The Hive Interview

Interviewed together as there are three new members of the team.

Are you dog or cat people?

Julie

Neither! I am mostly allergic to things that have fur so there’s no point.

Gary

I’m a dog person; I adopted a dog and brought it back from Greece. I stayed in Greece for a little while; I used to go in and help out at the weekends at a dog centre.

Rachael

I’m a very, very big dog person. My parents have 2 whippets. When I was staying back home I helped look after them when they were puppies. I was sitting in Starbucks yesterday and there was a dog sitting on the chair beside me and it was super fluffy, aww.

Martainn

I don’t have any pets at the moment. My grandparents on our farm in Ireland used to have a pet dog. [So my] preference is probably towards dogs.

Nicky

Both actually. I’ve had lots of cats ‘cos that’s just easier in flats. I’ve only had a couple of dogs in my life, but I’d really really like a dog now.

Rachael (when prompted by the others)

I’ve got a fish who is very very grumpy and about 100 stick insects (everyone laughs). That’s a long story. I started with 4 stick insects, then 3 of them died. Then the surviving one had a lot of eggs. There are now a good 100 or so. The grumpy gold fish is watching them from his tank on the other side of the room (laughs).

So who is new on the team?

Nicky

I started just a bit before Rachael, around the end of August - about 3 months - so I’m now service manager here at the Hive and Redhall walled garden.

Martainn

I started in December 2017 but then I went down to England around summer 2019 and was there for two years. Then I came back up to Edinburgh and I came back to the Hive in December 2021. My job is café assistant and activities worker.

Rachael

I’ve been here 2 months. Same as Martainn, it’s activity and café worker. I’m usually in when its quite busy, so a lot of time it is setting up activities, playing pool with people, that sort of thing.

Julie

I think officially I’ve been here 16½ years! I’ve been an activities worker since then. Every day is different in here. It’s usually a mix of jumping on the coffee bar, delivering activities from clay modelling, to music jam.

Gary

I’ve been here 6 weeks as an activity worker. I just love the fact that every day when you come in it’s something different. No two days are the same.

What attracted you to working in this kind of work?

Nicky

I started as a self-employed gardener, and I started doing sessional work and absolutely loved it. I’d spent so much time on my own as a gardener that working with other people was just lovely. I never thought I would end up working in mental health, it just wasn’t on my radar, but I just loved it and still do.

Martainn

I’d done a lot of voluntary work, and I’ve worked in Saughton Prison, I’ve also worked for a charity working with people with Autism. I’ve worked for my churches foodbank.

Rachael

I’d previously worked in support work for mental health, and I’ve worked on a dementia ward of a care home. It’s always been something I’ve been interested in. Because of the different environments I’ve worked in before, I think I’m good at speaking with people.

Julie

A long time ago I used to work in IT but it bored me to tears. I moved back to Edinburgh, spotted this job, and I came here to do computer lessons with people, and I’ve ended up spending my time in the art room, organising events, all the kinds of things I thought I’d never be able to do.

Gary

I’d been a chef for over 30 years but during lockdown I did a lot of mental health stuff, advocacy, did stuff at the foodbank and I found I got a lot more enjoyment out of that so decided to take that a wee bit further. I also love the fact that each day is different as well.

Nicky

It really surprised me how many other 3rd sector organisations are here; I just think it’s a really nice supportive community. It’s about creating a really relaxed place away from the wards where they can be themselves, they can do what they want. A bit of abnormal normality!