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.