Published on: 3rd October 2017
Over £350,000 of community funding has been allocated to a variety of organisations and groups that help people with mental health problems and dementia stay well in their community.
The beneficiaries will become part of Lincolnshire’s innovative Managed Care Network, a collection of community groups which offer support through various activities to help people recovering from mental ill health, or living with dementia.
Funding comes direct from the Mental Health Promotion Fund, which was established by Lincolnshire County Council and is managed by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
In total, 28 projects have benefitted from a share of the funding and will be offering a wide range of activities and groups that people with mental health problems or dementia can get involved in. Activities range from local social and friendship groups, sporting and other outdoor physical activities, through to creative therapy and support for carers.
One of the projects benefitting for the first time this year is farm therapy at the Askefield Project Ltd based in Friskney near Boston. The family led smallholding (Peter’s Eden) which received just over £23,000 will be providing access to farm animals, traditional crafts and outdoor activities through its ‘Green Care’ approach, offering people with an opportunity to relax and learn new skills in a caring, peaceful and non-judgemental environment.
Husband and wife project leads, Chris and Hannah Blevins said:
We are delighted to be involved in this network and receive funding in this latest wave. This valuable resource will allow us to open our doors without the burden of cost to the most at need members of our local community.
We look forward to providing our visitors with the space, time and care to experience daily life of our small family run farm, whether it be a relaxing, enriching time with our animals or more challenging, active projects to further develop the farm for future visitors.
The network will also be supporting Imps in the Community, the charity working alongside Lincoln City Football Club. The £17,000 from the fund will help the trust provide a series of sport based activities to improve health and mental wellbeing.
Kirsten Parslow, a community coach from Imps in the Community said that the new activities were an opportunity for people of all ages to come together with like-minded people to participate in fun physical activities, which in turn will improve mental wellbeing and create new friendships.
She said
The IMPact your Mind project will consist of three elements – Sports Review will be a sporting memories session geared towards the over 50s population and those living with dementia. We will use old memorabilia such as programmes, shirts, photos and equipment of a variety of sports to stimulate conversation and give them an opportunity to come learn, listen and reminisce.
We are also going to go into local mental health units to provide activities and sports they might not usually be able to access. Finally we will be offering Fans Football and Fans Fitness which will give participants the chance to work out using the first team’s facilities. All sessions are free which will hopefully enable anyone and everyone to access them.
Jane Marshall, Director of Strategy at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust added
We were delighted to have such a fantastic response to this year’s wave 7 funding. We received more than 80 expressions of interest from a wide range of groups and localities, all who have a passion and desire for supporting people with mental health problems or dementia. Our panel therefore had some difficult decisions to make in order to allocate the funding available, to ensure the monies available are used as efficiently and effectively as possible to support the aims of the Managed Care Network.
We have a strong desire and vision to grow and expand the network, to offer as wide a range of activities and groups, covering as many areas as possible and its great that we’ve been able to introduce yet more new exciting projects this year.”
Details about all of the activities and groups people can access are available on the Trust’s website www.lpft.nhs.uk/MCN or by following the hashtag #LincsMHnetwork on Twitter and Facebook.
