Dr David Wilson 1963-2022

It is with much sadness that we write this obituary in memory of our dear friend and former colleague, Dave Wilson. We continue to lament his loss and greatly miss his warm friendship, invaluable support and his many admirable qualities.

Dave grew up in Edinburgh and after leaving school he worked for BT for the best part of a decade. In his mid-twenties he made the decision to return to education, selling his car and other possessions to fund his studies. After a year gaining qualifications for university entrance, he studied psychology at the University of Aberdeen. Dave completed his Doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Glasgow qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2000.

We first met Dave around 25 years ago, when we had the privilege of being joint supervisors during his six-month adult mental health placement. We continue to have fond memories of him from that time, including his sense of humour, interesting and entertaining stories which provided light relief and laughter.

From these earliest encounters we were struck by Dave's natural quality of humility. Belying his modesty was an authentic, intelligent, capable, compassionate clinical psychologist who was always committed to service to others.

In his early career, Dave worked briefly in NHS Glasgow Adolescent services before going on to work in NHS Glasgow Addictions services where he spent the rest of his career. Former colleagues remember him as exceptionally knowledgeable in his field, being generous with his time and willingly sharing his skills, ideas and resources. He facilitated the development of many trainees, junior staff and colleagues over the course of his career. He cheered up staff meetings with good humour and cakes, as well as contributing his critical thinking and problem-solving skills. He had the reputation for being a creative thinker who could be relied on to come up with novel ideas and solutions. He put his creativity to use developing a range of patient resources which he rarely put his name to but which were widely used across Glasgow NHS services, including at a suicide prevention training where people were complimenting the useful patient handouts and speculating which text they had come from.

He had accrued a large collection of books which he generously allowed others to make use of as if it were a local library. He told us he continued to enjoy 'dipping into' his book collection until just shortly before his death.

At the end of his clinical psychology career, Dave was Acting Professional Lead for Addictions in NHS GGC for several years until he was forced to retire prematurely as a result of progressive deterioration of early onset Parkinson's.

During the latter years of his career, Dave demonstrated immense determination and resourcefulness in trying to find ways around his increasingly debilitating symptoms to enable him to continue to offer an effective service. Ending his clinical psychology career prematurely was undoubtedly a significant blow for Dave but he faced it with courage and expressed gratitude for the opportunities, friendships and experiences his career had provided.

After retiring, Dave took no time in utilising his skills to help others with Parkinson's through volunteering at Parkinson's UK. Below are comments from volunteers and staff at Parkinson's UK – all of whom were touched by their involvement with Dave over the many years he was a volunteer. This gives a flavour of the importance of the work Dave did on behalf of so many others with Parkinson's across Scotland.

Sadly, Dave died suddenly and unexpectedly from a cerebral aneurysm. He will be greatly missed and always remembered by his family and friends.

Catherine Keogh and Adele Pashley

With grateful thanks to Chloe MacMillan, Parkinson's UK, Scotland Area Development Manager, for collating these responses from staff and volunteers at Parkinson's UK:

Dave was very intelligent, and good at 'thinking out of the box'. He so giving of his time to Parkinson's UK and worked on many different projects. His input was hugely valued in helping with the Inverness Support Group.

I will treasure the conversations I've had with Dave and the opportunities I had to work with him. He had so many ideas and was brilliant at understanding and planning for the emotional needs of individuals and groups. I miss his intelligence, kindness and warmth.

Dave was a long standing and valued member of the 'Parkinson's Voices' group who work with us to improve services and support for people with Parkinson's. He was generous with his time and always offered a thoughtful and fresh perspective.

I really loved working with Dave. He was so insightful and kind, and always excellent company. His creativity, his empathy and his constant ideas inspired us all.

The 'Fast Feedback' postcards he developed are the way that we find out what people think of our activities, and they are brilliant!

Dave's commitment was never less than wholehearted. I remember him turning up to our Younger Person's event with a huge box full of paper leaf shapes he'd made for an ideas tree – enough for those attending to express their feelings and thoughts many times over.

He would put so much effort into planning and leading meetings to ensure everyone felt listened to and included. I spent a lot of time with Dave persuading decision makers to act on issues that matter to people with Parkinson's. He was motivated to make sure that any difficulties he faced were lessened for others in the future. There was the time that he arrived at a meeting on a bitterly cold winter evening half-frozen after a journey of several miles on his scooter. I have memories of running behind the same vehicle as he whizzed around the SNP conference to raise awareness of the importance of Parkinson's.

Dave clearly valued his privacy, but the severe and very visible Parkinson's symptoms he lived with meant that he was often left much more exposed than anyone would feel comfortable with. The matter-of-fact way in which Dave got on with what he wanted to do in spite of pain and the yo-yo between moving uncontrollably and not moving at all revealed his huge strength of will.

Dave was trusted by other people with Parkinson's, valued by his fellow volunteers and staff, and a friend to many people across our community. We will all miss him terribly, I feel so very lucky to have known him.

Dave was a remarkable man, passionate about supporting people with Parkinson's, even though Parkinson's had caused so many difficulties in his own life. He was a fantastic support to the Scotland Development Team and his calm approach and his innovative way of looking at the world was extremely valuable both to the team and to me personally.

I worked with Dave a lot over many years as part of the Scotland Development Team, Younger Parkinson's working group and also in the development of the Glasgow Parkinson's Cafe. Dave played a huge role in developing information and support activities for younger people living with Parkinson's, and also in championing our working model of co-production. I have lots of very special memories of Dave – he was incredibly lovely, kind, gentle, determined, creative and so generous with his time, knowledge and expertise.