In the press Archives - Headgym

The new long-awaited Bromsgrove Youth and Community Hub is officially opened

The new long-awaited Bromsgrove Youth and Community Hub is officially opened

THE LONG-AWAITED new Bromsgrove Youth and Community Hub officially launched last Thursday.

The project, located in the basement of Bromsgrove Baptist Church on New Road, will offer help and support to young people across the district.

It came about following consultations with teenagers in the town about what they felt they would benefit from.

They said they wanted somewhere they could go and felt like they belonged to.

There is currently young people’s life coaching and mentoring being run by Headgym on Monday afternoons and on Tuesdays from 3pm there will be support from Fusion to help over 16s get a job, including CV writing and interview preparation.

The Hub space is already being used as a drop in for young people to hang out and spend time with their friends between midday and 6pm Monday to Friday.

The hub, which was officially opened by Bromsgrove District Councillor Karen May, is also looking for volunteers from the community who would like to be involved in the hub.

Anyone who has any spare time and an interest in supporting the project should email Sarah Mulhall at sarah.mulhall@YMCAWorcestershire.org.uk – also the address for anyone wanting to book room space.

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Lottery cash will help programme support youngsters in Redditch who need a boost

Lottery cash will help programme support youngsters in Redditch who need a boost

A NEW well-being scheme for young people in Redditch is helping them set goals and feel good about the future.

Thanks to a £10,000 funding boost from the Big Lotto, the project based at the Old Needle Works will see youngsters paired up with coaches as they work towards positive outcomes.

Clients aged 14 to 20 who may have experienced a variety of conditions like anxiety, school attendance issues, depression, low self-esteem or self harm will work one-to-one with their coaches to talk and make plans for their future.

The Lotto funding will allow the project to help at least 40 young people, pairing them up with a coach who can motivate them to set positive goals and devise strategies and techniques to overcome and manage their varying issues and needs.

One client who has been part of the scheme since July said: “It’s made such a difference to me already, really improving my self esteem and confidence. I’ve got more self-belief now.

I’d had counseling before, but this is so different because instead of just listening to me, my coach gives me practical advice and teaches me skills that I can use in real-life situations.

“We’ve built up a really good relationship since we started the sessions too, and I think we’re on the same wavelength.

“I’ve grown up a lot, I’m more organised and really prioritising my college studies. I’m looking forward to the future.”

Coach Neil Ordish said: “We aim to help people help themselves. From day one, we build resilience which is the key – and it seems to be very effective.”

There is still scope for more people to benefit from the scheme and the Needle Works is not only going to be supporting the clients during their course of coaching sessions, but afterwards too.

Anyone interested in finding out more can email elaine@theoldneedleworks.co.uk

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Bromsgrove councillors renew pledge to end mental health stigma

Bromsgrove councillors renew pledge to end mental health stigma

BROMSGROVE District Councillors have reiterated their commitment to the Time to Change Mental Health Pledge which they signed up to this time last year.

The scheme is aimed at ending mental health stigma and discrimination in the workplace and the councillors’ renewing of the plege followed a presentation by independent mental health expert Neil Ordish, Unison branch manager Laney Walsh, human resources and organisational development advisor Lindsey Wood and health improvement co-ordinator Angie Waldron.

Among the items included in the pledge is that there is a growing understanding that good mental health underpins everything done by the council, from acting, thinking, feeling and behaving and that the mental health and well-being of staff needs to be protected, promoted and supported.

Deputy chief executive of Bromsgrove District Council, Sue Hanley, who chairs the Time to Talk group, said the council was proud to fully support the pledge, adding the authority now had a workforce better equipped to understand and support mental health, both for colleagues and for the people in the community.

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Promoting some healthy thoughts

Promoting some healthy thoughts

HAND massages, healthy food and advice were on offer to council staff as part of an event to promote positive mental health.

The second annual Time To Talk day, organised locally by UNISON branch secretary Laney Walsh, was hosted at the Town Hall and visited by 222 people.

Organisations including Headgym, Yum Tum Club, the Health Trainers, the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy team and Redditch Borough Council’s own Phone A Friend team were on hand to give out advice.

Ms Walsh told the Standard as well as hosting the annual event in conjunction with national charity Time To Change, they were organising them every month on a smaller scale.

She added: “We want to make staff aware of mental health issues within the workplace and within themselves, talking about the impact mental health has on physical health, the impact on colleagues and families and the impact if you’re a carer for people with a mental health issue.

“It has been really positive and really well supported today. We are also relaunching Phone A Friend and calling for more staff volunteers.”

Council leader Bill Hartnett said: “Mental health can happen to anybody and up to one in four may be affected at least once in their lifetime. If we are all working together we can dispel the myths and make life better for everybody who lives and works in the borough.”

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Award for workplace mental health work

Award for workplace mental health work

WORK done in the borough to promote mental health has been recognised regionally.

The Redditch and Bromsgrove branch of UNISON has been given a health and safety award by the union for their efforts to reduce stigma and enable employees to come forward if they experiencing issues. They were also highly commended in the regional TUC awards.

Part of their work has been around the Time to Change pledge which the council has just signed up to, including supplying the trainer and the funding for the awareness sessions, supplying resources for Time to Talk days for staff, getting Headgym involved in the pledge and lobbying the senior management team and councillors.

Branch secretary Laney Walsh said: “Mental health is a big issue within the workplace that’s not spoken about. This hopefully gives people security and the belief they can open up and speak openly with their employers.

“The pledge doesn’t stop here. It isn’t about signing it and hanging it on the wall, the work around the pledge will continue.”

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Mentoring evening success

Mentoring evening success

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.

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Labour will ensure mental illness is on par with physical illness

Labour will ensure mental illness is on par with physical illness

Rebecca Blake reports on mental health in Redditch. 

“People are regularly telling me that mental health services are getting worse.  This cannot continue. It’s costing lives, reducing quality of life and the money spent on the consequences must be shifted towards prevention.

Let’s face it, there has never been a golden age for mental health services.  Maybe that’s because if you have mental illness it’s a challenge to get through the day, let alone fight the system.

Services are being cut, in-patient beds have been reduced and tragically, suicide has increased significantly according to the latest ONS figures. I asked Luciana Berger MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health to come to Redditch to see how we are fighting for improved services and mental wellbeing while providing mental health support and tackling stigma. Luciana met with the Redditch Mental Health Support Group and listened to their concerns about the drop in having been cut and how much they valued coming to the weekly group set up by volunteer Mary Jones eighteen months ago.

Neil Ordish, member of Redditch Mental Health Action Group and lead on a new mentoring project funded by the CCG, discussed the importance of long term support being available for people having had mental illness and who have come to the end of their therapy.  Usually the individual would be left to essentially get on with it and if something goes wrong they then have to battle to get back into the system and face lengthy delays, often resulting in a deterioration in their health.  Yet regular, sustained, low level support can break the endless cycle that so many face. 

Luciana explained that a Labour Government would bring together mental, social and physical care to improve services for people and bring collective responsibility for the health of patients.  And for the first time mental illness would be treated on par with physical illness.

I have seen the impact of unfair government policies over the last four years on the mental health of people in Redditch.  People stressed out or struggling with depression going into rent arrears for the first time thanks to this government’s bedroom tax.  Labour has pledged to cut this unfair tax which will ease the pressure put upon people who cannot downsize because there aren’t enough smaller properties for them.

Mental health can be improved and must be improved because mental ill health affects the whole of society directly and indirectly.  The time to act is now”. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Redditch Mental Health Action Group email redditchmhag@gmail.com

See also article in Redditch Standard

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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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