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NEWSLETTER August 2010
Dates for the diary Friends of FOCUS meetings; please note that the next meeting will be on Tuesday 14th September 2010 at 7.30pm at the Poplars Day Centre, Overdale. The August meeting having been replaced by the BBQ (details below). Living in FOCUS Experience - next meeting with Dave Lund, Manager of Orchard House on 23rd August 2010 at 7pm at The St Thomas’ Welcome Centre. This meeting is strictly for CARERS ONLY please. |
News;
Emma Lloyd is a simply wonderful young woman who recently had 13" (yes, over a foot!!) of her hair cut off to raise money for us! The other wonderful thing is that the hair has been sent to the Wig Foundation, where it will be made into a wig for a young cancer sufferer. If you would like to sponsor her retrospectively, please send a cheque (made payable to Focus) to the office marked "Haircut".
The funds are still being counted but so far total more than £500! We’ll give you a final figure in next month’s newsletter. THANK YOU EMMA!!!
Sam Bolam; It was with a really sad heart that we said goodbye to Sam Bolam this month as her contract came to an end. We will all miss her very, very much and the amazing work that she has done for us will be vital in developing services for people with mental health problems and also for carers.
She hasn’t gone completely as she will be back in November for our Conference - to deliver the Partnership Project - but we do wish her the very best of luck for the future. Good Luck Sam and God bless! xxx
Patient Advocacy; Patricia has been incredibly busy since we withdraw the service from Orchard House earlier this year and has provided more than 300 interventions!
Advocacy work has been provided to a wide variety of community clients; elderly in-patients from Clinique Pinel, residents in care homes, at the police station and the prison. There have been some really very successful outcomes for clients in dealing with their often difficult situations. Much of the day to day work of the Advocacy service has been around helping people to understand their rights under the Mental Health Jersey Law, dealing with Income Support at Social Security and attending Medical Review Boards, issues around curatorship’s, Housing, rehabilitation and medication. Patricia has also been busy providing Advocacy Awareness sessions and special training on Incapacity Advocacy to a wide range of service providers.
We are in discussion with CAMHS about how best to extend the provision of advocacy to children being seen by CAMHS, as well as to the elderly residents of St Clements who are considered in need of advocacy support by the Parish community care team. Training sessions around Advocacy Awareness, legal and Human Rights will be provided to both groups. Advocacy will also play a role in championing Person Centred Care, an approach which is being promoted and actively rolled out by the elderly team.
Carer Support Manager;
Stephen continues to grow this invaluable service and he now has more than 25 clients on file! If you have any issues surrounding your role in caring for or caring about someone with a mental health problem, please do call him. He is always ready and able to help!
As well as the monthly Friends of Focus and the new Living in Focus Experience group, Stephen also has a regular weekly session at the St Thomas’ Welcome Centre on Wednesday afternoons.
The Life in Focus Experience group is a new initiative for carers only and its aim is to address the needs of people that are new to the experience or for those whose loved one has an enduring mental illness. At the inaugural meeting we were delighted to welcome Dr Miguel Garcia who gave a really wonderful presentation on the value of carers! The next meeting will welcome Dave Lund, the manager of Orchard House. This will be just as informative I’m sure!
We have recently been having discussions with Social Services and Adult Mental Health Services and it is looking increasingly likely there will soon be some kind of online "Carers Assessment" tool that will enable Services to understand what the needs are of people that care for and about people with mental health problems. Watch this space for more info!
Nearly New Shop;
I love going into our shop... everyone is always so wonderfully pleased to see you - or at least that’s what they say to me!! We would really struggle to survive without the incredible hard work of Pam and her amazing team and we really do owe them a huge debt of thanks!
If you have some time to spare, why not consider volunteering for a shift in the shop. It’s really great fun and so rewarding!
Summer BBQ; As previously reported in these pages, the "Big Lunch on the Farm" is on the 25th August 2010 from 12:00pm till 2:30pm. At this event, the guys from Schroders will be officially opening "Schroders Shed". We are also incredibly lucky to have the wonderful Cally Noel coming along with a range of Medieval Musical Instruments and she will be playing for us whilst we munch on our burgers!
Tickets are going fast and are limited, so if you would like some, please get in touch with Philip ASAP!
For those of you that don’t know the way to the Organic farm, Jan from the "Friends of Focus" will meet you all in the car park of the Poplars and then lead you all there in convoy! Alternatively, Don has very kindly agreed to run people up there in the minibus! For those that want to make their own way, here is a map!
MDF The Bipolar Self Help Group; the first meeting was held at Astral House on the 2nd August and although the turnout was quite low, it was a really great evening. The next meeting is at 7pm on the Monday 6th September 2010 at Astral House. For more info, please call Philip at the Focus office
Deloitte Sponsored walk
Message from Yvonne O’ Laughlin... "I have just had an email from Jersey Finance and sadly the article on the sponsored walk is not going to be included in JEP feature this month due to space constraints. However, they have secured some space in the Town Crier (distributed to 40,000 St Helier businesses and residents) due to be published w/e 3rd September.
Our walk will definitely be publicised as one of 3 community events featured".
Treasurers Report :
To follow...
Contacts;
Jersey Focus on Mental Health
Unit 13/14, 4 Wharf Street,
St Helier,
JE2 3NG
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