Wellbeing

Maggie Hilditch: Mental Health Advocate and Creative Volunteer

Maggie has lived with Bipolar II Disorder for over thirty years. Drawing from her lived experience, she has spent the past two decades actively campaigning on mental health issues, bringing compassion, creativity, and insight to her advocacy work.

From 2007 to 2010, Maggie volunteered at Wootton Lawn Hospital (2gether Foundation Trust) in Gloucester. During this time, she served as a Service User Representative on the Acute Care Forum and held the position of Artist-in-Residence, contributing both her voice and her artistic talents to improve the inpatient experience.

In 2008, she led a community-based initiative to design and create a Tranquillity Garden for Kingsholm Ward at Wootton Lawn Hospital—a project that brought together service users, staff, and local partners to promote healing through nature.

The following year, in 2009, Maggie coordinated the Wootton Lawn Arts Festival, a celebration of creativity within mental health settings. That same year, she was invited to speak at the College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, where she delivered a paper titled Creative Volunteering – an Occupational Choice in Acute Mental Health Care.

In recognition of her dedication, Maggie was awarded the NHS ROSCA Unsung Hero Award in 2009 by the 2gether Trust, honoring her outstanding voluntary contributions to mental health services.