New Engagement Service Gives Local People Greater Say In Mental Health Services
A new service to give local people with first-hand experience of mental health conditions and those who care for them a greater voice in improving health and social care services is holding public information sessions to mark its launch and recruit local people to get involved in its work.
Mental Health Together is part of independent watchdog Healthwatch Derbyshire. It is funded by Derbyshire County Council and the Clinical Commissioning Groups across the county and works in partnership with the Mental Health Action Group (MHAG) which has operated in the city and Southern Derbyshire for more than 10 years.
Its remit covers Derby and Derbyshire and launch events will be held on Monday March 5 at the Palace Hotel in Buxton between 11am and 2pm and at The Spot venue in Wilmot Street West in Derby on Monday March 19 between 12 noon and 3pm.
The engagement service will:
- Recruit and support a wide range of volunteers who receive mental health services and their carers to consult on current and future issues.
- Collect information so that themes and concerns can be identified and recommendations made for service improvements.
- Ensure that those designing and delivering health and social care services listen to and respond to this information and follow up to drive forward service improvements.
MHT Engagement Officer Niki Glazier: “A report by the independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England ‘Five Year Forward View for Mental Health’ has highlighted that, for far too long, people of all ages with mental health problems have been stigmatised and marginalised - all too often experiencing an NHS that treats their minds and bodies separately.
“Mental Health Together believes that people with first hand experience of mental health conditions and those who care for them are the people best qualified to help shape health and social care services to provide better care in the future.
“The launch events are the opportunity to meet the team, join us for lunch and find out how they can get involved.
“We are particularly keen to recruit people experiencing mental health conditions and carers, as Experts by Experience to help us to gather information from their own communities and networks, advocate for improvements to local mental health and social care services and be involved in designing better services for the future.
“This input will be very valuable to our engagement work and gives people the opportunity to have their voice heard on a wide range of issues that affect so many people’s lives in the city and county.”
For more information about Mental Health Together, Tel: 01773 880786 or visit www.mentalhealthtogether.org.uk