Welcome to Daring to Dream

Daring to Dream: Making Space and Spaces to Talk about Emotions

Daring to Dream supports the emotional (not mental) health of adults in Wales living with physical illness.

Emotional Health refers to the ability to understand, manage, and express emotions effectively.

Illness provokes a number of emotions including of being scared, distress, sadness and so on.

48% of adults in Wales, that’s 1.2 million of us, live with at least one longstanding illness.

The extensive clinical care we receive primarily addresses our physical needs. However, the emotional turmoil and impact that accompanies illness is also very significant but is not usually addressed.

Illness brings a whirlwind of emotions that can be overwhelming, making it very difficult to enjoy life or live it fully.

The emotional responses to illness are just being a human being, our emotions are not a sign of a mental health issue. However, if we don’t talk about those feelings, we may increase the risk of developing a mental health issue on top of the physical illness.

Research shows the importance of emotional health in managing well with illness:

Research shows that better emotional health and skills can lead to faster recovery from acute crises and support living well with chronic illness. At Daring to Dream, we recognise the importance of addressing these emotional challenges to help individuals manage their physical illness and treatments more effectively.

Making Space to Talk

We encourage everyone living with illness to discuss our feelings. We encourage support from family and friends who are the very people who could make spaces for us to talk and who will listen to us.

Physical Spaces to Talk in hospitals:

To enable talking about feelings, Daring to Dream makes spaces to talk in hospitals. ‘Safe spaces’: Quiet Rooms, Relatives Rooms, and Ward Dayrooms—where patients, and families, when at their most vulnerable are having really tough conversations.

In our ‘safe spaces’ they can feel so much better comforted and supported emotionally. These ‘emotional refuges’ provide a supportive environment to not only share and discuss clinical advice, but also to offer emotional support and indeed to provide a place to cry.

Click here to learn about the transformation of Nephrology Quiet Room in University Hospital of Wales.

Lleswyl

Lleswyl is our flagship, free, live-streamed annual wellbeing festival-at home experience designed to support the emotional wellbeing of those who normally cannot attend live events because of chronic illness, disability or loneliness. It is open to everyone, those living with illness and those living alongside illness.

Lleswyl is an important part of the work of Daring to Dream, as it serves to promote and raise awareness of the charity and forges links and partnerships with other relevant charities as well as reaching out to everyone across Wales who can’t get to live gigs or festivals.

We believe that by addressing emotional responses to illness, this is a potential game changer for patients, their families, carers, and NHS Wales.

By supporting Daring to Dream, you can help create more of these vital spaces to talk for emotional conversations, aiding faster recovery and better management of chronic illness. Please consider donating to Daring to Dream’s campaign to help us make these spaces a reality – HERE.

Dr Nav Masani, Consultant Cardiologist and Clinical Lead for Daring to Dream talks about the importance of our #spacestotalk in hospitals: