Connecting with our communities about mental health NEWS UPDATE Winter 2017/18 Employer Pledge event a success About 30 employers from across the county attended our Time to Change West Sussex Employer Pledge event in Horsham. The businesses heard about the pledge and how it can help change attitudes and behaviours around mental health in the workplace. Speakers included WSCC cabinet member for adults and health Amanda Jupp (below, left), Southern Water s Sarah Archer who have already signed the pledge (below, right) and two employee champions Sam (centre) and Kasha who spoke about their experiences of mental health. Sarah Archer said: Our action plan keeps us focused. We are so pleased to have joined the TTC Employer Pledge. As an organisation it has helped us change for the better. There s an exciting opportunity for people with experience of mental health issues through TTC West Sussex. Read more inside. Chair Sally Lefroy and chief executive Katie Glover sign our Employer Pledge Christmas and thank you A group of people in Worthing who use our services will be tucking in to traditional festive fare on Christmas Day, cooked and served by some of our recovery workers at The Gateway. A small group is expected for turkey, all the trimmings and Christmas pud. Tesco at Durrington has kindly agreed to supply the food. A Christmas Thank You event is planned for our volunteers and supporters. We are very grateful to you all. We want people who use our services to get involved in our newsletters. Anyone who has had support from Coastal West Sussex Mind and who is interested in having an input into our newsletters can ring service user involvement lead Chris Arkell on 01903 277000, email chris.arkell@coastalwestsussexmind.org. Our vision: We won t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect. Our mission: We will promote good mental health through the provision of high quality services and through campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and understanding.
Fundraising update Marathon, pumpkins, walk, fireworks and fancy dress... It has been a busy few months for our supporters who have done a variety of events and activities to raise money for Coastal West Sussex Mind. A big thank you to you all. A group of staff, trustees and supporters took part in the Chichester Legal Walk in September (right). Soon after, a group from Rolls Royce, Goodwood, which has chosen us as their charity of the year, ran the Chichester Half Marathon. Then Slindon Pumpkins collected money in aid of CWSX Mind throughout the autumn period. We also had information, posters and leaflets there in the build up to marked the end of Worthing Mental Health Week. Littlehampton Bonfire Society chose us as one of the charities to benefit from this year s parade and fireworks. A group of our young people from Littlehampton joined the parade. Giving time is also a great way to support us. A group from Durrington company, Homewise, kindly repainted our boardroom (below). Some of the Rolls Royce team with Lawrence Huntingford (blue vest) after the Chichester half marathon Designer Mark Ford with the snakes and ladders pumpkins display at Slindon Fundraising opportunities We rely on fundraising to enable us to reach more local people with mental health issues and to pay for our unfunded services, such as our Families in Mind project for parents of young children. Perhaps your workplace would like to do some fundraising together for us. If you would like to get involved in fundraising as an individual, group or workplace, we would love to hear from you. Please ring 01903 277000 or email debbie.watkins@coastalwestsussexmind.org.
Update on Champions and anti-stigma work Many of our Champions wanted to say a big thank you to the Ryan Chapman Cup for all their support of our work. They invited members of Ryan Chapman s family to The Gateway, Worthing, to get a taster for all the different activities that happen in the community to raise awareness about mental health. They are pictured left, speaking with Kris, one of our Champions. There are many ways that people with lived experience of a mental health issue can become involved as a Champion. Some of our Champions are people who use our services while others come to us directly, Whichever route, the passion for raising awareness is clear and there is something for everyone - committee meetings, talking to people individually, sitting on a grants panel or delivering personal testimonies. All the Champions make an immense contribution to raising awareness about the problems of stigma in mental health. Champions meetings We have two meetings for Champions that occur regularly in both Chichester and Crawley. These are sessions where we develop ideas both for content and events as well as providing a place to offer mutual support. The Crawley Champions were planning to have a training session for young leaders at the beginning of December to attract and support younger people to the Time to Change West Sussex hub. In Chichester for World Mental Health Day, Champions were recounting their experience of employment both paid and as volunteers. This offered good insight around creating an environment that can challenge stigma and enable people to participate. The insights have been shared on our website. The message is we want to get involved, we want to work and volunteer, and thinking about stigma and mental health is really important. We continue to meet regularly and our dates are posted on Facebook and circulated through the Time to Change membership newsletter. Recruitment drive for partnership meetings Time to Change West Sussex also runs a quarterly partnership meeting which reports and makes decisions about county-wide activities. We are currently recruiting Champions to participate in this meeting. Travel expenses are available. Champion training We are looking forward to the training from Time to Change over the next few months. In addition, we are planning some personal testimony training for our Open Minds workshops at the end of January please see Eventbrite for details. If you are interested in being involved or discussing any of the above, please contact Louisa Hernandez on 01903 277000 or email louisa.hernandez@coastalwestsussexmind.org.
Up to 500 for Champions activity If you are a Champion in West Sussex you can apply to a new fund to meet the costs of putting on a Time to Change activity. Time to Change West Sussex is offering awards of up to 500 to cover activities to end stigma about mental health. The new fund will pay for events ranging from a simple coffee morning or a film showing, to a stall at a fair, a concert or various arts projects. The first round of applications for the awards opened from World Mental Health Day in October until November 30, 2017. The second round will be early in 2018. To be eligible, applicants must have signed up to become a Time to Change West Sussex Champion and be 18 or over, live in West Sussex and have lived experience of a mental health problem. Interested in applying? Go to AGM hears about busy year About 50 people attended our Annual General Meeting in October. They included people who use our services, staff, trustees, local dignitaries and other supporters. Members voted to agree the annual accounts and for existing trustees to be re-elected. Trustee Hilary Riddell retired and chair Sally Lefroy thanked her for her years contributing to the Board. At the meeting, in Littlehampton, the audience heard from Champion Amanda about her lived experience of mental health issues and learned about CWSX Mind s work with Time to Change West Sussex as well as the rest of our work over the year. We also signed our Time to Change Employer Pledge at the AGM. (See photo on front page.)
Events to mark World Mental Health Day Mindfulness sessions prove popular at Bognor event Free mindfulness sessions and information about mental health were on offer in Bognor as part of World Mental Health Day. About 35 people went along to the event which was put on by Coastal West Sussex Mind in partnership with Bognor Library on October 10. More than half of the visitors took advantage of the free taster sessions in mindfulness, run by Sharon Mitchell. The aim was to challenge attitudes and behaviour around mental health as well as let people know what help was available for mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression. There were nine organisations represented at the Mayor Cllr Phil Woodall, Jo Bulis and town crier Jane Smith event, including My Sister s House, The Samaritans, Sage Counselling and Sussex Recovery College. It was done as a Time to Change (TTC) event as Coastal West Sussex Mind is a key partner in TTC West Sussex. Organiser, Arun older people's service manager Jo Bulis, said: The day went very well and we were pleased to talk with so many people. Bognor Mayor Cllr Phil Woodall and town crier Jane Smith welcomed people as they arrived. Meanwhile, an arts event with a cream tea marked World Mental Health Day in Midhurst. Raising awareness with staff at Rolls Royce Another event on World Mental Health Day was a visit by Coastal West Sussex Mind to Rolls Royce at Goodwood to raise awareness among staff about mental health. Rolls Royce have chosen CWSX Mind as their charity of the year and employees there have been doing fundraising in aid of us. World Mental Health Day was also the day of the launch of our Champions Fund (see story overleaf). Two national reports focus on mental health Two reports about mental health in society as a whole and in the workplace have been published this year. The first, Surviving or Thriving? commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation, suggested that our collective mental health is deteriorating. Overall most of us report experiencing a mental health problem in our lifetime. However, young adults report this at a higher level, despite having had fewer years in their lives to experience this. The survey, of 2,290 people, aimed to understand the prevalence of self-reported mental health problems, levels of positive and negative mental health in the population, and the actions people take to deal with the stressors in their lives. Then in October the Thriving at Work report, commissioned by government, urged employers to commit to six core standards around mental health. The report, by national Mind chief executive Paul Farmer and campaigner and former HBOs chair Dennis Stevenson, found that about 300,000 people with a long-term mental health problem lose their jobs each year. Thriving at Work put the annual cost to the UK economy of poor mental health at up to 99bn, of which about 42bn is borne by employers. Paul Farmer said it was still a taboo subject in many workplaces.
Katie and Kasha at conference Lighting up the garden with bulbs The evaluation of the children and young people s training programme, which began nearly two years ago, has shown it to be a resounding success. The programme provides a variety of training courses designed for people who work with young people and children aged between 11 and 18. Coastal West Sussex Mind s training manager Charlotte Dawber said: People reported being much more confident about working with young people around mental health and said they are using the skills they have gained from the courses. Some said they believe the skills they learnt have enabled them to actually save a life. Charlotte said the courses also helped equip parents with skills to help their families around People who use our services at The Gateway, Worthing, have been busy planting bulbs in the garden, thanks to Tesco, Durrington, which donated the bulbs. In the picture: Christine, Tesco s Myra Jasper, Michael and Tesco s Safron Hendrick Courses to help young people a success mental health. Often the training courses have included young people sharing their experiences of mental health illnesses and concerns. This has proved to be very powerful, she said. The programme, which is funded by West Sussex County Council and Health Education England, is heavily subsidised so places are very affordable. The feedback will be used to shape how the programme is developed. Now we are also developing courses for people working with primary school aged children. This could include understanding and managing bullying and school refusal. To find out more about our training courses, please visit www.coastalwestsussexmind.org/ mental-health-training. The Gateway 8-10 Durrington Lane Worthing BN13 2QG 01903 277000 info@coastalwestsussexmind.org @MindWestSussex CoastalWestSussexMind www.coastalwestsssussexmind.org Charity number 1155918. Company number 8884776