The Jigsaw Project

If you've been around at MHAG meetings or on social media/e-mails, you may have heard us talking about the Jigsaw Project. The good news is it is now firmly up and running (it's been going on in the background but we're really giving it a push now!) but what is it?

 

Who's involved?

The Jigsaw Project is the brainchild of Harriet from MHAG and Fay from Yum Tum who wanted to find a way of combining their passions for mental health and food!

 

What is it?

It's a project aimed at engaging everyone in the community and promoting what's already going on and anything new which starts up. The idea behind the name is that all aspects of community and health slot together in a 'jigsaw' - so healthy eating, mental health etc. Whether it's a one-off activity, a group which meets every week or a course, share it with us and we'll share it with everyone. We're sharing what's going on through social media but any longer-term projects will also be promoted through a printed directory to be distributed across the town.

 

How do we get in touch?

E-mail us via at redditchmhag@gmail.com

Call Harriet on 07788 379389

Like 'The Jigsaw Project' on Facebook and message us or get sharing your group/activity on our wall.

 

Anything else?

There will be events associated with the Jigsaw Project going on within Redditch so keep an eye out for more details on those!

 

Thanks,

Harriet and Fay

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.

'Cheer up' and other ridiculous things people say

 

 

One of the main reasons we set up MHAG was to encourage residents in Redditch to talk about their mental health. However, that very much comes with the caveat these must be educated and informed discussions to further the cause, reducing stigma and closing the gap between mental and physical health. So for those who perhaps need a little gentle reminder, here's a (by no means comprehensive) list of some things it's just not helpful to tell someone with mental health issues *warning: may contain doses of sarcasm*:

 

You look okay: Well of course I do, I have a 'mental' health issue - the clue is very much in the name!

 

You should be grateful for all the good things you have in life: Mental health is not about gratitude, in fact the people I meet who are affected are often acutely aware of just how much their friends/family have supported them. There is already a lot of guilt associated with having a mental illness so piling that on just isn't helpful. Also it implies the person is choosing to be unwell.

 

You don't look like the type: What exactly is the type? One in four people are affected so next time you're in a room with three others look around and decide which one does look like the type?!

 

Does that mean you want to rip people's faces off all the time?: I was genuinely asked this by someone (who I respect and like a lot and who was definitely not trying to be hurtful) when I revealed I had a mental health issue. Despite films/television etc somewhat glamorising the issue and in the main only showing the severe end of the scale, most of us have no aggressive tendencies (except when asked questions like this!).

 

It could be worse: I read a brilliant quote once which went along the lines of 'telling someone they can't be sad because it could be worse is like telling someone they can't be happy because it could be better'.

 

Yeah I feel a bit sad today too: Clearly much work needs to go into educating people about the difference between 'low mood' and 'clinical depression' or 'feeling anxious' and 'anxiety' as this one is all too common.

 

It's just attention seeking: Many people with mental health issues entirely or partially conceal their illness and, even if you're close to them, you will probably not know how bad they truly feel. If we were attention seeking, we'd do something comical or outrageous, we wouldn't sit at home on our own feeling terrible.

 

Why are you sad when you're so lucky?: Yes, having a job/friends/family/a nice home etc does make you lucky. It doesn't stop you getting unwell. A tip for people who use this line - next time you see someone who's had a heart attack/stroke/cancer, go up to them and ask them why they feel ill when they are 'so lucky'. See how that one goes down!

 

Cheer up: Gee thanks, you've magically cured me!

 

I'll stop there as I could go on all day! Feel free to leave your pet 'mental health reaction' peeves in the comments though.

 

Harriet

(This post explains what people's reactions are like in an entertaining but insightful way!)

Tumblr

Find our Tumblr here!

A couple of weeks ago we took the plunge and launched our Tumblr page - a place for us to share our own photos as well as promoting other pictures relating to mental health. Here's a snapshot of some of the pictures we've particularly liked this week:

Mentoring evening success

Jan and Andy Higgitt from Jestaminute, Neil Ordish from Headgym, Elaine Grant from Early Help, Andrea Maddocks from MentorLink, Danielle Campbell from Hayward Wright, Beth Haining from Global Harmony and MHAG vice-chair Rebecca Blake

A massive thank you from MHAG to all of the people who attended our meeting on Tuesday (December 2) which was aimed at informing residents and organisations about what we do but more specifically around letting people know about the mentoring project.

The pilot launched almost six months ago now – co-ordinated by Neil Ordish of Headgym, Beth Haining of Global Harmony, Elaine Grant from Early Help and Mentor Link’s Andrea Maddocks. The aim is to provide long-term support for people who may have accessed statutory services but need extra support once that NHS input has come to an end. It’s a long-recognised problem mental health isn’t fixable in six weeks – some people may need months or even years to get back to a point where they’re feeling more positive about their life.

Currently the mentoring project helps 20 people – each of them get a slot once a fortnight either over the phone, on Skype or face to face with mentors Neil and Beth – and it’s all goals-focused so each time they are working towards achieving a measurable goal. It’s been fantastically successful and the feedback the team are getting is great – people really making changes in their lives due to the input of Beth and Neil who are supported with all the management of the project by Elaine and Andrea.

The team are now putting together funding bids to enable the project to continue long-term and fingers crossed it’ll be something we see happening in Redditch for a long time to come!

Once again, thanks to all who attended on Tuesday – getting over 40 people including representatives from the police, borough council, health and care trust and many other organisations to come together on a cold evening in December is great and is testament to the real focus on mental health which is being led from the ground upward.

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...

Our mascot - your designs

At a few of our events we've given the borough's youngsters the chance to colour in and mascot and some have even come up with a name for him. We thought it'd be nice to share some of the designs with everyone!

If you want to complete a design or come up with a name for him, why not pop along to one of our events or get in touch with us!

A purging of happiness

This poem was written by an anonymous poet and read out at our poetry night by vice-chair Rebecca.

A binding in the Throat -

Metallic mercury mucous blocks Truth.

A pounding inside the Head -

His steel capped boots push and press and crack

The Skull; my Perion.

The fizzing in my Lungs -

Cyanide soup is my oxygen.

A slashing in the Stomach -

Sardonic Satanic slugs slither out from in.

Spewed are thy Organs -

The Intestine, a worm unravelling defencelessley.

Help.

Plonk goes the Liver and Dong goes a Kidney.

What is left?

You have it all.

He has it all.

Him.

A scarred nostalgia for thee, yet a

pleasant narcissim for He.

Now He asks for my Heart, but He took that

portion years ago.

He overpowered it in seconds.

He rusted it in minutes.

He covered it with blistering hate.

And then -

He burned it in wood and fire.

He can have what sits in its place, yes.

The only yes I have ever and will ever give to

Him.

But that is not a Heart, not anymore.

That is a shrivelled reality of He -

It is imprinted with His purge on my childhood.

For this Life is not a Life but an Episode.

That plays over and over and over and over -

We wait for an applause, a record or a pause

We pray that She may take it away

Those melancholy memories

That play in My chapter of a thousand page

book

Hundreds feel the soreness of soiled court

And there is help

In the custom of Victim Support

Friends, don't suffer the torment

For although you may want to lament

Now is the time for us all to ascent

Together.

To the prosperous land of beauties

To the field of finer daisies

There I found my missing Heart

In my friendship and my family.

For it was never taken, just forgotten.

There is light in All darkness

And you Will find it,

My friends.

Never give in and never let them win.

Our jigsaw project

We are currently in the process of speaking to people about a jigsaw project we hope to launch in 2015. We're inviting all organisations in Redditch to register their interest in the project and then we'll get everyone together to start organising it.

Aim:

The aim of the project is to focus on all of the aspects which together make up a person's quality of life including their mental and physical health, by looking at three aspects: how they can keep themselves happy and well, how they can help a friend and how they can help the community. Through this project, we hope to engage as many people as possible within Redditch to take part in at least one activity which will promote not only the specific aims of the project but also those of the organisations taking part from the voluntary and community sector.

How it will work:

Participants will work towards being 'Health Smart' by collecting pieces of a jigsaw, which together will make up an entire body. The jigsaw is made up of six pieces, which each represent a part of happiness/quality of life: the head (mental health), chest (heart health ie looking after friends and family), stomach (food), left arm (community), right arm (creativity) and legs (physical health).

There will be a number of sessions and activities run from the start of 2015 right through to Wellbeing Week in October which will focus specifically on one aspect of the jigsaw – for example comedy, writing or sewing sessions for creativity, making and preparing meals for food or sport for physical health. Once a person has attended one of the sessions, they will be given the corresponding jigsaw piece and it is hoped people will work towards attending six sessions throughout the year and thus being able to complete the jigsaw.

Organisation:

The project will bring together a consortium of organisations, mostly from the voluntary and community sector, who will put forward one leader for each of the six identified health factors (mental health, heart health, food, community, creativity and physical health). Each of the six leaders will be responsible for putting together a programme of activities leading up to October next year, liaising with as many relevant other organisations as possible and in encouraging people to join in and collect the jigsaw piece which matches their factor.

As a whole, the consortium members will also be responsible for promoting the project as widely as they can through the media, existing contact lists, liaising with the public and private sectors and promoting it at any events they host or attend.

Mission statement:

To engage and unite as many different groups and individuals within Redditch in a project to celebrate all aspects of health and wellbeing incorporating mental health, heart health, food, community, creativity and physical health. By giving thanks for positive factors within their lives, encouraging them to think about how they can improve less positive aspects of their emotional or physical health and by focusing not only on self-health but also the health of other people and the community as a whole, this will spread awareness of the different aspects which come together to improve their quality of life.

What are the issues and what are the solutions we are offering?:

Lack of awareness about the meaning of words such as mental health and wellbeing

• Sessions which will specifically inform people about the meanings, solutions to work towards better mental health and wellbeing.
• A visual representation (with the jigsaw) of what exactly incorporates health.
• A chance to learn more about aspects of health which they may not be familiar with.

A perceived lack of input from statutory services surrounding lower level mental health issues (ie they don't step in until the situation has reached crisis point

• Opportunities to meet people in similar situations, engage in positive activities and form new groups.
• Information and signposting towards relevant services which could assist.
• A chance for those struggling and the people who are looking after them to 'have a break' away from the issues faced.

There are so many organisations within the voluntary sector, often they are unaware exactly what is going on with other groups

• Closer working opportunities between all of the groups within the Redditch voluntary sector.
• The chance for groups to join together to offer activities, thus increasing the time and potentially the funding available for them, as well as the number of volunteers able to help.

Often the focus with mental health is on the negative aspects, such as the problems within the statutory services

• Turning the focus around so it is on positive activities being provided in Redditch.
• Giving people the chance to talk to others about what helped them when they were facing issues.
• Giving people a wide variety of activities to take part in, for example: sport, writing, cooking etc.

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.