Rethink Mental Illness Manchester Group

Last Wednesday we held a special event to mark Schizophrenia Awareness Week. Dr Richard Drake came to talk to us about his approach to understanding and treating schizophrenia commission, as well as his involvement in the Innovation Network, the follow up to the Schizophrenia Commission.  Here are group members Dawn, Steve, Lindsey, David and Alan all arriving for the event. Richard gave a fascinating and really informative presentation taking lots of questions from the floor. We had lots of feedback from attendees who said how much they enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone who came and asked questions, and to Richard for such an informative evening. Here's our Chair, Lindsey, introducing Richard.

Rethink Manchester Carers in Action invite you to a special event to mark Schizophrenia Awareness Week Understanding Schizophrenia With Guest Speaker Dr Richard Drake Wednesday 13th November 6 - 7:45pm Manchester Carers Centre Vulcan Mill, 12-18 Pollard Street Manchester M4 7AN Two minutes walk from the New Islington Metrolink stop (Droylsden Line) Free parking available on Pollard Street from 6pm Richard Drake is Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester Institute of Brain, Behaviour & Mental Health and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in Rehabilitation at Manchester Mental Health & Social Care NHS Trust. He will be talking about his research, practice, and on-going involvement with the Schizophrenia Commission. Q&A session will follow. Free entry, though voluntary donations towards our group running costs will be welcomed. Light refreshments will be provided. For more information contact Mar...

Central, North and South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups have recently consulted on their  commissioning intentions for mental health services. We have responded to the consultation and you can read a copy of our response (pdf) her e. The main focus of our response was asking for greater involvement of carers and service users in the mental health system. You can find the original commissioning intentions document here http://www.manchester.nhs.uk/document_uploads/mental_health/MH%20Commissioning%20Intentions%2013-15.pdf and more information at http://www.manchester.nhs.uk/commissioning/mental-health-commissioning-intentions-2013-15.html .

Our friends over at Making Mental Health Positive have put together this inspiring exhibition of postcards to send a positive message about mental health. It's on at the Lowry, Salford Quays, until 7th November. You can find MMHP at www.facebook.com/MakingMentalHealthPositive or on twitter at @MMHPuk.

Just a quick reminder that it's our regular monthly meeting this Wednesday 9th October, from 6-7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre . Our speaker is Tom Griffiths from the Work Capability Assessment Action Group. All are very welcome! We'll start with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Trafford Centre for Independent Living (Trafford CIL) has been awarded funding by Skills for Care to provide free Health and Social Care training for Carers, Personal Assistants and their individual employers. As an experienced provider of training for disabled people and their staff, and as the only provider in the North West to be awarded this funding, the organisation is in a unique position to deliver person-centred training focussed on the needs of disabled people and their immediate support networks. Between July and October 2013, Trafford CIL will initially host twice-weekly sessions at their offices in Sale, as well as a number of outreach sessions within Trafford. The courses cover a range of subjects, from Safer Handling of Medicines and Manual Handling to person centred courses such as Autism, Diabetes, Cerebral Palsy and Dementia. All of the courses are CPD certified and use innovative e-l...

Rethink Mental Illness have just launched a new guide, ‘SOS’. This guide aims to help people who may know somebody with mental illness but don’t know what to do. It’s written in a way that’s accessible to everyone and it can be very useful in helping people with mental illness receive greater support from their friends or relatives. This is available for free to download from www.rethink.org/sos

Our next meeting is on this  Weds 11 th September , from 6 – 7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre (address at the end of this newsletter). We have a busy agenda, including discussion about our financial position , possible support from Rethink Mental Illness on campaigning , as well as Patrick Cahoon to update us on the Foundation Trust application status , and Sarah Leach from the Trafford Centre for Independent Living . Our October meeting will be on Weds 9 th . Tom Griffiths from the Work Capability Assessment Action Group is coming to talk with us. The group is an alliance of organisations and individuals who are supporting WCA claimants in preparing for interviews as well as campaigning for change in the assessment process.

The next meeting of the Recovery Network will be on 8th October  10.30 - 4 pm at the Central Methodist Hall, Oldham St, Manchester M1 1JQ. This event is for anyone who is  interested in promoting mental health recovery Click  here   to find out more about the network We will hear some recovery stories Hear about the work of other recovery networks   Hold a market place of services to promote and share information about the broad range of services in Manchester that support mental health recovery. Talk about network issues and the support needs of different members Please email  pauline@macc.org.uk  to book your place and to book a stall if you want to promote your services through the market place. See link below for details of the venue. http://www.methodist.org.uk/links/contact-the-connexional-team/how-to-get-to-central-hall-manchester

Will take place at Ada House, 77 Thompson St, Manchester, M4 5FY 10.00am ~ 12.00 on Wednesday 14th August. We are an Alliance of organisations and individuals who are supporting WCA claimants in preparing for interviews as well as campaigning for change in the assessment process.   The former medical head of ATOS Health Care has described the WCA system as 'a dog's breakfast' which discriminates against vulnerable people and the lawyer who recently led a successful judicial review on behalf of claimants with mental health problems has called it 'unfit for purpose'.  We share these concerns. On October 1st we are holding a Fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference which is taking place in Manchester.  It will be held at London Scottish House on Mount St next to the Manchester Conference Centre.  Other public meetings will follow. So please attend our next meeting to discuss these developments and to support our campaign for justice and an end to ha...

Invitation to a conversation on the future of Mental Health services in Manchester.  Upper Hall, Friends’ Meeting House, 6 Mount Street M2 5NS,  on Thursday 29 th  August 2013, at 5.30 – 7.30pm Since April 2013, North, Central and South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups have taken on responsibility for commissioning NHS Mental Health services in Manchester. We have recently released our draft commissioning intentions document that describes how we think Mental Health services should look by 2015. The event will begin with a brief presentation outlining our commissioning intentions and where they fit in the overall commissioning process. This will be followed by table discussions and a Panel Q&A. Panel members will include: Dr Martin Whiting, Clinical Lead North Manchester CCG; Carolina Ciliento, Deputy Head of Mental Health Commissioning (Mental health and Learning Disabilities) Craig Harris, Executive Nurse and Director of City Wide Commissioning, ...

Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust is holding its “Hi! Tea” event and Annual General Meeting on  Wednesday 11th September 2013, 10am – 4pm at Manchester Town Hall. Download the poster here . The “Hi! Tea” event is a tea party at Manchester Town Hall. Everyone is encouraged to join, have a cup of tea, take part in the activities and enjoy the entertainment provided. The Trust's Annual General Meeting will be inside the Town Hall at 2pm. It will be a free full day event open to everyone, activities include: Hi Tea Lunch time tea party/picnic Information stalls Health bus conducting health checks Baby massage session Tea and cake Video room Smoothie bike Music Memory Pods Annual General Meeting at 2pm Cooking demonstration and much more

It's our regular monthly meet up next Wednesday, 14th August, from 6-7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre . Tamzin Forster from Start2 , a health-based arts organisation is coming to talk to us about their work. Their philosophy is 'changing lives through art' and I know there are already some very creative people in our group so it should be a fun session. We normally run a 'walking bus' from next to the taxi rank at Manchester Piccadilly Station, but won't be doing so this month. Please make your own way to the Carers Centre - it's only two minutes walk from the New Islington Metrolink stop (Droylsden Line). Our Chair, Lindsey Cree, is running a focus group alongside our meeting about care planning. Though spaces for this are now filled, Lindsey will give us an update at a future session so if you're interested you can hear more.

We meet at Manchester Carers Centre's Community Rooms for our monthly get-togethers and it's a really nice, light, modern and smart venue. If you're from a community group or other organisation and are thinking of holding an event, you can hire rooms there and support an important local charity. Here are some of the selling points: Excellent location in Central Manchester with easy access from the motorway and well served by public transport (2 mins walk from New Islington Metrolink stop) Ethical choice - Manchester Community Rooms is part of Manchester Carers Centre - a charity supporting local unpaid carers. Light, modern and high quality accommodations. Catering and refreshments available. Single storey building with disabled access. Flipchart, projector, laptop and wifi available. The Large Meeting Space starts from only £75 for a half day, The Boardroom from only £45 for a half day and the One to One Room is only £20 for 1.5 hours. Contact Manchester Commun...

There is going to be a Time to Change event in Blackpool on 23rd August and they are looking for volunteers. Volunteers will be given full training and will be paid travel expenses- see info below. If you are interested please contact Keith Winestein Senior Community Engagement Officer k.winestein@mind.org.uk 020 8215 2349 What’s in it for volunteers? Full training before the event on how to engage with the public Support on the day from a dedicated Volunteer Co-ordinator A Time to Change t-shirt Refreshments The chance to meet others who are interested in challenging mental health discrimination Up to £15 towards travel expenses to get to the training session and up to £15 will also be provided to attend the event. What is the event about? This year, the Time to Change Village will be ‘popping’ up’ at Bristol, Brighton, Blackpool, Cambridge, Newcastle and South East London.The Village is a pop-up space consisting of a variety of marquees where people can learn about mental hea...

At our meeting next Weds 10th July, 6-7.45pm we  will be showing Patient Voices digital stories which use video/dvd to convey patients' and carers' own stories in a unique way. They are intended to touch the hearts of managers, clinicians and others striving to improve the quality of health and social care, and are used to engage with the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), and to provide qualitative evidence of the patient experience. See  http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/stories.htm Our Chair, Lindsey Cree, will be showing her dvd which is part of her journey as the parent of a child with schizophrenia.  The screening will be followed by a discussion. You are all very welcome.

Here's an update from MACC about an event coming up... Please put this important date in your diary for the next Manchester mental health recovery network event.  June 27th 11-4 at the St Thomas Centre This event is for everyone with an interest in recovery so please circulate to staff (VCS and Statutory), people using services and carers. At this event we will be doing more work on developing a vision for the network and an outcomes framework. We will also be deciding how we will collect recovery stories as a source of celebration, learning and evidence. To book a place please email   pauline@macc.org.uk   or phone 0161 834 9823 Further information will be circulated before the event for more information about what has happened so far click on the link below www.manchestercommunitycentral.org/mental-health-recovery-network-manchester

Join us for a FREE social event in Manchester. Tuesday June 18th 2013, 6.15pm – 9.15pm St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green, M12 6FZ. Come and join us for a social evening of networking and fun. Bring your partner or friend, and meet some of our Rethink staff and group members from our 5 North West Groups – Bury, Lancashire, Manchester, Oldham and Stockport. If you would like to come along please let your group Coordinator, or one of our organisers know (below) so we can cater for the right numbers of people. Lindsey Cree – Chair, Rethink Manchester Carers Telephone 07757 082976 Email lindsey.cree@hotmail.com Download the flier with more information .

The issue of compulsory sectioning is a complex and emotionally difficult one for anyone who has experienced it as well as for carers. So we are delighted to be able to offer you the opportunity to hear from two very experienced legal practitioners - Doug Feery, a Barrister, and Mark McGhee, a solicitor - who will talk about compulsory sectioning from a service user and carer perspective and answer any questions you might have. The event will take place on Wednesday 12th June from 6 - 7:45pm at Manchester Carers Centre. All are very welcome. Download a poster here . Please do let your friends and contacts know about this event as it is an excellent opportunity to find out more about this topic. If you have any specific questions that you would like Doug and Mark to answer please let me know in advance so they can prepare. You can email me on this address .

Rethink Mental Illness Yorkshire & North East Regional Committee  are holding a conference especially for people with a mental illness, their carers and mental health professionals. And it’s absolutely free of charge for members of Rethink Mental Illness. This one-day event brings you expert speakers and workshops, a chance to meet fellow members over a sit-down lunch, plus opportunities to share your experience and learn from others about theirs. When? Saturday 8 June; 10am till 4pm Where? The Met Hotel, King Street, Leeds, LS1 2HQ Here are some highlights of the day: Hear from top psychologist Dr Alison Brabban, on how and why psychological therapies can be crucial to recovery and coping with mental illness. Learn about welfare reform and policy changes. Get practical guidance on WCA and DLA changes and getting through assessment successfully Find new coping resources, heat what others have done on the road to recovery. Here’s a link to the  programme and a book...

There are many changes to welfare benefits taking place this year. The Advice Team at Rethink Mental Illness has produced a guide to the main changes. This gives a useful overview of the changes to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, the Social Fund and Disability Living Allowance. It can be downloaded from the Rethink Mental Illness website . If you want help filling in the ESA questionnaire email Lindsey Cree and request a copy of ‘Valerie’s Guide’. This contains information guidance, which many people have found immensely useful when filling in these forms.

This week I met with John Butler, the mental health development worker for Macc . John is helping to co-ordinate a new initiative called The Mental Health Recovery Network for Manchester  - more details below. They are looking for organisations and individuals to join, especially those who are mental health carers or people with lived experience of mental health difficulties. The Recovery Network is inviting all people with an interest in Mental Health services in Manchester to step outside of the current system into a safe space which is owned equally by everyone. The aim is to bring people from all sides of mental health together to improve services in Manchester and ultimately give people a better chance of recovery. The Recovery Network has already held its first meeting and you can download a copy of the meeting report, as well as more information about the Network and how to join, on the Manchester Community Central website . It is very much in the early stages and if y...

Our Chair, Lindsey Cree and group member Dawn Perrry have both just appeared on BBC1 Breakfast News to talk about carers and mental health. You'll be about to catch them on iPlayer - their slot was at 9.15. It's so important that GPs can help explain the care system and signpost to sources of peer and voluntary sector support. Well done Lindsey and Dawn, you were great. If you watched the programme and have come here looking for help and support there are various places to go. Our parent charity Rethink Mental Illness has a huge range of information and fact sheets for service users and carers available online and has a fantastic helpline open daily from 10-1. There are local groups like ours all over the country. Likewise, the Carers Trust provide a huge range of information, help and support for carers of any type and run a range of local centres (we meet at one of them). If you live in or around Manchester you are of course welcome to get in touch with us and come alon...

This Wednesday 8th May we'll be holding our Annual General Meeting. It's at our usual meeting time and venue (6pm, Manchester Carers Centre ). Simon O'Donoghue from our parent charity, Rethink Mental Illness , is coming to talk with us, and we'll cover the AGM business too. Plus we'll be having cake to celebrate another year of Rethink Manchester Carers in Action (well, we always have cake but this time we'll have a bit more...). See here for the full agenda and timings . Everyone is very welcome, as ever. You'll also find our latest newsletter here , packed full of news and stories about about what's going on locally and nationally. Do pass it on to anyone you think may be interested.

Would you like to find out more about personal budgets in mental health? Then come along to our meeting next Wednesday 10th April from 6 – 7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre . James Gibbs from Creative Support , a service provider for people living with mental health and other needs, will talk about what personalisation in mental health means. He will also introduce support service being developed by Creative Support for people in receipt of personalised funding (individual budgets, personal budgets, direct payments etc). They are researching what is happening in Manchester in terms of budgets, support available and the potential for Creative Support to provide services. As usual we'll start the meeting with a cup of tea, snacks and a general catch up. New members are always welcome. If you are travelling by public transport or by foot, a ‘walking bus’ will leave from the taxi rank at Manchester Piccadilly station at 5:30pm. Please call Lindsey Cree on 07757 082976 to let us k...

A new project is being delivered by The Lesbian & Gay Foundation (which is based in Manchester) and Creative Curve, called ‘Can You Hear Me?,, which is funded by a grant from Time to Change. The purpose of the project is to challenge the stigma and discrimination faced my lesbian and bisexual women who have lived experience of a mental health problem. Within the project LGF currently have the following opportunities: Female Community Artist Female Audio Technician More details and recruitment packs at http://www.lgf.org.uk/About-us/Jobs Closing date for applications is Tuesday 2nd April.

Manchester University and MHRN (Mental Health Research Network) are inviting you to a free event, bringing together clinicians, academics and service users to discuss a number of themes on user involvement. On 17th June, 9.30am - 4pm, with lunch provided plus travel expenses. See the flyer for information on speakers and how to book.

The Centre for Women's Mental Health in the  University of Manchester are offering a FREE half day workshop for female mental health service users who wish to improve their knowledge about sexual and reproductive health matters and their interaction with mental health. Participants will be introduced to an innovative online resource ( www.scie.org.uk/publications/elearning/sexualhealth/index.asp ), and provided with opportunities to reflect critically on these matters drawing on their own experience.   The workshop will run on Friday 19 April 2013, 9.45am-2.00pm, at the University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL. (Venue details to be confirmed).  For further details about the workshop and how to book a place, please see the poster .

The Mental Health Foundation has been asked to collect the views of people who use social care about how social care workers can help people’s mental health and well-being. If you receive support or help from an organisation that provides social care, or you are a relative or friend of someone who does, we would be very grateful if you could complete a short online survey. It should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. You can get more information and complete the survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SocialCarePrinciples

Our next meeting is on tomorrow evening, Wednesday 13th February, from 6 – 7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre . As well as having a cup of tea, bite to eat and a good catch up, Patrick Cahoon who is Head of Patient Experience at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, is coming along to give us an update. Also, one of our group members will give a short talk titled ‘A holistic view of wellbeing – Looking at the beneficial effects of various foods, vitamins & minerals. A quick dip into this extensive subject’. If you are travelling by public transport or by foot, a ‘walking bus’ will leave from the taxi rank at Manchester Piccadilly station at 5:30pm. Please call Lindsey Cree on 07757 082976 to let us know you will be coming, so we know to wait for you. If you are travelling by car then free parking is available on Pollard Street after 6pm.

Saturday 2 March 2013, 10:30am to 5:30pm at Breakthrough UK, Aked Close, Ardwick, Manchester M12 4AN (location map here: http://www.breakthrough-uk.co.uk/contact ) This one-day community conference is being organized by disabled people. We take a broad view of what disability means, and we include people with learning disabilities, any type of impairment or with mental health problems. We are providing a chance for disabled people to get together and discuss how we have been affected by the cuts, or how we fear we will be affected. It is also a chance to look at ways for our Movement to go forward. Allies are also welcome but are encouraged to book closer to the date to give disabled people a chance to book tickets first. The day will feature four interactive workshops, and a speaker from Leeds Centre For Disability Studies. Proposals for workshops are being accepted until the 16th of February. Please contact the organisers for more details. Food will be served and...

“Taking charge, helping yourself” Come to our NW Conference at the Best Western Hotel in Chester April 17th 10 – 4pm Keynote presenter: Prof Shon Lewis, Professor of adult psychiatry and the Director of the Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health at the University of Manchester Come and find out about welfare reform, policy changes, and how to deal with them. Plus how others have taken charge and helped themselves. And much more! Easy parking and very accessible public transport links. For more info about the conference call 01902 779600 or download the leaflet, plus booking form .

As part of the changes brought about by both the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Local Government Finance Act 2012, Council Tax Benefit is being abolished. If after reading the information below you think you are going to be affected and would like more information please get in touch with me by email or phone. Alternatively you can call the Rethink Mental Illness Advice and Information Service on 0300 5000 927. Each local authority has been tasked with devising their own replacement for the benefit which will be known as Council Tax Support. Money will be provided from central Government to run the scheme however it will be 10% less than is currently provided. What could this mean for me? As they are all getting less money than previously, all councils will be trying to save money and so will be looking at different ways they could do this. A number of local authorities have already stated that they will charge everyone of working age some council tax even if under the previo...

We've received the following information from Manchester University. Our Chair, Lindsey, is planning to attend. Get in touch with the University (contact details below) if you'd like to go. - Are you a parent with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis? - Are you are a grandparent or other family member helping to support someone like this? Come & help us to design a new study! Information & Consultation Event; Free Lunch  Thursday 21st February 10.30am–2pm at University of Manchester - Professor Rachel Calam & a team at the University of Manchester are planning a new study to help families where there is a parent with schizophrenia or psychosis. - We want to learn more about what it is like for you and how we can work together to help support families. - Come and hear how research could help support families and their children. Have your say and make sure your ideas and suggestions are heard. We can refund local travel costs for 30 people in receipt...

Some news about an event from our parent charity, Rethink Mental Illness. Read on if you have a brother or sister with mental health problems... Ever wanted to find a space to talk about your experiences and concerns, get practical advice, ask questions and find out about the support available to you and your family? Well here's your chance! We'd like to invite you to attend our free national event for the brothers and sisters of people affected by mental illness. When: Saturday 2 March 2013. 10.30 am - 5.00 pm Where: The Hotel Russell, London, WC1B 5BE The event will include talks, workshops and the chance to connect with other siblings to share experiences and practical advice. Find out more and book here .

If you, a relative or a friend are affected by closures to mental health day services in Manchester, please get in touch with us. A friend of our group who work in the voluntary mental health sector has offered to meet with friends and families to find out how they are being affected and to discuss possible options. If this is you then send us an email or give us a ring and we will put you in touch.

Happy New Year everyone! I'll be posting more news soon but this is just a quick reminder that we won't be having our usual group meeting this month (9th January). We are having a special meal out for all regular group members so please don't turn up at Manchester Carers Centre as we won't be there!