HELP BREAK THE STIGMA - Campaining, Volunteering and learning
YOU ARE HERE
If you are interested in volunteering to help with our Mental Health Peer Support Groups or with the Organisation in general please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We need help with all sorts of things!
campaign and volunteer
Rural Mental Health Matters
Melanie Costas, the founder and CEO of Rural Mental Health Matters is based in North Dorset.
Our Social Enterprise
“RMHM – Rural Mental Health Matters aims to provide mobile outreach services, a ‘wellness on wheels’ to reflect the unique challenges presented by rural isolation. Reaching out to rural and remote communities, acting as a focal point, providing information, advice and signposting to support that’s available in the local community.
To do this, we need you! As a new Social Enterprise we are looking for funding so that we can get the very first mobile outreach unit ‘on the road’ in rural North Dorset. This will be the first of its kind in the UK, and we envisage one of many, as this is a nationwide issue affecting ALL rural and remote communities.
Above all, we need to change perceptions (e.g. anti-stigma activities) to break the silence. For many of us mental health is not about statistics, models or innovation but how we can ‘prevent things from getting to the desperate stage’….after all, we all have mental health.
Rural Mental Health Matters is looking to work collaboratively with like-minded community groups/projects/charities/NHS/LA’s & individuals. So please do get in touch!”
Light On
By simply talking with one another, men can improve their mental health. It helps to give permission and an opportunity to do this, Light On gives men permission and an opportunity to do this. (Whole of Dorset Organisation)
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ACHIEVE TOGETHER
CAMPAIGN 4 CHANGE
https://www.achievetogether.co.uk/about/campaign-for-change-c4c/
C4C is a self-advocacy group for people with learning disabilities and/or autism where members campaign and raise awareness of different issues and initiatives both internally and nationally.
Dorset Community Mental Health Alliance
The alliance is a network of voluntary and statutory organisations, individuals and businesses working together with one common cause – to support anyone who needs help, to create a mentally healthy Dorset.
A critical part of our work is suicide prevention. We won’t rest until nobody in Dorset believes suicide is the only option.
Black Dog Campaign
“The Black Dog Campaign was created as a celebration of our 25th anniversary in order to highlight depression and other mental health conditions, and encourage people to seek help. It has since proved immensely popular and is still growing in strength and numbers of supporters.
The image of the Black Dog has been used from classical mythology through medieval folklore to modern times as a universal metaphor for depression and other mental illnesses. Sir Winston Churchill famously used it to describe his darker moods. Today the image represents the commitment of our campaign to raise awareness of mental illness. By encapsulating mental illness through the physical manifestation of the Black Dog, we enable people to visualise just how powerful, dominating and unpredictable it can be, whilst simultaneously affording them hope: dogs, like mental health conditions, can be tamed.”
Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
Set up by moneysavingexpert founder Martin Lewis, this was set up “to break the toxic link between mental health problems and financial difficulty.” Volunteers can sign up to fill in questionnaires online.
GENETIC LINKS TO ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION STUDY (GLAD)
Blackmore Vale Partnership and Gillingham Medical Practices.
Blackmore Vale Partnership Website or Gillingham Medical Practices Website
Enquire about being a ‘Health Champion’.
Many different opportunities and ideas always welcome to help patients with additional services to the clinical help provided by the professionals.
Volunteer Centre Dorset
Telephone: 01305 269214
Email: info@volunteeringdorset.org.uk
Up-to-date voluntary opportunities across Dorset.
Dorset Mind Volunteer Befrienders
Telephone: 01202 551660
Email: befriending@dorsetmind.uk
For volunteering in general visit: https://dorsetmind.uk/get-involved/volunteer-for-us/
Royal Voluntary Service – Together for older people
Calls with Care Volunteer
GB wide
Are you a friendly person who enjoys a good chat? Become a Calls with Care Volunteer and help to combat loneliness by providing regular and friendly social contact. Please note: 18+ only
Email. dorsetwiltshirehub@royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk
Tel. 01305 23 66 66
there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer.
In Jolly Good Company
Volunteers would be welcome to help at memory cafes and lunch clubs.
See dementia links on Local Support page.
Dementia Friends
The UK’s biggest ever initiative to change the way people think, act and talk about dementia.
email: dementiafriends@alzheimers.org.uk
Call 0300 222 5855
Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
Email: Dhc.volunteers@nhs.net
Telephone: 01202 443089
learning
Free Courses In England
NVQ Level 2 in Understanding Mental Health – completely online or distance using workbooks and assessments marked by Tutor by post.
Future Learn
Post A-level or A-level level on-line ‘mini’ courses in psychology, mental health, mindfulness, healthcare and many more. From 2 – 6 weeks, usually a few hours each week. Free if completed within a certain time or pay for longer and a certificate.
Skills and Learning Adult Community Education
There are very occasionally courses in our definition of North Dorset but unfortunately none in the current programme (the nearest are in Blandford where there are quite a lot). They will run more if there is enough interest.
There are courses online including a LivingWell course on Mindfulness which is free.
Please contact Amanda by email if you are interested and she will collect names to pass on if there are enough to ask for a course. Seven people are needed for it to be considered.
The Open University
Open University. Offers relevant free short courses as well as the more well-known degrees.
Recovery Education Centre
See Local Support page for more information of Recovery Education Centre.
The Zero Suicide Alliance
The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) is a collaboration of National Health Service trusts, charities, businesses and individuals who are all committed to suicide prevention in the UK and beyond. We are an alliance of people and organisations coming together around one basic principle: Suicide is preventable
Suicide Prevention Training
They provide a range of awareness training options, which provide a better understanding of the signs to look out for and the skills required to approach someone who is struggling, whether that be through social isolation or suicidal thoughts.
Five tips on how to plan new self-care routines
Dr Sharon Mallon explores what is meant by self-care before introducing you to some of the top inexpensive and time-effective ways that you can introduce self-care practices into your life.
Family Community Learning
Free interactive adult learning courses.
Tel. 01225 770478
Amanda is a member of, follows or is otherwise involved with the following organisations – check them out and see who they are, what they offer and what you can do to help.
The National Survivor User Network
A network of people who have and do experience mental distress who want to change things for the better. NSUN connects people and influences policy, practice and perceptions by amplifying the experiences and aspirations of our members.
The network was set up to build a more united and confident mental health service user movement. It recognises the isolation, discrimination and disadvantage experienced by mental health service users and their needs beyond clinical treatment.”
NSUN has more than 4000 individual members, 650 groups members and over 100 ally members. The fact that it is a user-led membership network sets it apart from other organisations in the field.
“We are here to make sure the voice of experience is heard!”
Mates in Mind
Mates in Mind is a leading UK charity aiming to provide clear information and support to employers on the mental health and wellbeing of their teams and how they can address this within their organisations.
Association of Mental Health Providers (amhp)
“…joined the Health and Wellbeing Alliance [HW Alliance] [formerly the Third Sector Strategic Partnership Programme] in 2010, becoming the lead partner in a group of voluntary sector mental health organisations – the Mental Health Consortia.
The Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance has been established to:
- Facilitate integrated working between the voluntary and statutory sectors
- Support a two way flow of information between communities, the VCSE sector and policy leads
- Amplify the voice of the VCSE sector and people with lived experience to inform national policy
- Facilitate co-produced solutions to promote equality and reduce health inequalities
The HW Alliance is jointly managed by the Department of Health (DH), Public Health England (PHE), and NHS England, and is made up of 21 VCSE Members that represent communities who share protected characteristics or that experience health inequalities. Through their networks HW Alliance Members can link with communities and VCSE organisations across England. Individuals and VCSE organisations who would like to share their experiences and ideas with NHS England, DH and PHE can do so via Health and Wellbeing Alliance Members.”
MQ Mental Health
“We are MQ – Transforming mental health through research”
We want to create a world where mental illnesses are understood, effectively treated and one day made preventable.
Centre for Mental Health
“….is a charity with over 30 years’ experience in providing life changing research, economic analysis and policy influence in mental health. Over the last decade, our work has expanded to include physical health, wellbeing, inequality and multiple disadvantage across the life course.
We are international thought leaders contributing to innovation and ground-breaking health and social change. By disentangling complex experiences and finding big ideas that can be shared, we have developed a reputation as the people who make sense and can provide evidence that helps and makes a difference in real time and in real life.”
Young Minds
What is #HelloYellow? – WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY – 9TH OCTOBER 2020.
“On World Mental Health Day, thousands of schools, offices, companies and community groups are wearing yellow to raise vital funds for YoungMinds.
Whether you choose a subtle splash of colour or dress like sunshine from head-to-toe, together we can show young people they’re not alone with their mental health”.
