l i fewww.mcch.org.uk Spring 2016

mental health and wellbeing news

Dover and Deal cooking group. Page 10

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Sam Woollard Editor

WelcomeWorking together.

Benefits advice.

Raising awareness of disability hate crime.

Get involved.

Fundraisers’ achievements.

Quality support.

Police placements.

Dover and Deal cooking group.

Become a volunteer.

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Read our new annual review

We look back at some of the things we’ve been up to, including abseiling down 80m sculptures, building flagship developments and supporting people to improve communications.

Our annual review can now be viewed online: http://mcchreview2015.mcch.org.uk

3Spring 2016

Working togetherWe always try to involve the people we support in the services that we provide. This could be asking them to check the quality of our services as quality checkers, being involved on interview panels or helping to shape how the charity is run through the introduction of our new partnership forums.

The partnership forums meet 4 times a year and are made up of people who use mcch services and staff. They are a way of sharing ideas and getting feedback from people who use our services.

The mental health forum discuss different ideas about services and support. People can bring forward ideas from their services to discuss.

The forums are a platform for people to raise topics to be discussed at the mcch Partnership Board. The board is attended by mcch trustees and directors who are really interested to hear what the forum members have to say and work out ways to take these ideas forward.

The forums are important because they represent the people who use our services and tell us how they want the services to be run. They are helping to influence change within our charity.

If you would like to find out more about the mental health forum, please call or email:

01622 722400contactus@mcch.org.uk

Every voice is worthy as any other regardless if it’s ill or not.

When we held interviews for our new Executive Director of Mental Health we asked people we support to be on the interview panel.

Bryan, forum member

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Benefits adviceMany people rely on benefits to help them live their lives. This could be to help pay their rent, buy food or travel on public transport. But barely a week goes by where a story about our benefits system is not headline news.

The way the media portrays claiming benefits can be very negative when in fact many people need these benefits to survive. The money people receive is because they have an illness or disability that prevents them from working, or will only allow them to work part time. The stigma surrounding benefits can put people off claiming them altogether!

Filling in benefit application forms can be very complicated. Quite often people are not aware of the benefits that they are entitled to.

Our Bexley community mental health service has been working with people to make their benefit claims, fill in the forms and attend any assessments. They reassure people that they are entitled to their benefits and should not feel guilty for claiming them.

The service supports people to manage living with a mental health need. They support people with their finances, help them to find a job, attend social activities, solve problems with their housing, make friends and plan for the future.

4Summer 2014

For more information about the community mental health service contact Jane:

01322 341123j.munday@mcch.org.uk

Disability hate crime is a terrible thing. There have been tragic cases in parts of the country leading to the deaths and injuries of people with disabilities.

We carried out research into disability hate crime. Almost half the adults surveyed told us that they had been victimised when they were out in the community. And many of the bullies were young people.

Our Jigsaw project aims to make young people aware of the consequences of bullying and victimising people.

To raise awareness, we made a short film highlighting the affects of disability hate crime on the victim and the perpetrators.

Hidden Consequences was made working alongside Medway Youth Trust and Physical Folk. We held the launch at the Britannia Theatre, Chatham. The young people involved in the filming spoke about how it felt to take part and how they hoped it would help to show the effects that bullying have on people.

Hidden Consequences

To find out more about Jigsaw or to watch Hidden Consequences visit:www.mcch.org.uk/jigsaw

HIDDENCONSEQUENCES

Disability hate crime affects everyone.

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When: Thursday 24 March

Where: Hilltop Hotel, Labour-in-Vain Road, nr Brandshatch, TN15 7NY

Ticket price: £45

For more information or to book tickets please call Sheila on 07800 772260 or email sheila.buckley@dgsmyourchoice.org.uk

Dust off your tuxedo and join DGSM yourChoice at their charity dinner and casino. Enjoy a 3-course dinner accompanied by entertainment from singer Chris Till. Then chance your hand at Roulette or Black Jack. The person with the most chips at the end of the night will win a prize.

Charity dinner and casino

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Thursday 24th March 2016 Arrive

7.00pm for a welcome drink

followed by: three-course

dinner, coffee

and mints.

Ticket Price: £45.00

Chance your hand at Roulette and Black Jack playing with chips supplied with your ticket.

Hilltop Hotel Labour-in-Vain Road, TN15 7NY

For more information or to book tickets please contact: Fundraising on 07800 772260 or email sheila.buckley@dgsmyourchoice.org.uk

In the company of singer Chris Till

At the end of the evening the person with the most chips wins a prize.

Charity Dinner & Casino Night

We need your old itemsWe have 2 charity shops that need your help. If you have any clothes, books or bric-a-brac that you would like to donate to a good cause please bring them into one of our charity shops.

DGSM yourChoice 18 Hythe Street Dartford DA1 1BX

DGSM yourChoice 12b Perry Street Northfleet DA11 8QB

Dartford Northfleet

Get involved

Thank you for your help

Police bake off Kent Police Control Room held a Bake Off competition during a recent night shift and raised £101 for mcch.

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 Dan, David, Chris, Stuart, Andrew, Mike, Paul and John took on the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 raising over £3,000.

Charitable supermarket Asda in Bexleyheath donated £200 to our Hardback Café. The money will buy new equipment for the café.

Thames Bridges Trek Alice, Clara and Ricky took on the Thames Bridges Trek. Starting from Putney Bridge and ending at Tower Bridge. They raised an amazing £1,000.

Brave abseilers Over 30 people abseiled off of the ArcelorMittal Orbit this summer for mcch, raising over £6,000!

Charity of the year Invicta Grammar School’s Interact group put on a festive bingo night raising £509.

Emma Cassley Fundraising Manager

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Quality supportOur Quality Checkers have been busy reviewing our services and producing detailed reports on the new standards that we set 3 years ago.

The team is made up of 3 Quality Checkers who receive support from mcch themselves. They visit our services and talk with other people we support to find out if they are happy with the support they are receiving.

They use an audit tool to carry out reviews. This is designed to involve the people we support in open discussions with the Quality Checkers. The audit includes areas like choice, activities, lifestyle, involvement, accommodation and satisfaction. Our Checkers also make general observations and comments that they also add to the audit form.

The feedback we have received has been very positive. Team Leaders are always happy to help and encourage our checks. This gives us the platform to show what has been achieved by our services to the rest of the organisation, which is in the form of a quality evidence file.

Our Quality Checkers have visited 60 services and spoken to over 80 people. We hope to expand our team to cover even more ground and to continue the high level of standards.

People we support need to have a voice and our Quality Checkers put them in control. Quality checking is going that extra mile to maintain quality standards.

Peter, Performance Manager

Are we getting it right?

Our mental health services have been providing training to Kent Police Officers as part of their probationary training.

All Kent Police Officers have mental health training when they are at police training college. Once they complete their training they take part in a community based diversity placement. This could be anything from working with the elderly to dealing with cases of animal cruelty. At the end of their placements they submit a report and share what they found out with their colleagues.

Ed spent a week at our employment services in Dartford and Gravesend as part of his diversity placement.

The placement is a chance for him to become more involved with the community he will be working in. It helps him to understand local issues and the needs of the community.

During his time at mcch he found out more information about the field of mental health and how we support people on their road to recovery. He sat in on a number of employment sessions seeing the different ways we support people to find work and how the recovery star is used. He also attended our Mental Health Partnership Forum finding out first hand some of the issues that people with a mental health need find important.

Police placements

Ed, Police Officer

It’s been really good to understand what people with mental health needs look for. Hopefully as a Police Officer I can assist the process of them finding what they need.

It’s really interesting to see the kind of needs the people mcch support have and how the staff respond to those needs in different ways.

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Cooking groupOur mental health wellbeing services in Dover and Deal have been running cooking groups funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Feedback forms were sent out to the people we support for ideas of activities that would help people socialise. After a lot of media attention about healthy eating, the cooking school was a popular choice.

9 people we support attended the group on a weekly basis and got free transport to Chequers Kitchen Cookery School in Deal.

The group were shown how to cook a wide range of food by Chef Peter. From homemade soups and risotto to homemade bread with toppings. He made everyone feel welcome at the restaurant.

The course has helped in building social skills and a sense of community. The group now attend Chequers Kitchen for meals out. They also had Christmas dinner at the restaurant which everyone enjoyed.

We already have 8 people booked on the next course, which started on 22 February and will run until 4 April. It is open to anyone in Dover or Deal who has a mental health need.

The feedback we got from the group was excellent. They learnt how to cook on a budget and about healthy eating which helped to achieve the Six Ways to Wellbeing. It gave them self-esteem and confidence, making them feel they had a structure in their life and a purpose to get up in the morning.

Shaun, Assistant Team Leader

11Spring 2016

Why volunteer?We have lots of people who volunteer their time to help people have a better life. Volunteering is a rewarding experience that also helps others.

We have volunteers across many of our services, in charity shops, at day centres for people with learning disabilities and in our mental health wellbeing services. People also volunteer to take part in fundraising events like sky dives and bike rides.

Having volunteers helps us run more activities and day trips. They provide more support and help us to run evening social activities.

Being a volunteer gives people experience working in a sector they may never have tried before. We have had nurses volunteer in our charity shops and bar staff teaching in our day services. Volunteering focuses on life skills not just academic qualifications.

Volunteering also offers students from local schools and colleges valuable work experience and the chance to see how rewarding a career supporting others can be.

At mcch, volunteering does not have to be a perminant arrangement, any amount of time helps. You will benefit from a range of different training opportunities and work experience that you can add to your CV.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering visit:www.mcch.org.uk/volunteer

Are you looking for support? Call us free on 0800 028 28 15

facebook.com/mcchcharity

twitter.com/mcchcharity

mcch One Hermitage Court Hermitage Lane Maidstone Kent ME16 9NT

t. 01622 722400 f. 01622 722450 www.mcch.org.uk

mcch is a registered charity number 1156486 and a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales number 8971493).

Other versions available:• Learning disability and autism news• Easy read

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