Interviewer

First, would you be able to start with your name, the group you’re part of, and your age?

Emily Vincent

I’m Emily Vincent. I am part of the Enfield Stroke Friends, and I’ve been volunteering at the Stroke Cafe on and off mainly last summer, and I’m 26.

Interviewer

Okay. So what inspired you to first get involved with the Enfield Stroke Friends?

Emily Vincent

So, I’m training to be a speech and language therapist. I’ve just finished my Masters. And last summer the opportunity was emailed around to volunteer with Attend, and I’ve always been interested in working with adults with acquired communication difficulties, and people who have had strokes specifically. And it sounded like a really good opportunity. And I had a chat with Nichole and Sona, and it sounded like something that I really wanted to be part of. I live in Enfield, so it was a perfect opportunity to kind of support my local community,. and work with a lot of different people.

Interviewer

And when did you first start volunteering?

Emily Vincent

I started last summer, so about a year ago, probably July, 2023.

Interviewer

Nice. And what has been your main role as part of the Enfield Stroke friends?

Emily Vincent

For the stroke cafe, I used to help run it. So every Tuesday throughout last summer I would help and set it up and, you know, make the teas and coffees, and stuff. And I did a couple of these six monthly reviews. And now I am a Trustee of Enfield Stroke Friends.

Interviewer

And what impact do you think that you’ve had?

Emily Vincent

I hope that I’m a friendly face, and I think I make people feel comfortable there in terms of my impact at the stroke cafe. But I think this, like stroke cafe on the whole, it’s just a really lovely place for people who obviously have been through really life-changing events. And it’s just like they have shared experiences, and I think it’s really lovely to see everyone supporting each other.

Interviewer (02:12):

And what impact do you think it’s had on your life?

Emily Vincent (02:16):

Life? I really enjoyed it. I think it made me enjoy living in Enfield more. I really felt a really positive impact on my experience of living in Enfield, and understanding the community. Professionally, I think it’s been very beneficial to spend time with people who have had strokes, and I’ve kind of been through the pathway that I’ll be working as part of, so obviously not everyone has communication difficulties, but just even understanding their experiences post-stroke has been professionally really insightful. But yes, on a personal level, I feel it’s been, yes, beneficial for me to feel like I’m giving back. But also, yes, I’ve really enjoyed being part of the Enfield community a bit more, and volunteering where I live.

Interviewer

What is your current profession?

Emily Vincent

I’m training to be a speech therapist, so I, I started a speech therapy job in September.

Interviewer

Oh, that’s great. Congratulations.

Emily Vincent

Thank you.

Interviewer

And do you have a favourite memory from being part of the Enfield Stroke Friends?

Emily Vincent

Oh, I did a nutrition session, that’s probably a standout from last summer. I’m a qualified nutritionist. That was my first degree, and I did like a healthy eating session with everybody. Had a really good turnout, some really good questions. That’s great. Yes, it was really lovely. So that was quite standout. And also the seated exercise session. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I was kind of like sat observing, and thinking how good that was. Everyone kind of came together, and you could see people who felt challenged. But I felt it was really inspiring that they felt challenged and were still persevering, and really trying to get the most out of that session that they could. So yes, I think they’re my top two.

Interviewer

That’s great. So you’ve been here, you’ve been volunteering with the Friends group for about a year. So have you seen any change as you’ve continued to volunteer over the past year?

Emily Vincent

Stroke Friends has become a registered charity now, so I guess that’s a big change in terms of like behind the scenes.  I knew they’re going to change venues, so I guess that will be quite a big change actually for the attendees. But I kind of like, throughout the last year I’ve been, so I went back to Uni in September, and then I’ve been attending a lot less frequently than I did last summer. Oh wow. And I think there haven’t been huge changes, but I find that positive because it, you can kind of go and it feels like you haven’t been away, and everyone’s still going, and you’ve still got the regular people that go, and I have their little stories or there’s certain people that do,  there’s a couple that always watch horror films and they were telling me what horror films they’ve been watching recently. So stuff like that. I think actually, although there’s not been a huge change, I think that’s quite positive. I think that steadiness is really nice. And that’s familiarity I think for the attendees as well, really.

Interviewer

Yes, Do you think that there’s still the same need for the community to support this friends group in the same way that it was when you first started?

Emily Vincent

Yes, I do. Yes. I think it’s such an important service.  And I think it needs as much support as it  can get.

Interviewer

Yes, Do you have anything that the Stroke Friends are looking forward to, that you are specifically looking forward to? Anything that you would like to implement in the future?

Emily Vincent

Not that I’m aware of. I’m hoping to, hopefully I’d like to visit over the summer again. Like I say, I’m kind of less of a presence, I guess volunteer at the moment.

Interviewer

More on the administrative side.

Emily Vincent

Yes. Okay. And I like doing the AGMs, and stuff. Yes. But there’s one thing, I think there’s a meeting that’s Thursday, so maybe we’ll know a bit more there.

Interviewer

That’s great. And what keeps you motivated to keep volunteering?

Emily Vincent

The connections that I’ve made, like with Nichole, and, and those at Attend, spur me on.  I think, like I say, I just really think that the Stroke Cafe specifically  is so valuable, and I think if people can support their life, I can support that, then I absolutely would like to carry on doing so.

Interviewer

And coming back to when you said that, how you first started volunteering, is there something that was particularly striking about the Enfield Stroke Friends compared to other groups or compared to other volunteer opportunities? Like why was this the one that you chose?

Emily Vincent

For me personally, it’s because it was so local to my community, and it was with a client group that I’ve been interested in.

Interviewer

That’s great. And what would you say to encourage people to get involved with the Enfield Stroke Friends today?

Emily Vincent

I think I would, I would strongly encourage them to, I think it doesn’t feel like you are doing work, if that makes sense. Yes.  It feels like it’s something that I purely enjoy going to. It’s a really lovely group, and I think if I was to be saying, encouraging people to go, I think I would say yes, it’s such a lovely community to be part of. It’s a really nice thing to do. It’s only a couple of hours a week as well, and I know people have busy lives, but I think we should where we can, give back, and I think as much as hopefully as much as you, other people get as much from us as I do as well, or I did last summer at least.

Interviewer

Yes. That’s amazing. Well, I hope you’re able to get back to the more volunteer aspect that you want to.

Emily Vincent

My current job will make that a bit hard I think

Interviewer

Yes. Well I think those are all the questions I have today, but thank you so much for talking to me.

Emily Vincent

No problem. Thank you.

Interviewer

Thank you.