Community barbecue

If you've read our last post (here), you'll know the Jigsaw Project is now up and running. To celebrate, we're hosting a community barbecue on Easter Monday. Do come along if you want to try some food, perhaps some activities and have a chat! Let your friends, colleagues and family know and feel free to bring along information about any groups, activities, courses or events you're running.

 

 

Let's get quizzical

Some of the teams hard at work at our last quiz!

Our last quiz back in October 2013 was great fun and raise some much-appreciated pennies for MHAG! People have been asking when we'll be doing another so we're very excited to announce we'll be hosting a quiz on Friday, March 6. Details are as follows!

Redditch Rugby Club, Bromsgrove Road.

7pm for a 7.30pm start.

Bar open and nibbles available.

Kindly hosted by mayor Pat Witherspoon.

£2 a person and up to six a team.

Prizes for winners, losers and best team name.

Raffle in the interval.

All money will go to MHAG.

Hope to see you there! Let us know you're coming on Facebook here.

My mental health New Year's resolutions

It's the time of year now, with all the indulgence of Christmas pretty much over, when people start thinking about their New Year's resolutions. There's always the standard ones of shifting a few pounds, joining a gym, stopping smoking etc. and I'm sure I'll pledge to do a few things myself, forget about them and then bemoan my lack of progress in November/December 2015! But one thing I can be sure of is my continued dedication to the mental health cause, so to that end I've put together a list of eight resolutions:

My mental health New Year's Resolutions:

1. Not ever feel worried about sharing my mental health story - it could potentially help people to know about it whereas no one will benefit if I remain silent.
2. Continue pushing MHAG's aims of tackling stigma, promoting services and pushing for better services.
3. Speak up whenever I see mental health not being treated as importantly as physical health.
4. Look out for those who could be struggling from mental health issues, even if they are hidden, and act where I can to alleviate those issues.
5. Recognise the symptoms of my own mental health issues and act more quickly if they start worsening.
6. Read as much as I can about developments in law, treatments and charity campaigns.
7. Plan a fund-raising challenge in aid of MHAG.
8. Finish editing my journal about my experience of recovery.

Merry Christmas!

I'm now taking off a few days over Christmas to recharge my batteries and get ready for all 2015 has in store! I'm very excited about the possibilities in the coming year and where we could be by the time Christmas 2015 approaches. In the meantime I'd like to send each and every one of you warm wishes - although life with a mental health issue is never easy and can be particularly tough over what is meant to be the 'most wonderful time of the year', I hope all of you find the strength to make it through and that with the help of all the fantastic organisations who work within Redditch, a stable, supported and perhaps even enjoyable 2015 is in store for all of you.

 

 

 

For now, I'll leave you with a few dates for your diary:

 

January 7 - Care Quality Commission drop in session to share experiences of using the Worcestershire Health and Care Trust. Town Hall. 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Please contact

admin@healthwatchworcestershire.co.uk or 01386 550264 to book a place.

January 20 - Jigsaw project initial meetings with interested organisations. Town Hall. 1pm or 7pm.

January 29 - MHAG monthly meeting. Town Hall. 7pm.

February 26 - MHAG monthly meeting. As before.

February 27 - joint MHAG and Macmillan Cancer Support quiz. Town Hall. 7pm. Contact us for £2 tickets.

March 14 - Spring Fling ball at Studley Castle.

 

Every MHAG monthly meeting will be on the last Thursday of a month other than March when it will be the 19th and December when it will be the 17th.

Chair's welcome for our poetry night

I'd like to talk to you all about a subject close to my heart

No one was looking at mental health so we made a start

We wanted to bring it up as an important topic

Because when people ignore it, that's what gets on our wick

We held a meeting last May to see who would come

And since then we've done loads of work and had lots of fun

Fundraising's our aim to bring services to the town

And driving the stigma around it right down

We believe mental health is on a par with the physical stuff

And those who cope with illnesses are really quite tough

It's hard to find doctors who help and can seem like a task

We want there to be services out there when people ask

Thanks for coming to listen to a few poems tonight

We hope you'll think about donating to make the future bright

If you want to come along and get involved in MHAG

There's a monthly meeting, you won't find it a drag

In between we go to lots of different places

So you might think you've already seen our faces

If you want more information please come and find me

Or Beccy Blake who's my right hand lady

For now I'll end this poem and say goodnight

Because some of my rhymes are really quite shi...

Visit by shadow minister for mental health

Rebecca Blake, Mary Jones and Luciana Berger.

Last week Luciana Berger, who's the shadow minister for public health which includes mental health, was invited down by our vice chair Rebecca to meet Neil Ordish from Headgym, one of the leaders on the mentoring project, and Mary Jones and the support group down at The Space in Winyates.

We also had the chance to talk to Luciana about how MHAG started and the kinds of things we've been doing in the last 18 months. Although Rebecca is obviously a politician, MHAG is not a political group and we welcome support from anyone! However it's great to be able to highlight the work we do and the great community we have in Redditch on a national platform and to have interest from people outside the area.

I've written a story about the visit for the Standard so to save repeating myself on here, click here to read more.