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Menampilkan postingan dari Februari, 2017

What do people ask the Powys Mental Health Information Service?

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Recently I was tasked with looking at our stats to identify some of the most common enquiries we receive at our Mental Health Information Service . I thought it would be interesting to share my findings with a wider audience. I’ll also provide some typical responses to the queries and who knows, there may actually be an answer to a question that a reader has wanted to ask for ages! Enquiries come in to our service via telephone, email or in person – and from absolutely anybody with an interest in mental health in Powys. We also receive a lot of enquiries from people outside Powys surprisingly, but these usually relate to services available within Powys, and are made because Powys residents are currently living away from home, for whatever reason, but still have links with providers of the health services in Powys or family and friends here. Sometimes we are asked a question which totally throws us – and then in our team we have to don our private eye deerstalker caps and do a little bi...

Sharing power in the planning and reviewing of services

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Last Thursday I attended this training event at our Llandrindod office run by two Participation Officer colleagues – Carla Rosenthal and Carol Hay. As one of the attendees reported later it was “interactive, engaging and full of useful content”. The session was arranged specifically for people who want to become citizen representatives (and a couple who already are). It is key to our work in the mental health team, and specifically for our Comic Relief funded project Stand up! for emotional health and wellbeing , that reps are recruited and well trained. Citizen reps volunteer their time, energy and passion to make a difference for others and to the services we receive, and are helping influence change at local, regional and national levels. We wrote about the achievements of mental health reps Rhydian Parry and Jan Rogers on this blog in Powys voices count at the top a couple of years ago. This training session brought together two groups of individuals – those interested in sitting ...

No such thing as a free lunch? A review of a Review Check

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  by Carla Rosenthal, Participation Officer and the PAVO Mental Health team “No thank you, I do not want to spend six days doing a ‘ Vanguard Method System Review Check ’ that I know nothing about,” was the common response when I was tasked with the job of organising this event back in March 2016. “But the results could be used to directly influence housing and mental health services in Powys!” I would counteract when confronted with such replies. “Great! Tell me what I have to do and I’ll give up six days in my extremely busy working life to come along.” “Uuuummmm, I’m not quite sure what happens but you have to turn up in Llandrindod, then go to either Welshpool or Brecon, do something there, then come back to Lland’od and it will all make sense.” “No.” “Expenses paid.” “No.” “Lunch provided - every day.” “Maybe.” Eventually, in November last year, individuals working in Third Sector mental health organisations came along to participate in the now legendary, Vanguard Method Syste...