September 2014 - Headgym

HeadGym news

neil picLONG-TERM support for people with mental health issues is on offer as part of a pioneering project.

But funding is needed to secure the scheme for the future and help expand the number of residents who can be offered help.

The mentoring project was the brainchild of Headgym counsellor Neil Ordish and Elaine Grant, Early Help funding and family learning development co-ordinator, both members of the Redditch Mental Health Action Group.

They attracted the support of Andrea Maddocks, chief executive of Mentorlink which now administrates the scheme, and Global Harmony life coach Beth Haining, who has been leading the mentoring along with Neil, as well as The Space in Winyates and Bromford who provide rooms for the mentoring to take place in.

They are currently halfway through a six-month pilot, with ten residents being given weekly sessions either face-to-face, over the phone or through internet video calling programme Skype thanks to funding from the Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group. A further ten people are now being enrolled on the pilot while organisers search for long-term funding.

Mr Ordish said: “The service came about from going to the first MHAG meeting and seeing the amount of confusion, tension and anger in the room. I came out of it thinking there must be something which can be done here.

“A lot of people seem to be frustrated with getting the right sort of support or knowing where to go for support. I spoke to a lot of people who I work with through Headgym and they said they needed some sort of long-term support and that’s why it started.”

Positive results are already being seen, with some people returning to work after being unemployed for years while others are overcoming addictions, tackling problems and beginning to approach different areas of their lives in a more positive way.

“We need more funding to enable this proven mechanism to work long-term. All the options currently on offer are short-term and quite often people find themselves back in the same place once that intervention has finished, while some people are unable to get any support at all,” Mr Ordish added.

“The funding we attract will be used to try and ensure people don’t re-enter the system so it’s actually saving money in the long term and will get people out of the doctor’s waiting room.”

Read more: Mentor scheme needs funding | Redditch Standard

Mentor scheme needs funding

Mentor scheme needs funding

LONG-TERM support for people with mental health issues is on offer as part of a pioneering project.

But funding is needed to secure the scheme for the future and help expand the number of residents who can be offered help.

The mentoring project was the brainchild of Headgym counsellor Neil Ordish and Elaine Grant, Early Help funding and family learning development co-ordinator, both members of the Redditch Mental Health Action Group.

They attracted the support of Andrea Maddocks, chief executive of Mentorlink which now administrates the scheme, and Global Harmony life coach Beth Haining, who has been leading the mentoring along with Neil, as well as The Space in Winyates and Bromford who provide rooms for the mentoring to take place in.

They are currently halfway through a six-month pilot, with ten residents being given weekly sessions either face-to-face, over the phone or through internet video calling programme Skype thanks to funding from the Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group. A further ten people are now being enrolled on the pilot while organisers search for long-term funding.

Mr Ordish said: “The service came about from going to the first MHAG meeting and seeing the amount of confusion, tension and anger in the room. I came out of it thinking there must be something which can be done here.

“A lot of people seem to be frustrated with getting the right sort of support or knowing where to go for support. I spoke to a lot of people who I work with through Headgym and they said they needed some sort of long-term support and that’s why it started.”

Positive results are already being seen, with some people returning to work after being unemployed for years while others are overcoming addictions, tackling problems and beginning to approach different areas of their lives in a more positive way.

“We need more funding to enable this proven mechanism to work long-term. All the options currently on offer are short-term and quite often people find themselves back in the same place once that intervention has finished, while some people are unable to get any support at all.” Mr Ordish added.

“The funding we attract will be used to try and ensure people don’t re-enter the system so it’s actually saving money in the long term and will get people out of the doctor’s waiting room.”

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People take action

Community action mental health support group

The people of Redditch have set up their own support group for people who have mental health issues, the group came about following the creation of the mental health action group It became clear that there was a lack of support and information for those who may need help;
some support was being accessed however there appeared to be no clear guide on where to get help and what help there was.
The support group has been running for almost a year now and meets on a weekly basis, meetings are informal and friendly and all are welcome. The group numbers vary and so do the discussions, attendees may have issues such as depression, anxiety, lack confidence or self esteem. Each week is different we have guest speakers; advice on services, informal shared experiences, personal development training, meditation and are open to any suggestions.
The great thing about the group is that they really do support each other if somebody wants to share an issue people who may have had similar experiences are there to offer support and guidance. Any discussions within the group are totally confidential and non judgemental, it really is a great support network.
I will blog updates from the group and share our learning’s, no names will be given and no confidentiality will be breached
This week we had a short audio presentation provided by one of the group, the audio had been provided by an organisation called NO PANIC http://www.nopanic.org.uk/ and ran through some techniques for dealing with anxiety using relaxation and visualisation. This organisation can be found on the web they provide support and advice for a variety of anxiety disorders. The audio had some good techniques for positive thinking which the group found beneficial, this bought about a discussion around keeping positive and how sometimes this can feel almost impossible. The conversation continued and we had some interesting suggestions around perception and focus, in summary we recognised that sometimes our perception of things may be a little out of sync. We also noticed that sometimes our focus and language may be taking us in the wrong direction. I have decided to write a blog about each of these areas separately as each one could be a whole study subject itself, look out for Perception, focus and language blog coming soon.

Tom’s Story

I would like to share with you my encounter with a man who attended a 6 week HeadGym ‘Confidence Building & Goals Workshop’. The first day is always interesting; how many people will turn up to a confidence building course? Will anybody speak? If you have no confidence how do you get there in the first place? For the sake of this blog, I will call this particular man ‘Tom’.

Tom was a little overweight very shaky, sweaty and reluctant to speak. He was red in the face and generally giving off signs of being nervous and under confident. In the first session of a workshop, I do most of the talking and things begin to warm up a little. However, Tom was still quiet and I was not really sure if he was following what I was talking about.

The weeks passed and around about week 3 we start the ‘Goals Formula’; this also means I get a little more background. Tom is around 40, single, unemployed, overweight, on antidepressants and sleeping tablets. He told me he was bullied at school, bullied at work, lost his job and had a complete breakdown about 18 months previously.

We start on the goals and Tom wrote down ten, the main ones being:

  • get a job
  • lose weight
  • stop medication
  • Speak in front of people

We went through the formula together and off he went with a set of actions. On the final day of the course, Tom arrived in his usual quiet manner but at the end of the session he gave a presentation to the group. Tom felt he had let his sister down as he had been unable to do his speech at her wedding a few months ago. His presentation to the group (goal number four) showed great progress and was a real achievement as public speaking had been a real issue in the past. A few weeks past and we had a follow up meeting; Tom now had a part time job (goal number one). He was attending a weight loss group, had started to exercise and was losing weight (goal number two). He had also cut his medication by half (on his way to goal number three). Fantastic progress! So what now? I asked. “I want to go to college and get a full time job” he replied. We applied the goals formula again and off he went. I saw him again a few weeks later; he had been given a promotion, the company had agreed to fund a college course for him, he was medication free and had lost more weight.

Best of all for him he had spoken in front of a group at work and felt comfortable doing so. Amazing! So what now? I asked again. “I want to learn to drive!” A real leap by his own admission. I promised to search out a theory test book, so he could start to learn. I completely forgot about the book and when I remembered about 2 weeks later I gave him a call “I am so sorry, I forgot the book but I have it now” before I could finish he said “Guess what? I have my licence! I took a crash course and passed” I was blown away and congratulated him. “What are you going to do next?” I asked.

Anything is possible” he said. For me, Tom is a great example of somebody who turned things around and achieved his own personal goals. He had some real challenges to overcome and he had to push himself hard. I am confident he will continue to achieve and deal with any challenges that come his way.