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.

The MHAG Christmas speech

A rough copy of what was said last night at MHAG's Christmas meeting:

 

It seems like it's been an absolute lifetime since I was sat here in front of you at our Christmas 2013 meeting talking about everything we'd achieved in the months previously since we began in May that year. I like to think 2014 was the year which will lay the foundations for MHAG making an impact on residents struggling with their mental health in years to come.

We have so many projects in various stages of planning which I genuinely believe will make a difference in this town. We talk about the projects at every MHAG meeting and you also get regular updates if you're on our email circulation list so I won't go into then too much except to extend my absolute thanks to our teams – specifically Neil, Elaine, Beth and Andrea for the mentoring project, Fay for the jigsaw project and Sarah, Helen and Pam for the signposting project - but I do just want to go through a whistle-stop tour of everything MHAG has been doing this year. It might be a little bit naval-gazing but I think it's important for us to do at least twice a year (at Christmas and at our AGM) but this is a much more informal way of doing it than at the MHAG and also will hopefully fill us with a lovely warm glowy feeling just before Christmas!

Having looked back through my diary for the year, the very first thing I did with MHAG this year was on January 3, a meeting with Elaine and Neil about what was to become the highly-successful mentoring project. The first event we attended was the LGBT awareness event at Redditch Library on February 1 and the first event we actually co-ordinated was the Valentine's Ball which all who attended seemed to really enjoy – so much so we are hosting another ball in 2015, although this time the theme will be spring. We did a couple of walks in spring as preparation of our Three Peaks challenge – this is something we are still really keen to do but we decided attempting to do it this year with little training would have been very silly and next year is so busy for both myself and Beccy that we think 2016 is going to be our year! My motto very much is if you're going to do something, do it properly so I hope to be putting together a training programme for 2015 so we can ensure we have the best possible chance of completing the event in 2016.

Personally I had a little bit of an MHAG lull in late spring to early summer while I was trying out the mental health services in Redditch for myself (Beccy kept calling it an MHAG field trip every time we went to a new service!) - but rather than dwell on the bad experience I like to think it's pushed me to make MHAG as great as possible and to ensure we are working as hard as we can for anyone else who is in the same position I was.

In July, Beccy spoke to Disability Action Redditch about the work we do. I think it's great so many other organisations in Redditch are interested in what we do and want to find out more! We have such strong links with so many group and that's something we really hope to continue going forward. Of course we have had speakers at our monthly meetings too including Dr Tim Lee who spoke about what the CCG are doing. We had the huge honour of being made one of the mayor's charities for 2014/15 and I'm sure we'll all agree the work Pat Witherspoon is doing to highlight mental health and dementia during her mayoral year is fantastic. As part of that there was the comedy night at the Palace Theatre which was hilarious and struck just the right note between lots of laughs and being thought-provoking. As part of our connection with the Alzheimer's Society, the other mayoral charity, we got to take part in their dementia friendly community walk at Arrow Valley Lake which was a great experience.

Fast forward to October to our second Wellbeing Week – it started with a poetry night which went better than any of us could have expected with over 30 attendees and lots of people getting up on stage during the open mic part of the night – as well as the scheduled speakers - which was very powerful. Our two-day advice shop at the Kingfisher Centre was also a great success and it was great this year that we were able to include an element of interactivity with food making, face painting, colouring and other activities providing a chance for the kids to get involved while we chatted to their parents.

We launched our pledge which is doing well online and in print and then the week after that Mary's support group and some of the MHAG members had the chance to speak to Luciana Berger, shadow minister for public health which includes mental health, during her visit to Redditch. More recently we attended the Pride event at Heart of Worcestershire College and hosted an evening about the mentoring event which I hear went very well! All this alongside the mentoring pilot and setting up the jigsaw and signposting projects – and meeting the movers and shakers as Neil would call them - and I think it's safe to say we are starting to make a real impact in the borough.

But whilst I can look through my diary and detail the events we've hosted and attended, the meetings we've been at and the influential people we've reached out to – what I can't measure is the stigma we've helped dispell. Our last speaker of the year Laney Walsh spoke about Redditch being a progressive town where we were doing more than most to tackle mental health stigma. I couldn't agree more. I really relish the fact it's quite normal for people to see us out and about in our MHAG t-shirts or for us all to be regularly starting conversations about mental health. That was the entire aim of MHAG – if one person feels more comfortable talking about their illness then we have made a splash and we can be hugely proud collectively that we've come together in our spare time to make that happen.

What I also can't measure is what you've all done for me personally. There is no possible way for me to tell you all how much you've changed my life and how much being a part of something as great as MHAG kept me going through some pretty bad times. During our very first meeting last May I was overwhelmed by the fact people were willing to come and share their stories with us and I'll let you into a little secret – sometimes (very occasionally) I fall silent for a bit during each meeting and that's when I'm looking around thinking how absolutely wonderful all of you are and how proud I am to call you all not only my fellow MHAG members but also my friends. I don't need to tell you all mental health is a dark, scary, lonely and terrifying place but having such a wonderful support network around me helped get me through my journey and turn everything around for me. I try not to single individuals out in my little speeches as no doubt I will forget someone and cause offence – and she will have a go at me later for doing this – but I do want to especially thank Beccy. She'll be rolling her eyes at this point and trying to claim she's done nothing! We often talking about breaking down closed doors when it comes to stigma and all of you do that every day but the lady on my right physically broke down my door to get to me (on her birthday of all days) when I was at my lowest point and had given up on staying alive. She won't ever tell you she did that but I think people should know – firstly so that you can marvel at how strong she is! And secondly because it shows the impact MHAG said. I would be dead if MHAG hadn't happened.

So at this point I'll end this speech because there's refreshments to enjoy but I just can't thank you all enough and we continue breaking down doors – hopefully metaphorically not physically – for a long time yet.

Round Table Christmas collection

Tonight a group of us went out with Redditch Round Table as part of their Christmas collection. As experiences go, it was pretty surreal! We were all dressed as snowmen accompanying Santa and his sleigh around the streets of Brockhill.

But firstly it was an amazing way to get into the Christmas spirit - what could be more heart-warming than seeing children's faces light up as Santa comes into view waving at them! And of course the main reason we were there - to raise money for charity. It was ourselves and Redditch Heart Safe who were volunteering tonight but the members of the Round Table are making their way round most the areas in the town with various charities in the run-up to Christmas. Well done to all those involved! What a great event! And thank you so much to all our volunteers who came along!

Christmas with MHAG

Just a quick reminder of all we have going in the coming week:

Saturday and Sunday (13th and 14th): Christmas support information sessions

Redditch town centre - 10.30am to 2.30pm both days.

Monday (15th):

Redditch Round Table

Brockhill - 5pm onwards.

Why not join us for the evening helping the Round Table collect for extremely worthwhile charities across the town? Email redditchmhag@gmail.com or call 07788 379389 to get involved.

Thursday (18th):

MHAG Christmas event

Town Hall - 7pm.

Mince pie and mental health combine as we look back over 2014, look ahead to next year and enjoy some refreshments.

Hope to see as many of you as possible during our last three events of 2014!

Mince Pies and Mental Health - a festive invite

Christmas and New Year support and services

Early Help

Families with children under 19 can call 0800 085 8106 free for help and advice. There will be an answering machine on the number from December 24th to 27th but on any other weekday the phone will be manned from 9am to 4pm.

Children's Centres opening times:

Cherry Trees, Batchley First school (01527 592675) - 23rd 1pm to 3pm SALT, 27th 9am to 1pm antenatal, 30th 1pm to 3.30pm My Time, 31st 9am to 1pm antenatal, 2nd 9am to 1pm antenatal.

Holly Trees, St Stephen's First School (01527 61360) - 23rd 9am to 1pm paediatric clinic 1pm to 4.30pm antenatal, 30th 9am to 1pm antenatal, 31st 9am to 1pm My Time, 2nd 9am to 1pm antenatal, 3rd 12.30pm to 2.30pm quit smoking drop-in.

Maple Trees, Roman Way First School (01527 503200) - 24th 9am to 1pm antenatal, 31st 9am to 1pm antenatal, 2nd 1pm to 3pm My Time.

Oak Trees, Oak Hill First School (01527 517185) - 23rd 9am to 1pm antenatal, 30th morning baby bistro and antenatal clinic, 2nd morning My Time.

Willow Trees, Church Hill Community Centre (01527 65668) - 23rd 12.30pm to 2.30pm quit smoking drop-in, 30th 12.30pm to 2.30pm quit smoking drop-in, 31st afternoon My Time, 2nd 10am to 12pm CHC, 1pm to 5pm antenatal.

Woodlands at Woodrow First School (01527 517935) - 23rd 9am to 1pm antenatal 11am to 1pm contact 1.30pm to 3pm CHC, 31st 9am to 12.30pm antenatal, 9am to 11pm My Time, 1.30 to 3 CHC, 2nd 9am to 2pm antenatal, 3rd afternoon quit smoking drop-in.

Headgym

The festive season can be a challenging time. If you are suffering with anxiety, stress, depression, addiction issues, weight problems, relationship difficulties, low self esteem or lacking in confidence, call 07768 920752 or e-mail info@headgym.co.uk for a free consultation 24hr call back.

Headgym use up to date NLP and hypnotherapy techniques to help you overcome issues and make the changes you want.

Nightstop

Nightstop and Churches Together in Redditch will be offering a daytime shelter to those in our community who are lonely and isolated, have no family of their own and no one to share Christmas with. We will offer a welcoming place where they will receive warmth and kindness, recreation and refreshment, care and compassion. We would like to stress that those eligible to attend the day centre need to be clients who ‘are most in need’ – those that are alone and isolated at a time when other services close down.

The provision is for individual adults only and we do not have any facilities for families with children. Any individual under the age of 18 who might turn up at the day centre will be referred to children’s services. The day centre will be located at The Ecumenical Centre, 6 Evesham Walk, Redditch B97 4EX and will open at 10 am on Monday 23rd December through to and including Thursday 2nd January 2014.

The centre will operate from 10 am to 6 pm and will provide guests with refreshments throughout the day, a hot lunch and activities to participate in. The centre will be managed by a day centre manager with the support of a team of volunteers. For more information please contact Ben on 0788 7777 692.

Oasis Christian Centre

Redditch Food Bank will be open at Oasis Christian Centre on Monday 23rd 10am to 2pm, Friday 27th 1pm to 4pm and Monday 30th 10am to 2pm.

Redditch Borough Council

Redditch Town Hall is open on the 23rd and 30th and then back open as normal (9am to 5pm) from January 2nd.

Batchley, Woodrow and Winyates One Stop Shops are closed from 5pm on the 23rd and reopen on the 2nd.

For emergency action including homelessness, call 01527 67666.

Redditch MHAG

Christmas meeting – Thursday 19^th December

7pm Redditch Town Hall

Come along and find out more about the group, our plans for 2014 and meet organisations who support residents in the borough.

Redditch Mental Health Action Group is a voluntary group made up of residents with personal experiences of mental health issues and organisations which support residents within the borough. We meet on the last Thursday of each month at Redditch Town Hall at 7pm.

We are planning to host a number of fund-raising and awareness raising activities during 2014 including the town's second ever Wellbeing Week following on from the success of the first held in October this year.

Samaritans 

08457 909090
jo@samaritans.org

Sandycroft

Sandycroft will be holding their mental health support group from 12pm to 2pm on Friday, December 27th. All are welcome.

Support Group

Mary Jones is available to speak to residents needing support over the holidays - call 07989 154258.

Two Pennies

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust is the main provider of NHS mental health services within the county. In order to meet the needs of those people with mental health difficulties in Worcestershire, the trust provides a range of services from inpatient care and intensive home support to primary care mental health services working closely with GPs and, where appropriate, helps people back into employment. Services are available for both adults and children, mainly via referral from a GP. Visit www.hacw.nhs.uk for more information about the trust and the services it provides.

Sharing information about services and support

Our event over the weekend saw us handing out 900 leaflets to shoppers in Redditch town centre to let them know about a whole host of services and support available to them over the festive period. As ever, it was concerning to hear there are people suffering who don't know what support is out there - and that's something we're hoping to rectify in 2014 as we plan even more events and hopefully reach out to as many residents as possible.

Thank you to all of the people who took the time to stop and speak to us - especially those who told us they came into the town centre just to find out about us. And a massive thank you as ever to all of our volunteers - including a total of seven helpers from Redditch Early Help over the two days, Rob and Sue from Samaritans, support group leader Mary, Neil from Headgym and Brian and Rhiannon Warwick.

 Don't forget, our last meeting of the year starts art 7pm on Thursday (December 19) at the Town Hall. All are welcome.

We'll be sharing the information about services and support on here in the next couple of days so do look out for it or e-mail us on redditchmhag@gmail.com for more information.

Busy times ahead of Christmas

Here at MHAG we're not quite ready to wind down for Christmas yet and instead have a very busy week ahead raising funds and awareness. Our own event runs from 10am to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday (December 14th and 15th) where we'll have information and representatives of borough organisations on hand in the town centre (Church Green area) to let people know about what services and support are available over Christmas. If you'd like any more information and are around in the town centre at the weekend make sure to pop over and have a chat - we'll be wearing our new MHAG t-shirts for the first time so we should be easy to spot!

Our final MHAG meeting of the year will take place on Thursday, December 19th. It'll be much more light-hearted than our normal meetings and we'll be using it as an opportunity to look back over the year's events and enjoy a mince pie or two. Existing and potential members are all invited to join us at the Town Hall at 7pm.

Update from the chair: November 2013.

November may have looked very quiet compared to the buzz surrounding October and Wellbeing Week in particular, but rest assured we have been very busy behind the scenes progressing MHAG and trying to ensure we start 2014 in the best possible position to further the aims of the group.

One of the things we're increasingly keen to do is formalise the group's structure, which would see us have a constitution and eventually applying to become a charitable organisation. We think that will put us in a much stronger position in terms of being able to fund-raise for projects in the town and also as a pressure group. So lots of the work this month has been about researching what the best way forward would be, thinking about how we can raise the money required to take on charity status and putting together a constitution.

However, we want to keep taking action whilst all that work is ongoing - MHAG definitely isn't about sitting round discussing options and never getting anything done - so we've been putting together an event in December which will see us going out into the town centre letting residents know what extra support is available to them if they encounter issues over Christmas. It's one of the key times of the year where people can feel especially vulnerable so hopefully we will be able to point a few people in the direction of a service they might need. Myself and vice-chair Rebecca did a similar thing last December with Samaritans which was well received so hopefully this year with a whole host of organisations on board it will be even more of a positive event. If you'd like to volunteer to help us out for an hour or so on either Saturday 14th or Sunday 15th please do let us know.

There's also lots of planning going on for our 2014 events, we're keeping them under wraps at the moment while the details are decided on but we should be able to start letting you know soon! It's exciting to know we have nearly a whole year of events before we even get to Wellbeing Week 2014 - we've got a range of things going on so there should be something for everyone, fingers crossed!

Key dates for December:
14th and 15th - Town centre leaflet hand out, highlighting services available for residents over Christmas.
19th - Our last MHAG meeting of the year, this will be an informal one so mince pies, a chat and a chance to reflect on 2013 and look forward to 2014!

Harriet.

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.

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.