My Mental Wellness Blog

Its amazing, how events occur, starting with an idea which came from attending an appointment to see the Drs, to going to a Recovery College, to finding out about Sutton Mental Health Foundation, being introduced to Sutton Nightwatch, and now, Sutton Nightwatch introduced me to SpearLondon, where I am now attending one of their events, with a laptop, a Tablet and 100 postcards, talking to other Service providers and Service users, telling them about the website, demonstrating how it works.

Hearing how amazing the website is, how it can be used, even the Job center advisor took some postcards to put up on their board in the office for service users to check out.

Im really looking forwards to making this in to a Community interest company, which will help with people wanting or not wanting to use or display information about the website.

Thanks Sutton Nightwatch for the introduction to SpearLondon.

After getting on the bus, having it cancelled mid way through the journey, not once, but 3 times, I eventually arrived at SouthWest london and St Georges Mental Health Trust's Springfield Hospital. Then misreading the location, I stood outside the trining room for a good 5 -8 minutes before confirming where I should be and then joining the Mental Health First Aid England's Champion course.

The course was ran by Clive, from MHFA England, whos aim is to make 1 in 10 people Mental Health aware, and currently he indicated its at 1 in 40, so they have made a huge impact and progress in this plan.

The course was really interesting, although it reviewed the manual briefley, what we went over was in depth, giving a whole new understanding of how to look for Mental Health distress and then how to manage it and sign post approprately.

Meeting and talking to the other students, was an eye opener. I made a comment, which was intended to be humourious but in hindsight, it only highlighted how a throwaway comment could be taken as being judgemental (its ok, we are now Linkedin friends with a view to enhance the website further). Other than that, which I felt so guilty and sorry about, the whole group really connected and shared information which made the course even more informative and, useful.

So, watch this space, as the website is going to get even more informative.

another busy night, its now 1.30am, this is why i need coffee lol

So, this nights update is to add walk and talk groups to the Support Group catagory. Welcome The Proper Blokes club, The Walk and Talk Movement, and Andys Man Club. These all run walk and talk groups, which are open to anybody free of charge. usually end up somewhere for a cuppa at the end. although one which is reasonabally local is going to a market. may go and vist that one myself

So, keep an eye out on the website as more and more services are being added almost daily, certinally weekly. Something may be added which is of interest to you. If i dont talk to you before hand,

Have a great weekend, but if you find you are struggling, please, check out the website and I trust you will find the support you need.

I have just added an interesting article by Bipolaruk.org, it is a short this is what bipolar is, who could have this condition and information about this condition. Worth a look if you have a moment free. your find a link to this under Learn about mental health @ www.mymentalwellness.uk

Blimy, a second update in a week.. Ok, so the website has been updated again, if you select the area you are wanting to look at, you have the option to add a new service. This can be any of the catagories, and can be for any area you want.

Busy times ahead....

Hello and welcome to the next post on this blog. This month I tried a WhatsApp Community group. This consisted of 15 individual groups with different Mental Health Conditions. They were a great success, each group was being used, with conversations being very positive. But we had a person join with more extensive Mental Health issues, which caused safeguarding triggers, but who ever I called, it was as if they didnt want to know. "we only deal with"... I eventually called the mental Health Crisis line at my local NHS Trust, who give some fantastic advice, most of which I had already carried out. But this highlighted pertential Whatsapp Security issues which we were unable to address, and felt there was no option but to close the groups.

The next big event was the relaunch of the website. The interface has changed completely, making it clear and easier to find services you require. There is still a lot of work to perform on the website, but its in a useable state for people to use, which i think is easier to use than the previous version. Now its live, I have already seen and fixed a number of formatting bugs, but if you see more, please use the contact me menu and let me know Thats all for now, have a great day, but if your struggleing, please check out the website for services which may help you.

The week started as normal, Monday, check facebook, update the friends list, page and group, talk to people on messenger, reassuring them and signposting to services hosted on my website, Tuesday, I thought, hum, I havent heard from Night Watch, so sent a very short email, which led to a meeting Wednesday.

Im so excited for the opertunity to work with Night Watch, Sutton's Homeless charity. Watch this space for fantastic updates to the website, comming soon.

This week again as been exciting. Meeting councillor Bobby Dean led me to talk to 2 Mental Health companies, asking if they would endorse this website. With endorsement, it makes this venture more official, making it a viable service to offer to other services to get the message out there.

While writing the emails, I came up with an idea, a QR sticker, which could be placed in the first aid cabinet or on the Fridge, which, when scanned / photoed, would open the website, showing local services. Placing in the cabinet or on the fridge means, it is available at the times you may need it most. What are your thoughts? let me know. Sorry its a short update, and with that, have a good weekend. If you dont, I trust you know where you can find the support you need.

Listening to people, I have added a new listing to the website, there is now carer.mymentalwellness.uk where I have started to list services aimed at carers. Too often, carers are overlooked, having to ensure the wellbeing of the person they are caring for, in its self can be stressful.

There are many services which are available, but its another, if you dont know the right person, then you dont know what is available. This is getting better with the Mental Health Champion scheme in county councils, and social perscribers, but again, if you dont know about them, you dont know.

I'm tring to decide, should I make these just more offical updates, or should I still waffle on and tell you about them, I'm leaning towards the waffle version.

So, on the website, your notice a + symbol next to the section title, this allows you to add Help, Crisis Cafe and Drop in services yourself.

The Recovery Colleges are all in the system, and just need allocating to the correct area.

This is where I need your help. To be able to add all the services I have listed, to the correct areas, I need someone from that area to visit the site, to add the area. I could add an area manually, as I have acess to over 4 million area names. The issue here is, I depend on the area returned by your IP address when you connect to the internet. If the area listed manually is different to what is provided automatically, then it wont match up and display the local services.

Please share this website to everybody you know, and lets get the word out there that there are free services available.