Posted on by The Cellar Trust

World Mental Health Day: Mental health for all

World Mental Health Day blog series

Mental health for all

by Masira Hans, Community Development Worker at Sharing Voices

Hi All,

As you are (hopefully) aware today (Saturday 10th October) is World Mental Health Day!

Those who know me in any capacity know how passionately I feel about normalising sadness, looking out for one another and reducing the stigma attached to mental health.

The theme this year is ‘Mental Health For All’ hence, I wanted to discuss an important topic.

The link between mental health and spirituality/religion.

Hands up,

Who has heard the phrase ‘pray the sadness away’ or ‘You are only depressed as you are so far away from your faith’ or ‘You just don’t pray enough’?

*sigh*

If only we could simply pray away clinical depression or an eating disorder or psychosis. If only we could do this one thing and be cured.

When the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) himself who was the closest to God and the pinnacle of spirituality experienced periods of great depression due to very normal life stressors such as bereavement, ostracisation, poverty (amongst others) how are the rest of us to be exempt from this?

The danger of the above statements is how they place the guilt back onto the individual who is already feeling so much dread and pain.

In particular with the women I am fortunate enough to support, they internalise their guilt and feel they are not worthy or loved enough as they have been inflicted with a mental illness. They are often told there is something lacking within them which results in how they are feeling.

All religions speak of care, compassion, empathy so perhaps ill mental health is actually a sign we are much closer to our religion and humanity?

Especially as for me, religion, praying, reflection should bring humility into you. A true sign of faith is sitting with those who are lower in ‘status’ than us, those who are struggling and how much we do to support and help them. Thumbing prayer beads itself should not reflect how religious we are and our mental health need not necessarily be a reflection of our faith.

It should be about our character.

What do you think?

This topic is one close to my heart, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this.

Please everyone, this year, let us try and be a little more compassionate. Reach out to your colleagues, friends, family, and neighbours and be the change you wish to see in the world.

Posted on by The Cellar Trust

World Mental Health Day: Employment and mental health

World Mental Health Day blog series

Employment and mental health

by the Individual Placement and Support Employment team at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust 

As an IPS (Individual, Placement and Support) Employment service at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust we support people with long term mental health conditions to find paid employment across Bradford, Airedale Wharfedale and Craven using the evidenced based IPS model.

We aim to get people into competitive paid employment focussed around their interests which is great for people’s wellbeing. Getting back into employment can be vital to someone’s recovery, including a much-improved quality of life.

Our team are really passionate about supporting people to make those steps into employment. A figure that jumps out to us is that 70-90% of people with mental health issues would like to work, with only 37% of those in paid employment – for those with severe mental illness that number drops to just 8% (IPS Grow).

We provide a personalised plan to people in the service, tailored to their individual preferences, supporting them to identify their employment goals and create a realistic employment plan. This includes help with writing a CV; help disclosing a health condition to employers if they choose to; work related benefits and much more.

If you’re currently looking for work and need some top tips for getting your CV together try the following:

• Make it unique
• Highlight your strengths
• Tailor your CV to match the job
• Check your contact details!

We’re really proud of our service and the difference we’ve been able to make to people’s lives. In the past we’ve supported people into roles in healthcare, administration, trade jobs such as decorators, teachers, managers, catering and starting their own small businesses.

The IPS Employment service is designed for people accessing secondary mental health services if they are not accessing secondary mental health services, we can refer them to The Cellar Trust who we work in partnership with. We also work closely with a number of partners including Jobcentre Plus to enhance the support offered to our clients.

Further information on IPS is available https://ipsgrow.org.uk/what-is-ips/

Posted on by The Cellar Trust

World Mental Health Day: Music therapy in mental health

World Mental Health Day blog series

Music therapy in mental health

by Katy Grainger, Music Therapist for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust 

Ever belted out a ballad and instantly felt your mood lift?

I am a Nordoff Robbins Music Therapist, and I have worked with Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust for the past 9 years providing a range of individual and group music therapy sessions for people with mental health conditions.

Together we have started up Lynfest and Lynfrost (festivals which take place at Lynfield Mount Hospital). We also run jamming sessions and co-create music-dramas with a service users and staff (some of these have even been ‘on tour’ to other hospitals and performed on local radio).

The music therapy sessions involve active music making and listening in a variety of different ways – this could be playing a variety of easily accessible instruments, singing, rapping, and sharing music we enjoy.

Sessions can really help service users in a number of ways, from increasing confidence and self-esteem, enabling people to build relationship with each other in a non-threatening and creative environment, through to building skills, nurturing creativity and giving a place for self-expression.

Our Lynfest and Lynfrost (the winter edition!) give everyone an opportunity to play a part and be involved in different ways, whether as performer, organiser, supporter or as audience. They help to build a sense of community and togetherness, and foster skills of collaboration, teamwork and acceptance and appreciation of one another.

Playing and listening to music is great for your wellbeing – I’d encourage anyone to give it a go!