Rethink Mental Illness Manchester Group

Next Wednesday, 12th May, we're holding an information evening to explore different perspectives on recovery and how people can recovery - and be supported to recover - from a mental illness. We're delighted to have speakers from The Roby and from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust talk about the work they are doing to support the process of recovery. Meet and socialise with other people who are affected by mental illness, either personally or through a caring or family connection. Everyone welcome – food and drink will be provided. Wednesday 12th May 2010 5:30pm – 7pm Followed by our AGM 7pm – 8pm (all welcome) Manchester Carers Centre Beswick House, Beswick Row Manchester, M4 4PR For more information call Manchester Carers Centre on 0161 835 4090 or email Mary Rayner on maryrayner@hotmail.com . The event is part of our 'Wish List' campaign. We have four wishes for improving services in Manchester...promoting recovery, making services users and carers central to the imp...

Rethink have won couple of important campaigning victories recently. The first has been succeeding in persuading government to ban employers from asking job candidates about their medical history before inviting them for interview. There are so many cases of capable people openly disclosing a mental illness, only to find they are passed over for interview time and time again. The second victory, announced just this week, has been persuading the leaders of the three main political parties to sign up to an agreement not to use mental health slurs in the run up to the general election . It's a pretty sad sign that this campaign was needed - though politicians do stoop pretty low in their heckles, even to the point of picking on physical disabilities (Gordon Brown and his eye, for instance). But good on Rethink for getting this issue on the agenda. Watch out Gordon, David and Nick - we'll be listening!

Rethink have been doing lots of lobbying in the run up to the general election, raising awareness of mental health issues amongst politicians. You can support their work by signing Rethink's petition. The petition tells new MPs that 1 in 4 people are affected by mental health problems, and many are STILL: - missing out on basic treatments and information - facing discrimination in everyday life and - too often locked up in prison without any healthcare Rethink are calling for the new Parliament to act to improve things for people affected by mental illness and are aiming to collect 10,000 signatures to take to Downing Street as soon as the election results are in. Sign the petition now .

Caring with Confidence have launched a survey for carers and organisations that aims to eventually build a helpful directory for carers in the North West and help improve learning and care training opportunities for unpaid carers. Fill out the survey .

The wonderful Roby in Longsight has won CAS:H grant funding from Manchester City Council’s Longsight Ward so that they can open their doors each morning from Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 9:30 and will be providing free breakfasts, a space to be social and have fun and also to get support first thing in the morning if things are getting you down. The funding allows the Roby to provide basic breakfast food and drinks (with a healthy focus, but with the odd Bacon Butty available as a treat) but we will be relying on volunteers to staff the kitchen, help with preparing breakfast, cooking, serving and providing hot and cold drinks and smoothies. The Roby is a mental health and well-being charity based in Longsight with its community centre in the Roby United Reform Church on Dickenson Road. The charity provides essential services to individuals living with mental health conditions, rough sleepers and people living in sheltered / supported housing, people with drug and alcohol issues, r...

Recovery is on our Mental Health Wish List for 2010 and is a topic that seemed to generate a lot of conversation and excitement at our Mistletoe and Mental Health event a couple of weeks ago. Going through my email inbox, which I'm a bit behind on, I found an email from Rethink sent in November with news of a new report on recovery. ' Getting back into the world: reflections on lived experiences of recovery ', is what it says - a compilation of interviews with 48 people across England who have personal experience of mental illness. What's really interesting - and positive - about the report is that the interviews, analysis and write up were also done by people who have personal experience of mental illness. I've not had a chance to have a proper read but a quick glance shows that it will be an inspiring, thought provoking and useful report for anyone with an interest in recovery in mental illness.

Although the issue of confidentiality and information sharing hasn't made it onto our Mental Health Wish List it has cropped up several times as a discussion point over the past few months. Rethink recently sent through some guidance on information sharing from the Department of Health. The report, ' Information Sharing and Mental Health ', touches on some of the issues that we've discussed - that service users have a right to access information that impacts on them and that carers often feel that information is withheld from them unnecessarily. The guide is intended mostly for health professionals and is primarily focussed on sharing of information between statutory and non-statutory organisations. So, it doesn't directly address the issues we've been discussing as a group but does give a useful insight into the difficulties that professionals face. However, the guide does reference a report by Rethink for the Department of Health, published in 2004 , ' Pos...