Mental Health Partnership Board – June

Our groups did not have any specific questions to take to the Partnership Board because the Forum meeting is next week, and the Carers group had had a social meeting to celebrate Carers Week.

We have still not had any more news about Direct Payments and breaks – the Partnership Board will ask the Council for an update.

The Partnership Board discussed:

• lack of attendance from representatives for GP, 5 Boroughs, local authority and voluntary sector. Several items couldn’t be discussed in detail because their representatives weren’t there to provide up to date information
• Assertive Outreach team changes
• Veterans mental health and service provision including self help groups in Manchester and the STEPS project in Warrington
• Older People’s Mental Health – following the end of the Older People’s Partnership Board, this will now be discussed at the MH Board
• Consultations – the PCT will be consulting on older people’s, acute care, psychological therapies – this is on behalf of the PCT, and will be done by Halton And St Helens VCA.
• 5 Boroughs will be consulting on their Acute Care Pathway
• CQUIN targets – will be distributed
• Crisis service recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny and the action plan
• Social Inclusion Network as a task group of  the Partnership Board
• Bridgewater update (This is the new name for Community Health Services)
• Updates from the IAPT work and Open Mind
• Notices to emphasise sources of support around suicide

Meeting Notes – May meeting

Emma Rodriguez Dos Santos, St Helens LINk,  told the group about various dementia consultations taking place in St Helens.

Young Carers asked about the self help groups and we talked about Oasis, the Peer Support Network, Women’s group and No Secrets.

• Dreams group – Contact Tony and Dave for more information. The group is on hold until more people come forward. (Speak to them or one of the volunteers at Oasis)
•  Walking group – speak to Oasis volunteers for more information.

 

St Helens Council – Crisis team scrutiny report

LINk will be following this up. There are 11 recommendations which cover a wide range of organizations including 5 Boroughs, GPs and the police. The report is available on the Council’s website (www.sthelens.gov.uk )

 

News from the Partnership Board – May 17^th

Denise and Kim attended the meeting. They took the questions from the group:

1. We asked about the Birmingham ruling outside the meeting, and were told that it was different circumstances.
2. Changes to Carers Break funding – If the person being supported does not receive services from 5 Boroughs, their carer can get Carers Break support from the Carers Centre, but cannot access funding through John Edwards.
3. Lack of respite for carers in St Helens – They asked if we had evidence of need for respite. They said there may be some places such as Avondale, Greengate or Sherdley Court who could offer a transition bed.

News from groups:

“NO SECRETS” is here to support those affected by self injury/self harm to come forward and get the help they need and deserve.  We are a friendly group and our aim is to raise awareness of self injury, break down the stigma surrounding self injury, and offer support to people like us, who are affected by self injury.

Many people use self injury/self harm as a way of coping with very difficult emotions, and most do not tell anybody about it. People shouldn’t be afraid of talking about self injury: it’s nothing to be ashamed of and it should be taken seriously.

We’ve now got 3 groups – in St Helens (Wednesdays at 6-8pm at the Millennium Centre, Bickerstaffe St), Halton (every Friday 2-4pm at St John’s on Alforde St, Widnes) and Wigan (Wednesdays 6-8pm Platt Bridge Community Zone, Ribble Road, Wigan).

If you, or somebody you know, needs help please contact “NO SECRETS” for support. (see website for details at http://nosecrets.moonfruit.com )

 

Matthew Avenue group meets from 1-3pm on Friday afternoons – this is a Mind group so you need to get a referral from Mind.

St.Helens Mind is hosting a Fundraising Quiz Night at Heath Park Lodge on Wednesday 29^th June from 7.30 pm. For just £5 you can enjoy a quiz with cash prizes and a free prize bingo. Soft drinks and snacks will be provided but you can also take your own alcoholic drinks. Tickets are available by calling 01744 677058 or emailing sthelmind@yahoo.com.

Meeting dates

Thurs May 12th 10am – 12 noon	Peer Support Network – focuses on recovery and actively supporting each other	United Reformed Church
Mon May 16th 9.30 – 12 noon	Oasis group – drop in with various activities including bingo	United Reformed Church
Tues May 17th 1pm – 3pm	Mental Health Forum – for people who want to improve services for mental health	United Reformed Church
Monday May 23rd 9.30 – 12 noon	Oasis group	United Reformed Church
Thursday May 26th 10am – 12 noon	Peer Support Network	United Reformed Church
Monday 30th May	BANK HOLIDAY NO Oasis group session	Remember to organise prescriptions early.

Oasis funding

St Helens Council have agreed to pay the rent for 2011/12 and the Group’s management committee are meeting regularly to make sure the recent uncertainty doesn’t happen again.

We thank St Helens Council for their support.

Meeting notes – April Forum – Lynn Marsden

Lynn Marsden – the new national mental health strategy

Lynn described the Partnership Board. This was formerly known as the LIT or Local Implementation Team. There are now different Boards for different conditions. They are a place where everyone including the Primary Care Trust (PCT), Local authority (St Helens Council), the big providers (such as 5 Boroughs) and service users and carers can discuss local service provision. This needs to consider national changes and guidelines.

Meeting notes – March Forum

Feedback from groups:

• Peter fed back that groups are struggling with numbers and funding.
• General feeling from Forum members that people are anxious about their personal situation (housing, benefits, support). Also that a local project has required weekly attendance which has affected existing groups.
• Phoenix Art group is now for older people (not mental health) and meets in Haydock
• Some groups, including the Peer Support Network and women’s group, are going very well with increased numbers and referrals from the Social Inclusion Team
• Feeling that the more successful groups offer a structure and activities, and are helped by pro-active volunteers

 

Direct Payments

• Several members reporting long delays after applying for direct payments (currently still waiting for a decision after 2 months).
• Also describing a lot of bureaucracy and multiple forms to fill
• Request for someone from Direct Payments to attend the Forum meeting in May
• Also queries for more information about Personal Health Budgets

 

New projects

• Insight group – David/Tony are developing a poster for the new group
• Walks – David will organize walks to take place on the 1^st Tuesday of each month – meet 1pm at the URC – open to all – a short stroll around town / to local parks – to help build confidence and encourage people to get out.
• Holidays – some members asked about organized holidays. It was felt that this is too ambitious for most members at the moment and people want something accessible (geography and timing).

 

Walk and talk

We organized this walk to support the new time to change campaign “time to talk”, which encourages people to talk about mental health problems. See www.time-to-change.org.uk

 

LIT

Karen (carers) and Sam (forum) are unable to attend the meeting.

4 members (Denise, Kim, Jaqui and Barry) have agreed to attend tomorrow’s LIT as observers and representatives for the Forum and the Carers group.

The issues they will take to the Forum / Carers feedback slot are:

• Direct Payments – concern over length of time to get a decision
• Oasis group – worry about the funding ending on March 28^th
• IAPT – a question about what is happening with this now and whether it is accessible from secondary care
• Carers services – why was the service provided by together not funded, and how will individuals and groups be supported.

Walk and talk

Members of the Oasis Group were in St Helens last week to promote the latest campaign from time to change. They gave out new materials from the campaign including postcards, posters and information leaflets.

The new campaign ‘It’s time to talk. It’s time to change’ aims to address the awkwardness people feel in talking about mental health problems, and get people talking about mental health.

The main message is ‘A few small words can make a big difference. Don’t be afraid to talk about mental health.’

The Oasis group meets every Monday morning at the United Reformed Church, King St, St Helens and is open to everyone. Volunteers run various activities including bingo and quizes, and there is plenty of time for a coffee and a chat. They can also tell you about other groups in the Borough, including the Forum, Peer Support Network and the women’s group.

Karen Machin, Chair of St Helens Mental Health Forum, is also a national advisor to the campaign. She said, “We have to challenge the stigma that prevents people from seeking help from their friends and colleagues.”

Whether it’s fear or awkwardness about talking to someone we know about their mental health problem – or talking about our own mental health problem, reluctance to talk about mental health isn’t good for anyone. Talking openly about mental health takes the taboo out of something that affects us all.

Peer support network – meeting dates

Dates for meetings have been set for every other Thursday morning at the URC – 10am -noon

Next meeting is March 17^th

ALL WELCOME

Meeting notes – February

Photography

The group discussed doing a photography project to highlight what Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is used for. This fits in with our priorities :

• cuts
• money including benefits
• projects of our own

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is reviewing DLA and proposing an alternative called PIP – for Personal Independence Payment. We are concerned that the proposals do not take into account people with fluctuating conditions (as for many mental health conditions). They also proposed to end the mobility payments for people living in residential care, but this is currently on hold.

Many people don’t understand DLA or what it is for. For example, people worry that they will lose this payment if they get a job. This should not happen. It is supposed to help people to cover the additional costs of their disability – so it can be used to cover the additional costs of getting to work for example. There is no guidance on what you should spend your DLA on.

We have agreed to develop a small project, to illustrate what DLA is used for. We have linked in with Hayley, the manager at Making Space’s home in Rainhill, who will encourage her residents to take part. Denise will take the project to Oasis members. We hope to show the photographs in a project being run by Mash Gallery.

Spirituality

Tony and David talked about the Insight group, which used to meet several years ago in the Friends Meeting House. People valued this meeting, where people talked about different ways of thinking around mental health including holistic therapies and dreams. They would like to start the group up again and will design a poster to circulate to other groups. They hope to start meeting at the URC in the forum room in a few weeks. Do get in touch if you would like more information.

Representation at meetings

After a discussion, everyone agreed that, if there are problems concerning our forum representatives at any meeting, the representative and the Forum need an explanation so that we can all learn.  The Forum members elect our representatives. If there are problems, we need to know and understand them so that we can move forwards.

St Helens LIT – mental health partnership board 16^th February
This was the first meeting with a new board solely from St Helens. Previous meetings had been joint with Halton. New terms of reference were agreed. We went through the new mental health strategy, ‘no health without mental health’ and had an update on how things are in St Helens.
There needs to be a decision on a Chair for the Partnership Board. Commissioners asked for service user views. Please let us know your views at the Forum meeting.

Meeting notes – January – priorities

We talked about our priorities for the year ahead and decided on:

1. CUTS – we all recognize that the year ahead is bringing many financial challenges to service providers.We are particularly concerned about the future for self help groups. We insist our Oasis drop in group remains open. This group has had fantastic results for people – many people have passed through the group over the year and have moved on, with some doing part time work now. We want to make sure this group continues.

   We are also worried about the loss of support worker services. People need a prompt and supportive service which can help with a range of needs including accommodation and finances.

   Suggested speakers:

   • Our MPs, Dave Watts and Shaun Woodward
   • Local authority (St Helens Council) representatives – Cllr Joe Pearson and Marie Rimmer
   • Representatives from GP commissioning
2. MONEY INCLUDING BENEFITS, WORK – We worry about changes to benefits and money problems. We would also like to hear how local employers are being positive about people with mental health problems.Suggested speakers:
   • General talk from the Job Centre
   • Personal money management
3. ACCESS TO SERVICES – people are finding it difficult to access a range of services including alternative therapies.
   Suggested speakers:
   • Open Mind – access to all mental health services
   • Crisis services – access to crisis services for everyone including people already in services
   • Alternative treatments available locally
4. PROJECTS – we are keen to run our own projects. We suggested a range including:
   • World mental health day (we are organizing another arts exhibition – this time in Mash)
   • Peer Support Network (see dates below)
   • Stigma and discrimination (linking into national and local campaigns)
   • Projects for sports (football) and arts (exhibitions, workshops)
   • Café, shop

Throughout all the above, we agreed that we need to link in with local media – perhaps reviving the MediaWatch group.