Rethink Mental Illness Manchester Group

In just two days, on Tuesday 14th, we're holding a special Wellbeing and Fundraising event at Manchester Carers Centre. We've gots lots of stall holders with information on their services, a fantastic raffle, a bring and buy sale (so don't forget to bring something), tasty nibbles and lots of taster sessions including confidence booster sessions and mini massages. Come along any time between 11.30 and 4.30. Hope to see you there!

It's that time again for one of our regular monthly meet ups, this Wednesday 14th March. If you've got an interest in mental health problems from any perspective - through personal experience, a family member or friend, or as a professional - you're welcome to come and join us. The meeting will run as usual from 6 - 7.45pm at Manchester Carers Centre . If you're coming by public transport then we meet up at the taxi rank by Manchester Piccadilly Station (back entrance down the escalators) at 5.30pm and walk up to the Centre together in a 'walking bus'. Just call Lindsey Cree on 07757 082 976 to let us know you'll be walking with us. If you're coming by car then there's parking available on street from 6pm. We always start our meetings with a cup of tea and catch up, with a chance for us to offer one another support for any issues we might have.

You might be interested in a new Facebook group, 'Making Mental Health Positive'. The group was set up by someone based in Manchester who has personal experience of mental illness and wants to improve awareness of mental health and to challenge stigma. You can join the group here and listed to an interview with the group's founder, Dawn Perry, here .

CareLoop: a mobile phone system for monitoring mental health and supporting self-management It’s common for service users with severe mental health problems to experience a range of distressing symptoms, which can change depending on levels of stress and a range of things. When these symptoms become worse it’s often hard to monitor them, it can be difficult to access help, and sometimes results in you having to go into hospital. This study is seeing whether you can monitor your mental health through the use of telephones. Normally you would see a doctor, nurse or other health professional every few weeks and they would ask you questions about how you are feeling. This means sometimes things are forgotten. It is hoped that with a telephone system symptoms are recorded as they are happening (like a living diary). This might it easier to discuss your thoughts and feelings with health care workers; it might also mean that when you are becoming unwell more support could be provided to s...

Apologies, but I've lifted the text of this post from NHS Manchester's website, the current commissioning body in the city. You can read the full article here . GPs in Manchester would like to hear from local people who want to become involved in designing the future of health services in the city National NHS reforms are changing the way health services in Manchester will be planned, arranged and funded in the future. Local GPs are forming ‘Clinical Commissioning Groups’ which will work closely with hospitals, community health services and social care services to organise and develop health services which improve the quality of care available in the city. There are 3 ways people can get involved: 1) Apply to join Patient and Public Advisory Groups. Situated within the Clinical Commissioning Groups and reporting to the Board, these bodies will consist of approximately 12 people who will represent the views of the local community and comment on plans and developments bei...

We are delighted to announce that Rethink Manchester Carers in Action has been nominated for a Pringle Award, under the ‘Group of the Year’ category. What is more, one of our group members, Ellen Foran, has been nominated for the Rethink Member of the Year award! The yearly Pringle Awards recognise and celebrate the commitment, imagination and achievements of Rethink’s members, services and groups. So, we have our fingers crossed! The awards will be presented at this year's Rethink National Members Day & Annual General Meeting on Saturday 12th November 2011 in Central London. More information and a booking form will be online available from mid September. For more information visit the Rethink website .

Rethink Mental Illness (the new name for Rethink) has organised a conference for service users, carers and professionals, covering important issues including: Welfare rights, changes to benefits, cuts to services Mental illness and your GP, and physical healthcare The event will take place on Wednesday 28th September, from 10.30am - 4.00pm at the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool. It is FREE to Rethink members, £12 for service users and carers, and £50 for professionals. If you're not a member you can join today (£12 for six months or £24 for one year) and benefit from the free rate. For more detail about the event and a booking form, contact Reservations, Rethink Mental Illness, 122 Westgate, Wakefield, WF1 1XP, email or phone 01924 433202.

I spent the sunniest Saturday in Manchester for a long time sat inside for a day's training on physical health It was run by Rethink's campaigns team to get local activists like us here at RMCIA thinking about how we can get involved in Rethink's Fair Treatment Now campaign. The 'shocking statistic' is that people with severe mental health problems like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder and severe depression die up to 20 years younger compared with the rest of the population - not just from suicide but from preventable physical illnesses. There were about 20 people in the room including service users, carers, activists and professionals - or combinations of two or more of those fairly unloved labels. I was particularly struck to hear the personal stories of people who had battled through really difficult times and had their physical health problems overlooked, or at worst ignored. It's popular knowledge that regular exercise makes us all fe...

Wednesday 8th June, 2 - 5pm, Manchester Carers Centre Vulcan Mill, Pollard Street M4 7AN Come and join us to celebrate all that Manchester has to offer to help those of us affected by mental illness help ourselves through the bad times and the good! It's a free event and open to anyone with an interest in mental health. No need to book - just turn up. Just drop in any time for: information stalls from Rethink , The Ann Lee Centre , Self Help Services , Anxiety UK , Making Space , Wai Yin Chinese Women Society , Asylum Magazine , Partners of Prisoners and Crazy Diamond Training and Consultancy . healthy snacks and drinks from the wonderful Good Mood Food free coaching and confidence building sessions from Lindsey Cree free massage therapy ...and lots more! For more information call Mary Patel on 07816 754 032 or Manchester Carers Centre on 0161 272 7270.

Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust is supporting a major piece of research at the moment looking at medications adherence/recovery etc. As part of this work they are very keen to involve service users and carers and are looking at this time for expressions of interest from service users to become involved as peer researchers to test out levels of service user satisfaction around specific medications. This would be a really exciting opportunity, and no particular skills or experience is necessary other than an interest in research and a commitment to engaging with other service users as part of the programme. For more information or to register contact: Patrick Cahoon, Associate Director - Service User and Carer Engagement Chorlton House 70 Manchester Road Chorlton-cum-Hardy Manchester M21 9UN Tel: 0161 882 1103 patrick.cahoon@mhsc.nhs.uk

Come and join us to celebrate all that Manchester has to offer to help those of us affected by mental illness help ourselves through the bad times and the good! Wednesday 8th June, 2 - 5pm, Manchester Carers Centre Vulcan Mill, Pollard Street M4 7AN Just drop in any time for: information stalls healthy snacks and drinks free coaching and confidence building sessions free massage therapy ...and lots more! For more information call Mary Patel on 07816 754 032 or Manchester Carers Centre on 0161 272 7270. FREE - display information about your group or offer an activity session Are you a mental health self-help support group in Manchester? Or a statutory, community or voluntary sector provider that offers services to support people to help themselves? Or can you offer an activity session that you think would benefit someone with a mental illness, or carers, such as art, poetry or exercise? We have a limited number of table-top stands for you to display information and a roo...

Despite having high risk factors for life-threatening diseases, people are not getting the health checks or the support they need. In fact, service-users’ physical symptoms often get dismissed by healthcare staff. Service-users have even been denied physical treatment in mainstream facilities because of their mental illness. If you want to take action locally on this issue, the Rethink Campaigns Team is here to help. Come to a Campaign Skills Day where you’ll meet fellow activists, learn about campaign planning, getting your message across, and find out more about the link between physical health and mental health. A skills day is running at The Ethical Property Company, Oldham St, central Manchester, 11am – 4pm on the 4th June. Travel expenses paid. To sign up or find out more visit www.rethink.org/PH email campaigns@rethink.org or call 020 7840 3147.

Our next meeting is this Wednesday, 13th April from 6:00 - 7:45pm, at Manchester Carers Centre. If you are coming into town by public transport then come and meet us by the taxi rank at Manchester Piccadilly station (Fairfield Street side) at 5:30pm. Let Mary know if you are meeting there so we know to look out for you. Number to call is 07816754032. As well as some time for a cup of tea and a chat with other people whose lives are affected by mental illness, we'll be taking a look at what the budget cuts might mean for mental health in Manchester, and help us plan for our AGM in May. Hope to see you there!

Are you affected by mental illness and concerned about budget cuts proposed by Manchester City Council? We are working with Irwin Mitchell solicitors to identify any individuals who are concerned that they will be badly affected by the budget cuts proposed by Manchester City Council. You may be an adult who is: experiencing serious mental health problem or has a physical or learning disabilities and is in receipt of income support the carer of someone in this situation or the parent of a child with physical or learning disabilities or mental health problems. If you are concerned that the proposed cuts might affect the support you receive we would like to hear from you. If you would like to discuss your situation with Irwin Mitchell on an informal basis please contact Mathieu Culverhouse on 0161 838 2390 or by email . Any information you provide will be treated confidentially. As a group we provide a meeting space, support and information for anyone affected by severe mental illness. We...

Our next meeting takes place on Wednesday 9th March 2011, 6 – 7:45pm at Manchester Carers Centre , Vulcan Mill, Pollard Street, Manchester M4 7AN. 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 me (Mary Patel) on 07816 754 032 to let me know you will be coming, so we know to wait for you. Agenda 6pm – 6.15pm: refreshments and welcomes. 6:15 – 6:30pm: introductions and general discussion. 6:30 – 6:50: Hemlata Fletcher from Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust will give an update on the Trust’s recovery work and answer questions. 6:50 – 7:10 : Zeph Curwen and Patrick Cahoon from Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust will give an update on the Trust’s review of day services and answer questions. 7:10 – 7:40: events and campaigns work over the next couple of months. 7:40 – 7:45: any other business.

Lots of events on at the moment. This one from NHS Manchester about an event that has been rearranged from 16th February to 3rd March: Dear Colleagues, Service Users and Carers Further to our first meeting which was held on 25th October at the Town Hall, we are now holding are second meeting this time at our offices at Parkway M2.1 (Boardroom) (map attached) on 3rd March from 14:30 - 16:30. We have arranged this meeting so that we can listen to your views about the development of the integrated Primary Care Mental Health Service in Manchester, as well as agree a way forward of directly involving users and carers in our decision making processes in the future. Refreshments will be available on the day, also please note that there is limited visitor parking at Parkway. If you would like to park here you must book in advance. Alternatively there are a number of buses from the city centre that stop outside, including the 101, 104, 105 and 109. If you park on surrounding streets please be c...

I'm slightly behind the times with this one, which was released over a week ago on 2nd February. But here it is. I don't claim to have read it and am going to cheat and use the government's own summary to describe it: "No health without mental health: a cross-Government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages represents a major step forward in mainstreaming mental health and supporting the Government's important aim of achieving parity of esteem between physical and mental health. It has been produced in collaboration with many of the Department's partner organisations. It will enable more decisions about people's mental health to be taken locally, and stresses the interconnections between mental health, housing, employment, and the criminal justice system. Supporting documents including an action plan for expanding talking therapies have also been published." You can download the full document from the Department of Health's website...

Just received details of an event you might be interested in. The event, which is free and open to everyone, is part of a series called 'Cafe Scientifique' which aims to foster a dialogue between scientists and the community. The one coming up is called 'Understanding Psychosis'. A professor of clinical psychology will give a short presentation, and then open up the floor for questions from the audience. Date:February 23rd 2011 Time: 6 pm Where: Krobar on Oxford road, corner of Dover street (note - NOT the one near the BBC but the one 10 minutes walk south) Title: Understanding psychosis Speaker: Tony Morrison What is this about? Many people have unusual experiences and beliefs, such as hearing voices, seeing visions or believing that others are trying to harm or control them or put thoughts into their head. Some people are troubled by such experiences; others are not. Can we understand why these experiences occur, why they are associated with distress and disability fo...

I've just skim read the Budget Proposals for Manchester City Council's Adults' Directorate , for 2011 / 12. Richard Leese, Leader of the Council, is quite clear that there will be some very, very hard cuts. With planned savings of £109m there's no way there wouldn't be. I'm very wary of drawing conclusions from a quick read of something, but here are the important bits that I could find relating to the provision of mental health services: Rates for mental health provision: projected saving in 2011/12 is £600,000; projected saving in 2012/13 is £600,000 - making a total projected saving over the next two years of £1.2 million. Ouch. Individual budgets (IBs)propose to restrict the cash IB offer, which will make efficiencies of £1.466m. Create an independent review team to promote independence and reduce dependency with savings identified as up to £1.92m. The budget settlement from central government reduces the Supporting People grant by 35% equating to a £12.6m r...

We're fortunate to have some fantastic third sector / civil society mental health organisations here in Manchester. One of these - YASP - which works with young people experiencing mental health problems, has just released a report about the huge challenges that young people accessing YASP services face. As well as drawing out the many difficulties that these young people including poverty, homelessness, debt and frequent harassment, young people talk about their difficult backgrounds including abuse, domestic violence and needing to seek asylum. Despite all of this, one of the biggest problem young people identify is loneliness. “It’s about lack of friends, lack of confidence, feeling singled out, paranoia about people, don’t know what people are thinking or thinking you are weird” – YASP Service User. “I have had no contact with my family in Angola and at first I was terribly homesick, and I still think a lot about things that happened to me in the past, but with the support and ...