional and mental wellbeing. I want to thank Rebecca for being brave, open and honest in sharing her story about her own mental health as this will no doubt support others moving forward. The feedback from colleagues about Rebecca’s presentation has been incredibly positive and I want to personally thank her for starting the conversation, which is often the first step along the journey.