🍂Autumn Walk 🍂
We were delighted with the turnout and publicity we received for our Golden Steps 5k New Forest Walk in September – it was a tremendous success! The weather was kind to us and it was great that some of our Outreach clients joined us. The event was organised largely by our Southampton University intern Priya Mohan, who deserves most of the credit for the success. Lots of families and young children walked with us, and a special thank you goes to Harry and Louis Bridle who did a truly terrific job collecting sponsorship to walk, raising valuable funds for us! With support from the New Forest National Parks, and a fascinating short talk from one of the New Forest Agisters, it was educational as well as fun – and we look forward very much to making this an annual event. Come with us next year!
Rona Sailing Day 🌊
A week or so later, our Rona Sailing Day provided an exciting day on the Solent for some of our Outreach clients. This was made possible by a generous grant from our local Hampshire County Council Councillor, Barry Dunning, to whom we are very grateful indeed. Laura Pemberton, who is on our Advisory Board, introduced us to this fabulous organisation, and working together, this adventure was made possible. Throughout the journey, participants were actively involved in steering the yacht, managing the sails, and assisting with navigation, and we received encouraging feedback.It’s certainly something that we’ll repeat next year, hopefully a few times, offering this opportunity to more of our Outreach clients to enjoy and benefit from.
We are very grateful to the Rotary New Forest for the wonderful support they have been giving us and we feel privileged to be one of the local charities they support. Thank you, Rotary! We look forward to working closely with them on fundraising projects in 2025.
We continue our efforts to increase the number of votes we receive on the My Giving Circle platform … and we would love some help! Please click on the link, and vote for us, or make a donation that will buy us votes. If we can reach 5,000 votes by the end of December, we will get an automatic share in their end-of-year grant, and this would mean a lot to us. We have quite a way to go, and you can vote free once a week – please spread the word!
What's in the news?
The Valdo Calocane Case
There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the case of Valdo Calocane and the series of errors that led to his discharge from a Mental Health ward, resulting in the tragedy of 3 killings in Nottingham. There is no doubt that this is truly dreadful, but it’s good that it’s created public outrage at the failings in our system, and the inadequacies of Mental Health care and treatment. These tragedies occur far too often, and it tends to be the perpetrators who take all the blame, rather than failures in our public health system and the lack of available support that could help reduce or eliminate these tragic events. Money is being poured into “crisis care” – but we don’t want the crises. We want prevention – which is what our Hammersley Homes project is all about.
World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10th October every year, and The World Federation for Mental Health made the theme for this year “Prioritizing Mental Health in the Workplace”. Mental Health is increasingly receiving important focus worldwide – but Mental Illness can still be left out of the conversation. We work to change that – the stigma that surrounds enduring mental ill-health is ever present, and this NEEDS to change …. It’s a slow process – it’s begun and that of course is a good thing, but how can we persuade the world that mental illnesses should be no more stigmatised than physical illnesses? Any ideas or suggestions would be enormously welcome! Perhaps we should run a competition for the best suggestions for a campaign that can reduce stigma – what do you think? What should the prize be?
Meet the team - Bruce White, Outreach Support Worker
Bruce joined us in January 2024, and is very popular with his clients – he’s been working with them to build their confidence, introducing them to all sorts of new activities and encouraging them to begin taking small steps outside their comfort zone, enriching their lives. We put a few questions to him:
I was attracted by the idea of potentially making a difference in some people’s lives. Having struggled, on and off, with my own mental health issues for many years, I have some understanding of what it can be like to be misunderstood, frustrated by ‘systems’ and feeling isolated. I was keen to come alongside others and offer a little bit of hope. I also have experience with support groups and running a Mental Health Befriending Service.
Can you tell us, without breaking any confidences, about some of your achievements since you joined us? Some of the challenges faced by your clients, that you have helped to resolve, and what effect it’s had?
It has been very rewarding to accompany clients on their recovery journeys. It has been especially good to be with a couple of clients as they explore the possibility of employment. One has achieved this and it has made a real difference to them. Another has been volunteering with a view to getting a job/apprenticeship or even going on to study. For others it had been venturing out of their home into the ‘big wide world’ which is equally as fulfilling. My part had been to walk with them through their challenges, encouraging them to believe that they can take the next step and being a support/cheer leader along the way.
What do you enjoy most about the work?
I enjoy the variety of meeting people with differing needs, getting to know them and seeing improvements in them, however small.
Can you tell us about some of the difficulties and frustrations you have faced, and how you have dealt with them?
One of the frustrations I have faced is when clients (for a variety of reasons) decide to leave the service. It is easy to take this personally but I have had to appreciate that they are entitled to do this; it may be nothing whatsoever to do with me and I need to ‘let them go’. It is good to be able to chat such occurrences through with my fellow workers and line manager.
Another difficulty involves leaving clients when they might need longer to chat or off load. Thankfully, there are ‘back room’ staff when this becomes an issue.
What do you think is important, when it comes to supporting people with enduring and debilitating mental ill-health? Do you have any advice for families and carers, regarding perhaps how to best communicate with their loved ones?
I think the most important thing for family to do is to actively listen to and believe their loved ones when they need to off load. It is helpful when they do not try to ‘fix’ them, offer ‘pat’ answers or platitudes but to empathise and try and understand where they are coming from. It is also important to find additional help and not take everyone on board yourself.
None of the work that we do would be possible without the support of our generous donors – YOU! So truly a HUGE THANK YOU and please keep spreading the word – if you know of any families with loved ones who live with mental ill-health, please tell them about the work that we are doing.
REGULAR DONATIONS are particularly valuable to us – they help us with our budgeting, and with our applications to Charitable Trust Funds and Foundations …. and if you feel able to donate a few pounds a month via DONR – quick and easy donations via text message – we would be enormously grateful. To donate £3 a month, text 3HOMES to 70580. Texts cost £3 plus two standard rate messages and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give £3 but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text 3HOMESNOINFO to 70580. To change the amount of the donation, just change the first number of your text. Thank you!!
