Reminder: our November meeting

Our November meeting will take place at the same time and place as usual (7pm at Redditch Town Hall) this Thursday (November 28). We welcome members old and new - anyone can come along, whether they're an individual with an interest in mental health or someone who works or volunteers for an organisation which supports residents. We mainly focus on identifying services and potential gaps within those services, tackling stigma and fund-raising ideas.

If you're someone who's struggling with your mental health who would like a relaxed, welcoming environment to spend a couple of hours in each week, the support group runs every Thursday at 11am.

Details for both the action group and the support group are available here. (Click here for more about the support group or here for more about the action group).

Coverage of our December event

Stories about our December event are now up on the websites of both local papers -
 

Redditch Standard

 

Redditch Advertiser

If you'd like to volunteer for an hour or so during the event please let us know, alternatively if you'd like some information about services and support over the Christmas period, we'll be in the Church Green area from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, December 14th, and Sunday, December 15th.

Our first Three Peaks walk

To start our training for the Three Peaks challenge next summer, we had intended to climb Snowdon on Sunday. However, the weather forecast was so bad in terms of fog that we made a decision it would be too dangerous to climb with such poor visibility (you couldn't see the path from the cameras up on the mountain) but so that we could all try out walking boots and stretch our legs a little, instead we went over to Cannock Chase and had a walk there. Obviously it wasn't as strenuous as climbing a mountain but the eight-mile course led us up and down plenty of hills so still had a fairly good walk.

As the winter sets in, it's very unlikely we will be able to do any big climbs until early March but we'll all be trying to do some local walks and keep our general fitness levels up so that we're prepared for next year when the real walking will start! At the moment, we're still planning to aim for the first weekend in August for the challenge itself and we'll also be offering the option of just doing Snowdon for those who want to take part but don't want to do all three mountains.

Contact details if you'd like to take part:
Harriet - 07788 379389
redditchmhag@gmail.com

Tackling loneliness this Christmas

We all know Christmas can be a particularly hard time for people, finances can become more of an issue while anyone not able to spend the festivities with loved ones can feel especially vulnerable. In a bid to do our part to tackle that, we'll be spending the weekend of December 14 and 15 in Redditch town centre aiming to let people know that they're not alone this Christmas - there is plenty of support and advice out there.

We're asking organisations from across the borough to let us know what activities, services and support they have running over Christmas and New Year, we'll then be able to hand these details out to residents from 10am to 3pm on both days. There will also be representatives from some of the organisations on hand to talk to people about what support they can access.

How you can help:

- Let us know about a service you run or support you're providing for Redditch residents over Christmas.
- Volunteer to help (we're asking volunteers to give up just an hour of their time, but you can do more if you like!).
- Spread the word - if you know someone who might benefit from the event please let them know.

Redditch town centre (Church Green area)
10am to 3pm
Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15.

To find out more, please e-mail us redditchmhag@gmail.com or call chair Harriet on 07788 379389.
You can also find us on Twitter or Facebook.

MHAG, the story so far:

The idea of MHAG was first discussed by chair Harriet and vice-chair Rebecca towards the end of 2012. We had been working alongside the Make A Difference group for a few months with the aim of getting action taken on the Bromsgrove Highway bridge where two men had tragically lost their lives that summer, sadly already a location where others had previously taken their lives. We both felt, whilst we wanted to continue supporting Make A Difference, there was also a huge need in the borough for a focus on mental health as a whole. We decided to host a meeting at the end of May 2013 and invite along members of the public, as well as organisations with an interest.

To our delight we had many more people there than we expected, all of whom had their own story to tell which they were more than happy to do in such an open forum. It felt like a real step forward in terms of the stigma surrounding mental health, something we are determined to do our bit to erode. Everyone had something to say about how they felt services should be organised, where they felt there were gaps in provision and how mental health had affected their life - which made us all the more certain a group needed to be formed in order to be a voice for people with mental health issues who are some of the most vulnerable in our town.

Since then we have held monthly meetings focusing on aspects of mental health our members tell us are most important to them - for example concerns were raised about the police having to deal with those in crisis unable to access other sources of help so we invited Insp Ian Joseph from West Mercia Police to one of our meetings to answer members' questions. Through the meetings and visits to various organisations we are starting to build up a picture of what support is out there and not only where there may be gaps in services but also what could potentially be done to fill those gaps.

It is equally as important to us to get mental health at the forefront of people's minds and talked about on an equal basis to physical health. The first major event we organised was the town's first Wellbeing Week in October to coincide with World Mental Health Day. We hosted a two day Advice Shop in the Kingfisher Centre where residents could find out more about more than 25 organisations, a quiz on WMHD itself and a Feel Good Revolution event focused on the benefits of exercise and healthy living, as well as a 12-hour fund-raising bikeathon. Sandycroft Centre, SureStart, Bromford Support and Your Ideas hosted events in conjunction with Wellbeing Week and YMCA and Birchensale Middle School also got on board with creating displays for the week.

At our very first meeting it was suggested a support group should be put in place to ensure people had a place to go if they needed some help and a chat with those in similar situations. One of our members Mary agreed to run this group, which has been going since June and meets weekly.

We are now looking to progress the organisation by formalising our constitution and expanding throughout 2014, with a number of fund-raising and awareness raising events on the horizon in the very near future.

Redditch MHAG