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By Gill Pirie, on September 29th, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
Issued: 23/9/09
For the week beginning 5th October
Title: The Creative Journey to Recovery
Artwork on the theme of ‘Recovery’ goes on display this week in four GP surgeries around Ceredigion to celebrate World Mental Health Day this year.
World Mental Health Day on October 10th is an annual campaign to draw attention to the need to “make mental issues a global priority”. This year’s theme is ‘Mental Health and Primary Care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health’.
One in four of us will experience some kind of common mental health problem each year. Many will seek help from their GP and primary care team and will be given the help they need or put in touch with other sources of support. For other people it may be a longer struggle and the journey of recovery from their experience can be ongoing. People from local mental health groups wanted to reach out to others with a message of hope – that Recovery is possible. They have done this through their artistic responses on the theme of ‘Recovery’ which will be on display in the week of 5th October at Meddygfa Emlyn, Cardigan Health Centre and Tanyfron, Aberaeron and Ystwyth Medical Centre.
This project has been supported by the Ceredigion Service User Involvement Worker and Mind Your Heart. The ‘Ceredigion Recovery Book’, which was published in March, is available in English and in Welsh through existing organisations working for mental health and in local libraries. It can also be bought through Mind Your Heart and local bookshops.
Notes to Editors
- For more information contact Jan Batty, Mind Your Heart on 01570 423957, mobile 07875 206777 or jan.batty@nphs.wales.nhs.uk or Gill Pirie, Service User Involvement Worker on 01239 712811 or 0779 0234116 or wwamh_userinvolvement@yahoo.co.uk
- The Ceredigion Service User Involvement Project is a partnership project of local mental health organisations managed by West Wales Action for Mental Health.
- Mind Your Heart was set up in 2005 to improve the physical health of people with mental health problems in Ceredigion. It is a partnership of organisations including West Wales Action for Mental Health, Ceredigion Public Health Team and Ceredigion Local Health Board.
- The Ceredigion Recovery Book is available from Mind Your Heart at a cost of £5.
- Photos are available from Gill Pirie after 5th October.
By Angie Darlington, on September 28th, 2009
During the winter and following spring of 2009 a group of writers, poets and artists, all of whom have at some time been users of mental health services, work-shopped together to create a single volume to celebrate World Mental Health Day. It is hoped that this volume will alleviate the prejudice with which mental health issues are still viewed. A challenging and rewarding read, Footsteps without Prints is both autobiographical and fiction. It depicts footsteps in life through a variety of forms; including articles, poems, artwork and photographs.
There will be books available, individuals reading from the book and mental health information Stalls
CARMARTHENSHIRE MENTAL HEALTH FORUM
World Mental Health Day 2009
Book launch
“Footsteps without prints”
Thursday 8th October 2009
11am-1pm
Thomas Arms Hotel, Llanelli
Lunch and refreshments will be provided
For more information or if you would like a stall in the Thomas Arms please contact Angie on 01267 238367
“With Mental Health problems, you can get lost. With Art you can find out who you are” Quote from a service user
By Paul Williams, on August 21st, 2009
As part of WWAMH’s commitment to improving the availablity of information about mental health, our links to other organisations and resources have been improved and updated. A full list of links can be seen here.
If you have any suggestions for other links or categories of links please use the comment section of this post.
By Tim Teeling, on August 18th, 2009
Pembrokeshire Mental Health Forum will be holding another Open Forum Event on
17th September at Letterston Memorial Hall, 11am – 4pm.
The theme of the event will be “Talking Therapies”, what they are, what is available, are you eligible, are there enough options?
A Buffet Lunch will be available and the ever popular Pamper Session in the afternoon.
We set these Open Forum Events up about 3 years ago as a way to increase the numbers of people who would recieve information and we could get feedback from on local issues. We are dependent on LHB funding for the Forum to put on these events which are very popular in that we are getting between 40 -60 people at each time. We have a speaker on a particular subject, followed by workshops, lunch and then the pamper session. So far this has been a popular format and, funding available, will continue into the future.
By Tim Teeling, on August 12th, 2009
These thoughts are an edited version of an article by Dorothy Rowe, the respected author of Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison.
Happiness is not a goal to be achieved, but an emotion that is a by product of what you do. Thinking in terms of whether you deserve or don’t deserve to be happy will stop you being happy.
There is nothing wrong with feeling sad, which is the appropriate emotion to feel after you have suffered a loss or disappointment. Depression is not just being very unhappy. We become depressed when we blame ourselves for the disaster that has befallen us.
Being depressed means feeling that you are utterly alone, locked into some kind of horrible prison, where no comfort can reach you and you will not comfort yourself. To create the conditions whereby happiness can blossom you have to do some or all of the following:
- Understand that what you do is a result of how you have interpreted what happens, and that you are free to change your interpretations.
- See yourself as valuable and acceptable. To do this, you may have to review your childhood and recognise that as a child you came to the conclusion that you must have been bad and unacceptable, otherwise the adults around you would not have treated you as they did. Look at this now from an adult’s perspective.
- Listen to how you talk to yourself and if you are constantly criticising yourself and making impossible demands on yourself, stop doing it. Be your own best friend.
- Cultivate the ability to live in the present, paying attention only to what is going on around you. By fretting about what has happened in the past and anxiously planning the future, we inevitably shut ourselves off from a great source of happiness – that of fully experiencing what is before us.
- Use the ability to be in the present, every day giving yourself some little treats or reward. Do not do this because you deserve it, do it because it’s a nice thing to do.
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About WWAMH West Wales Action for Mental Health is a mental health development project, providing a range of services to voluntary groups, carers and individuals who have used or are using mental health services and living in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.
We are currently involved with over 100 local groups advising on such matters as fundraising, training, local forums, planning and information technology.
Please make use of the links in this site to find out more.
Alternatively you can email us, telephone or fax...
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