Published on: 25th April 2017
Organisations and groups that support and help people manage their mental health and wellbeing are being invited to pitch for a new pot of £300,000 in community funding.
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) and Lincolnshire County Council have just opened up applications for the latest round of their Mental Health Promotion Fund.
The fund aims to help adults who have experienced mental health problems to participate in a wide range of activities to help them recover and maintain as good a quality of life as possible.
It also allows local people of all ages to play an active role in promoting good mental health for themselves and others and this year once again, includes funding to support dementia groups with the aim of improving the mental health of those living with dementia.
Projects that ultimately receive funding will all join LPFT’s innovative Managed Care Network, a collection of community groups which offer support and various activities to help keep people living well in the community.
And this year the application process has been streamlined to make it even easier for interested parties to get their bids in.
LPFT’s Community Support Networks Lead, Pauline Campbell said the funding allocated to Manage Care Network projects is a vital strand of local support.
There are now 46 full member organisations, providing around 30 different types of activities for people to choose from,”
said Pauline.
Since it was first launched back in January 2012, local people have benefitted from activities such as social support and friendship groups, formal and informal learning, skills and qualifications, and supported volunteering.
One of the projects which has received £1,000 of Mental Health Promotion Fund monies in the past is the Sellwood Gardens Memory Support Group. The Horncastle-based initiative meets every Thursday afternoon offering a range of activities to support people living with mild to severe dementia and memory loss and their carers.
The group offers stimulating activities such as bingo, dominoes, singing, quizzes, outings and film shows – we’ve also hosted visits from singers and musicians on occasion too,
said committee member Keith Baguley.
When we started in May 2015 we had eight members, now our membership, including carers has reached 30.
For more information contact Secretary Shirley Crawford on 01507 525742.
Meanwhile, the innovative Slumgothic – ‘We Are Here’ project - operates from a community drop-in café called x-church kitchen in Gainsborough, where people with mental health problems can get together for a coffee and a catch up.
The not for profit company received £7,000 from the Mental Health Promotion Fund last time around and Director Marcus Hammond said: “’We Are Here’ is all about giving people access to responsible groups who know how to look after people’s mental wellbeing. Our groups run on Mondays and Wednesdays and are very informal.
We have guest speakers from charities and organisations like Jobcentre Plus but there are also lots of sessions where people just talk and support each other.
The group has also led us to instigate our Peer Link Worker project and so far 13 people have now almost completed the first stage of their training to become volunteer non-clinical mental health support workers across Gainsborough.
For more information visit www.slumgothic.co.uk
