Funding for mental health

 Before Christmas, Rethink Mental Illness ran a campaign to stop Monitor (the watchdog for health funding) with its plan to cut mental health budgets next year. A total of 6,703 people including MHAG signed before the consultation ended at midnight on Christmas Eve so a response is imminent. In good news, due to the campaigning of Rethink and others NHS England has now told local health commissioners they need to increase in real terms the amount they spend next year on mental health.

Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group have decided to cut their spending on mental health from eight per cent of the budget to just seven per cent by the next financial year (2015/16), whilst because of their overall increase in budget this means around an extra £500,000 will go to mental health. But if they had kept it at eight per cent, there would have been a £1.5million increase so really we're losing out on £1million! In total £14million is spent on mental health while the rest of their £187.2million goes towards physical health. You can read more about this in a story I wrote for the Redditch Standard here.

It is hugely important for us all to fight for better funding for mental health - we all know everything is being squeezed from all aspects of the public sector and there is simply less money to go round. But it is well documented times of austerity breed mental health issues so there are now more people than ever struggling, so we simply cannot let them go without. The link between physical and mental health has also been proven so effectively, putting money into mental health can only help with the pressure on the entire system.

Visit Rethink's website 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!)

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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.

MHAG mentoring launch event

 

We would like to invite you to the launch of a new project in Redditch which has been formed from the Mental Health Action Group led by Rebecca Blake and Harriet Ernstsons. The event is on

Tuesday 2nd December at Redditch Town Hall  5.30pm - 7pm

A glass of wine or tea/ coffee and light refreshments will be available on the evening.

The event is to raise awareness of the work that MHAG is doing in the community by providing regular one to one support from life coaches to residents with low level mental health issues. It will also provide you with an opportunity to network and meet other local business, statutory and third sector organisations and learn about new initiatives from RBC about promoting well- being at work.

Please join Rebecca, Harriet and the MHAG team and learn about new projects in the Borough to promote well being.

RSVP

redditchmhag@gmail.com
07788 379389

Harriet & Rebecca

MHAG Redditch