Joining Action Mental Health (AMH) had a significant impact on Mark’s life. The AMH ‘Working it Out’ ESF programme supports the recovery of adults experiencing mental ill health who are interested in progressing towards further training and employment opportunities.
Mark has suffered from mental ill-health since childhood. As an adult Mark gained employment, however, he had periods of time when his mental health declined and he needed to take time out of work to recover. His mental ill-health impacted his career.
After leaving work Mark was referred to AMH New Horizons where he completed over 20 Accredited training courses including OCNNI in Stress Management Techniques, Health & Social Care, and Employability courses.
‘I came to AMH-New Horizons in the spring of 2018. Spring is known as a time of rebirth, hope, and new life. I received this from the moment I engaged with the service and it continued to grow throughout my time with AMH. Looking back, I am forever grateful for the opportunity that was offered, so that I could gain knowledge, skills, and experience.
I received much-needed help to integrate, progress, and survive in this life. I gained the confidence I needed to pursue voluntary work and I am now working as a personal carer and thanks to AMH-New Horizons I have found my vocation.
Mark is taking part in the “Working It Out” Project which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy.
The AMH ‘Working it Out’ project provides a comprehensive programme of specialist training in personal development, vocational skills and employability, to people recovering from mental illness, supporting them to gain paid employment or progress to further education /further training.
Colin Wright, a client at AMH New Horizons, initially took part in International Job Shadow Day with Alan Espey Clothing & Interiors Newtownards. This was then followed by a work experience placement and eventually, Colin commenced part-time employment in the business. While attending AMH New Horizons, Colin also achieved his NVQ Level Two Certificate in Retail Skills.
“Securing this employment, has meant a great deal to me. It has boosted my confidence and career prospects. I’m indebted to Mr Espey for providing me with the opportunity to develop my retail experience and for encouraging and motivating me,” said Colin.
Mr Espey commented, “For us, this was an excellent opportunity to give someone with no retail experience a chance to gain retail knowledge and practical skills in a real working environment. I watched, over the weeks and months, Colin becoming more confident with weekly tasks such as customer engagement, stocktaking, using tills and displaying stock. It has been a very positive experience and one where we feel we have helped Colin to plan for his future.”
Colin is taking part in the “Working It Out” Project which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy.
Packed with stats from our recovery services, resilience services and therapeutic services, in what was a very different and challenging year, it is a clear picture of how we continued to have an impact in our local communities despite lockdowns and restrictions. During 2020/21 Action Mental Health continue to live up to our mission – to make a positive difference to people’s mental health and well-being!
Our finanical year in April 2020 kicked off with Action Mental Health announcing its merger with New Life Counselling. The move was designed to combine resources, services and expertise, and to offer the best opportunity to develop and sustain mental health support for our communities in these challenging times. The EU PEACE IV-funded project, ‘Our Generation,’ marked its official launch on 24th September, through a special virtual event, when its objective ‘Growing Up Better – Together’ was unveiled. This year, we were also delighted to return to Lisburn, when AMH New Horizons Derriaghy moved to the city. This year saw the burgeoning of a new virtual world due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in response, the development of a new well-being hub. A far-reaching initiative to promote positive mental health during the crisis was launched by the Departments for Communities and Health, partnered with 15 leading mental and well-being health charities, including Action Mental Health. AMH also launched a new section to its website homepage to direct visitors to a specially-collated information section on promoting and supporting mental health and well-being during the unprecedented period.
AMH adapted and brought many of its services to clients, with a range of blended learning and support during the lockdown. The lockdown also marked AMH New Horizons and AMH Promote offering a virtual service and as restrictions eased, a blended service. Services around the country launched a comprehensive training calendar, delivering activity packs to clients, offering them workshop activities, online entertainment and educational packages, plus arts and craft materials. AMH MensSana, AMH everyBODY and AMH Works, also moved to online delivery, offering a range of training sessions. AMH New Life Counselling also quickly adapted and began to offer online counselling support to its clients, while the Workable team continued to provide support remotely as well.
A big thank you to all the AMH Team who adapted to the ever changing circumstances and challenges, and to our clients for their engagement, resilience and patience, our supporters, our funders and our fundraisers; together we continued to #TakeActionOnMentalHealth.
Action Mental Health today (September 10) joins the annual World Suicide Prevention Day campaign which this year focuses on the message of ‘Creating Hope Through Action’. The theme carries a message of hope and aims to encourage us to consider that our actions, no matter how big or small, may provide hope to those who are struggling.
This year’s campaign, organised by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), tells us that through our individual actions, we can all make a difference to someone in their darkest moments – whether our child, a parent, a friend, a colleague or a neighbour. We can also play a role in supporting those experiencing a suicidal crisis or those bereaved by suicide.
The annual event is an opportunity to showcase the host of programmes and projects Action Mental Health provides in the area of mental ill health prevention, education, suicide, self-harm prevention and early intervention and strives tirelessly with partners to raise awareness.
AMH Works is one such service which provides quality mental health training programmes for employers to support healthy, resilient workplaces. AMH Works develops the skills and learning required to effectively manage employee mental well-being in the workplace and next week (September 20) delivers an online Safetalk session. SafeTalk, for the over 16s, is a certified training programme that prepares people to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources.
AMH MensSana is a service within Action Mental Heath, which, in partnership with PIPS Hope & Support operates the Southern Area Protect Life Resource Service. This service provides an outreach community development service with a particular focus on promoting positive mental health and the prevention of suicide and self harm through the community development approaches.
Another arm of Action Mental Health, AMH everyBody aims to promote greater understanding and awareness of eating disorders, considering the fact taht suicide is a major cause of death among those living with anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. AMH everyBODY is part of the Southern Area Protect Life Forum.
Action Mental Health has long campaigned for greater investment in mental health services and welcomed the Health’s Minister’s recent Mental Health Strategy for Northern Ireland which will work in tandem with the Protect Life 2 Strategy to prevent suicide and self-harm, to ensure what the minister described as ‘synchronized service delivery’. Integral to the delivery are a Multi Agency Triage Team, Lifeline, Towards Zero Suicide programme, bereavement support services, self harm services and stigma reduction. It follows the unveiling of the Suicide Prevention Strategy for Northern Ireland in 2019, launched in light of suicide statistics in Northern Ireland which show:
Three times as many people die by suicide in Northern Ireland each year than are killed in road traffic collisions
A total of 219,000 people have been directly affected by suicide since 2005
More than 70% of people who die by suicide are not known to mental health services
10% of 15/16 year olds have self-harmed at some stage
For those struggling and in need of someone to talk to contact Lifeline 0808 808 8000 or the Samaritans 116 123. If you are in the Southern Trust area you can contact AMH MensSana’s Protect Life Service, 028 3839 2314 or email [email protected].
The team from the Housing Executive’s Land and Regeneration team who have returned to AMH New Horizons Downpatrick’s Stolen Moments garden
Action Mental Health has been taking the first careful steps back to welcoming groups of volunteers to help support and maintain its services for people facing mental health difficulties.
A group of volunteers from the Housing Executive’s land and regeneration team have been pooling their green fingers to help AMH Horticulture Skills Coach Keith maintain the Stolen Moments Garden at AMH New Horizons Downpatrick. The team hoed, tilled and toiled in the rich and varied gardens, which clients are lucky to have on their doorstep, and where they go to relax and undertake tasks that provide evidence for their horticulture qualification.
AMH New Horizons Downpatrick was lucky to welcome their first round of volunteers – including Stephen, David G, David B, Catherine, Joanne and Tim – back to the service since before the first lockdown in March 2020.
The garden maintenance project comes as the charity continues to take careful steps back to the provision of increased face-to-face services for clients and the activities required to support them, all in line with public health guidance.
Clients attending AMH New Horizons Downpatrick take part in the Working it Out Project which is funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy.
Action Mental Health’s Jonathan Smyth has written an insightful blog for the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), as it launches its in-depth review of mental health statistics in Northern Ireland.
Data makes the difference.
Action Mental Health very much welcomes OSR’s work in this vital area and as an organisation, AMH has long campaigned for better mental health services in Northern Ireland. Alongside partners in the sector, a key part of our campaigning included calls to produce a fully costed and properly resourced mental health strategy that would deliver real change for people in Northern Ireland. We were the only region of the UK without such a strategy despite being the region with the most need, something borne out by the fact that we have the highest prevalence of mental health problems in the UK.
In June 2021 then, we very much welcomed the announcement by Northern Ireland’s Health Minister – Robin Swann, MLAof Northern Ireland’s first ever Mental Health Strategy, a ten-year vision that outlines three key themes encompassing 35 actions, as well as recognising the need to invest £1.2bn over the life time of the strategy to deliver its recommendations.
Across the many discussions and interactions, we have had, and continue to have with other mental health campaigners and professionals, one of the key things we hear is frustration at the lack of robust data and statistics around mental health and mental health service delivery in Northern Ireland. Given the obvious pressures on the health budget due to Covid it is vital that precious investment is not wasted and unfocused due to incomplete or false data.
We hear regularly from professionals about the challenges they face in navigating Northern Ireland’s fragmented services, which are often entirely different from area to area, or maybe they are simply described differently depending on postcode.
We’re also aware of the impact this has on our clients and the confusion and frustration it causes as they have to re-tell their story to many different healthcare professionals.
With this differentiation in service delivery comes issues with data collection – there is very little standardisation of data, across what is such a relatively small area, both in terms of geography and population. How then do we plan for better services and better outcomes if we don’t know what we are comparing from area to area? As an organisation trying to develop innovative new projects it is frustrating that there is no easily accessible source of data to ensure our valuable resources are properly focused on client need.
The lack of robust statistics in such a complex area can also present challenges in the digital age when misinformation can be spread so easily. Being able to vigorously challenge potentially damaging or worrying claims with evidence based, factual information is vital to protect public confidence and support public health messaging.
Our anecdotal evidence is supported by the findings of the newly published OSR (Office for Statistics Regulation) review of Northern Ireland’s mental health statistics which found:
• The scarcity of robust mental health data in Northern Ireland has hindered the development of statistics and led to significant data gaps.
• The lack of regional standardisation and a fragmented technology infrastructure has led to poor data quality, with limited consistency or comparability across the region.
• Users find it difficult to locate official statistics across a dispersed landscape. Data accessibility could be improved.
In many ways these issues will be a fundamental challenge to the successful delivery of the new Mental Health Strategy. We need timely and robust data to underpin everything we do.
As that famous old business consultancy cliché goes:
“What gets measured gets done”
We have a unique opportunity with the new strategy in Northern Ireland to change how we support those with mental health issues, and robust and reliable data that targets investment and ensures better outcomes must be our goal.
‘Holding On To Hope in a Changing World’ is a five week social media campaign launching on 6 September which links World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September to World Mental Health Day on 10 October. The campaign is a collaboration between Action Mental Health and Health & Social Care partners across NI to encourage everyone to hold on to hope, to nurture our mental & emotional wellbeing and to raise awareness of the local and regional services that are available to help when times are tough.
The Interactive Campaign Pack features a Hope Quiz to help you reflect on how hopeful you are today. Your score will direct you to tips, information and resources that can help including:
– Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing
– Self-Care tips
– Helplines information
– Self-help resources
– Training on mental health
– Information on techniques such as gratitude, mindfulness and challenging negative thoughts.
Most children have been back at school by now and are getting used to the routine of the school day. But for those who have found it difficult, Action Mental Health’s MensSana teams – which specialise in mental health and well-being programmes for children and young people – have devised a host of strategies to help ease the back-to-the-classroom stress.
Pebble in my pocket – find two similar pebbles or crystals. You keep one in your pocket and your child keeps the other in their pocket. Any time they feel a little nervous or are missing you they give it a little squeeze. It is a very concrete reminder of their connection to you.
Hug Button – Draw a little heart on your wrist and one on theirs, near their pulse point (they can keep it hidden under their school jumper). If they are missing you all they have to do is press it to send you a hug. They will feel their pulse like a little reassuring heartbeat when they touch their wrist. Let them know that you will press your hug button if you are missing them.
Exercise – the benefits of exercise are consideration to our mental well-being. Do whatever it is you love, whether it’s running, walking, boxing, yoga, rugby or swimming. Sports also improve sleep and social skills.
Curiosity – Going to school in a new building, with new people can be a time for apprehension but also great excitement. The possibilities are endless, so encourage your child to be open to new experiences.
Self-compassion – learn to be kind to yourself and to treat yourself like you would do a good friend. If you make a mistake, go easy on yourself and realise that we are all human – we all experience the same things. If you feel nervous you can guarantee other people do too.
Capitalise on specific skills – everyone has a unique set of skills. Some of us are creative, others more analytical, some sporty, others have the gift of the gab. It is up to each of us to figure out our passions and strengths and build on these. This has a knock on effect on our well-being by helping us to see how amazing we are.
Help others, especially strangers – being kind helps us to feel good. If you see someone at school who seems lost or uncertain, reach out and see if you can offer some help.
Think about the things that you can control – including what you talk about, how kind you are, how much effort you put in, who you hang out with and your priorities. Some things are beyond our control especially when it comes to other people – so focus on what you can control
Sleep – getting get enough sleep helps us to learn better, concentrate and focus and helps us process thoughts and feelings. So make sure you are getting all devices switched off at a reasonable time and set an alarm.
Mindfulness and breathing exercises – download apps to listen to, even in short bursts throughout your day, while you brush your teeth, while you take a shower, when you are on the bus or going between classes. Mindfulness means paying attention to your senses and your breath – it doesn’t mean you have to sit cross-legged with eyes closed. You can incorporate it into your day in other ways, too by mindful walking, art or journaling.
Plan ahead – make sure your uniform is set out and prepare your bag the night before.
Growth mindset – remember you can do difficult things. You might not do them well at first, but we all have to start somewhere. By persevering and learning from our mistakes we hone our skills, so feel the fear and do it anyway. Believe in yourself and you can’t go wrong!
Remember, the most important thing for children during difficult times is having ‘one good adult’ in their lives – someone they can rely on to be a calm reassuring presence. This is a very strong protective factor for our children’s well-being.
