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A warm welcome to our CMHT newsletter where we are celebrating World Mental Health Day on 10th October. The 2023 theme is 'mental health is a universal right' and as always these events aim to drive positive change. We have featured The Cameron Grant Memorial Fund and Night Walk & The Hub of Hope to spread awareness of these great initiatives.
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Included in this edition:
- The VCSE Demonstrate Your Impact Report is now published and we have made a video giving you a snapshot of the main findings
- Announcing our VCSE and Clinical colleagues networking session and a few remaining spaces on free courses being offered this Autumn
- Our Summer VCSE visits to some fantastic projects in action!
- A spotlight on VCSE ARC to showcase their 2023 activities.
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Community Mental Health November Networking
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With only 6 months left of the Transformation Programme this is an excellent opportunity for VCSEs and clinical staff to network and build partnerships with like minded people in the community mental health sector, over some refreshments and lunch.
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At the VCSE Forums the need for more networking opportunities and a platform to tell others about your services has regularly come up as a top priority. We hope that you will join us on 16th November to promote your activities and meet some friendly faces. Sign up
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The Demonstrate Your Impact VCSE Report is Launched
Earlier in the year we invited VCSEs to engage with our survey to give a snapshot of how the community mental health sector was fairing across Warwickshire and Coventry in 2023 and better understand its social and financial contribution. The results were quite astounding and some interesting insights have been discussed. We produced a short video as a teaser to the report which you can view here. Read the full report here.
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The Demonstrate Your Impact VCSE report is launched analysing survey results
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VCSE Autumn Training
Across Coventry and Warwickshire we are committed to helping VCSEs improve their skills. We have had a busy start to the Autumn term with the VCSE Forum and Canva design skills training with mental health awareness, bid-writing and more safeguarding dates to come! Some courses are full but it is not too late to book yourself a place on plenty of FREE courses here or through the direct links below.
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The VCSE Team on the Road!
Over the Summer we were lucky to be invited to visit some VCSEs and see the amazing activities and sessions being planned out and implemented. The Horse and People Project (right) provide a service for people who would like to experience a different therapeutic
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approach using horses, to making positive changes in their life. Forest of Hearts (left) provide a bio-diverse and accessible community garden facility to help improve users well being. Creative Kindness (below) also opened their doors to one of their numerous weekly drop-in craft sessions to promote
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positive wellbeing and kindness, that run across Coventry. Meeting with these VCSES, along with Derventio Housing Trust, really helped bring to life the impactful work they do, something not always tangible through attendance figures and quarterly reports. We hope to have the opportunity to see more projects in action this Autumn.
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£360,000 of Further Funds Distributed to VCSEs
The Community Mental Health Transformation programme, led by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust has released the second year of Innovation Funds worth £360,000. These 2023 funds have been distributed to 24 local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners.
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In 2022, the Innovation Fund distributed £300,000 to 14 VCSE projects providing invaluable support in our communities; 2151 people have been supported so far through these services and across all 14 projects, participants' mental health scores improved by an average of 91.81% and all scores improved by a minimum of 70%.
We look forward to finding out how many people the 2023 Fund recipients can reach.
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VCSE Forum Insights
We want to thank everyone who participated in a fantastic afternoon of discussions at the VCSE Forum held at the beautiful Wildlife Trust Brandon Marsh venue, which proved the perfect setting for considering well being and mental health.
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As well as taking stock of where the Transformation Programme's priorities lie in the final phase, we were lucky to have an engaging presentation from Lisa Lawson on Adult Social Care Models alongside some illuminating discussions on the referral systems in place. We look forward to convening again to make further plans for 2024.
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Spotlight on VCSE ARC
For each newsletter we try and shine a light on some of the fantastic work the VCSE do in mental health services. Achieving Results in Communities (ARC) has had a phenomenal year reaching over 246 users with their courses and support groups.
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ARC has been supporting people for the past 6 years to improve their well-being through helping them to engage with the great outdoors. There is mounting evidence that being in nature can make positive contributions to mental and physical health. ARC’s aim is to help people to create and sustain open spaces, to empower individuals and support the building of stronger communities.
ARC were in receipt of Community Mental Health Transformation Innovation Fund support in 2022 which provided money towards running weekly Adult Wellbeing in Nature sessions at both Foundry Wood Community Woodland in Leamington and Packmores Community Garden in Warwick. In addition to this 8 week Well-being courses for adults and Youth Mentoring in Nature courses are also run.
Youth Mentoring in Nature is an early intervention scheme for pupils in Years 7-8 who are struggling with their engagement in the mainstream learning. With one to one guidance each young person is supported to expand their capacity for focus and perseverance, whilst strengthening their self-esteem. The programme aims to cultivate the natural curiosity and enthusiasm of each child so they become self-motivated to learn.
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ARC feel that an important part of their work is to support participants into volunteering opportunities in the community and encouraging them to attend local events like EcoFest and Art in the Park, taking place throughout the year. At least two participants have moved into new work between June-August 2023 and feel supported by the group in that transition. For more information on ARC click here
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The Cameron Grant Memorial Trust was established to help the preservation of good mental health particularly in young people and to mark Cameron’s life that was tragically cut short from suicide. Each October, close to his birthday and World Mental Health Day, a night walk celebrates Cameron's life whilst raising sponsorship funds and awareness for suicide prevention. This year the walk commences on 10th October, to join or donate click here
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Anyone struggling with their mental health can download the Hub of Hope app from Chasing the Stigma.
The app also has a Need Help Now? button that links straight through to the Samaritans.
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ArtsUplift are running a new FREE ten-week evening course for mental wellbeing starting in Rugby on 5th October. Lead by musician Martin Riley, these courses are suitable for people with low mood and low-to-moderate mental health issues.
A Singing for Wellbeing programme will be starting at the Brunswick Centre in Leamington on 17th October. Both courses available to book here
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The Dimensions
The Dimensions of Health and Wellbeing is a free online tool providing self-care information to support adults, children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire. You can rate yourself or another person against a number of dimensions related to health and wellbeing. The Dimensions creates a report which provides information about self-care, local services and support.
The tool was developed through Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust in consultation with patients, referrers and clinicians. Access it here
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