The Race Equality Foundation, which is a UK-based organization that works to tackle racial inequalities in public services and improve outcomes for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities. Established in 1987, the foundation focuses on areas like health, housing, and social care, using evidence-based approaches to inform and influence policy, practice, and community initiatives.
The Race Equality Foundation are developing the Race Equity Maturity Index. The Race Equity Maturity Index is a tool developed by London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH) to support organisations in progressing race equity by enabling the tracking and improvement of race maturity levels. The index supports organisations in the actions they take to embed anti-racist practice.
Event has finished so no more bookings. There will be more events in future.
Did you know that November the 23rd is International Survivors of Suicide Loss day 2024?
The day is a time dedicated to coming together, supporting one another, and finding healing after losing loved ones to suicide. Survivor Day is an annual event that provides a safe space for individuals to share their stories and connect with others who understand the deep pain of such loss. It’s a global day of remembrance filled with activities including speaker panels, film screenings, and group discussions, all often hosted by local organizations, mental health groups, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
To see the video that I use to raise awareness, please view the video below.
Losing someone to suicide is a profoundly painful and complex experience. Healing takes time and patience, but it’s crucial to remember that you are not alone on this journey.
Here are five ways to cope and find hope after such a devastating loss.
Allow Yourself to Grieve
Grief is a natural response to losing someone you love, and it’s okay to feel a mix of emotions such as anger, guilt, confusion, and sadness. Each person’s grief process is unique, and it’s important to allow yourself to experience and process these emotions without rushing. This process can be long and non-linear; some days will be harder than others, and that’s a normal part of healing.
Seek Support
Connecting with friends, family members, or trusted individuals who can offer comfort and understanding is essential. Expressing your feelings and sharing memories of your loved one with those who care about you provides both relief and a sense of connection. Additionally, joining a support group, whether in person or online, through organizations like the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention can be incredibly beneficial. These groups provide a community of individuals who have experienced similar pain and can offer empathy and support.
Educate Yourself
Understanding mental health and the factors that lead to suicide can aid in making sense of your feelings and help reduce self-blame. It’s important to remember that mental health struggles are complex and multifaceted, and the loss of a loved one to suicide is not your fault.
Create Rituals of Remembrance
Remembering and celebrating the life of your loved one is a powerful way to cope with loss. This can be done by sharing stories, creating a memory book, planting a tree, or participating in activities they loved. Engaging in awareness events such as walks, vigils, or fundraisers in their memory can also be incredibly meaningful. These rituals provide a way to honor their memory and create a lasting legacy.
Practice Self-Care
Grieving is both physically and emotionally exhausting. Taking care of your own needs is integral to your healing process. Ensure you’re eating well, resting, and engaging in activities that bring you peace. Setting boundaries and taking breaks from conversations or situations that feel overwhelming is also essential. Be patient with yourself during this time; healing is not a straightforward process, and it’s okay to have good and bad days.
Finding Hope and Healing
On this Survivor Day, it’s important to remember that healing is possible and that hope is within reach. Together, we can find strength and comfort in our shared experiences. If you need more resources or support, please utilize the links provided in the description below. Stay connected, stay hopeful, and take care.
Survivor Day reminds us that while the journey after losing a loved one to suicide is incredibly difficult, there is a community ready to support and understand. Engaging in commemorative activities and reaching out for support are powerful steps towards healing. Always remember, you are not alone.
Welcome to another blog post from Carer activist Matthew McKenzie. THis is a blog post I always wanted to do, since for many years I been running carer groups. If you want to watch the in-depth version regarding carer peer groups, you can watch the hour long video below.
In this blog post, you can explore the diverse landscape of caregiver peer support groups, focusing on building resilience, skill-sharing, and overcoming stigma. You can also discover how these groups provide a safe space for growth, learning, and healing through shared experiences.
Understanding Carer Peer Groups
Carer peer groups are an essential, yet often misunderstood aspect of caregiving. Despite their complexities, they offer a lifeline to many caregivers, providing much-needed support, understanding, and personal growth opportunities. These groups are not just spaces for venting or sharing the challenges of caregiving; they serve a multitude of functions aimed at enhancing the lives of caregivers.
What Are Carer Peer Groups?
At their core, carer peer groups are a collection of individuals, typically caregivers, who share common characteristics and experiences. They come together with specific interests, interact in ways that foster support, understanding, and personal growth. These groups are more than just social gatherings; they are structured environments where caregivers can develop resilience, accountability, and coping skills.
The Importance of Emotional Support
Building Emotional Resilience
One of the primary functions of care peer groups is providing emotional support. Caring for a loved one can be isolating and emotionally draining. Groups focused on emotional support aim to reduce this isolation and help caregivers build coping skills. These groups facilitate a space where caregivers can explore their emotions, such as trauma, anxiety, isolation, depression, and anger. By doing so, they help mitigate the risks of developing mental health issues.
Encouraging Personal Growth
Emotional support groups go beyond mere conversation. They encourage self-discovery and growth, helping caregivers reduce the stigma associated with their role. These groups work to build a sense of community, providing a platform for storytelling and healing. The goal is to turn emotional struggles into opportunities for growth and resilience.
Mutual Aid and Resource Sharing
Collaborative Problem Solving
Another critical type of carer peer group is the mutual aid carer group. These groups are all about collective action and shared responsibility. Caregivers come together to offer advice, support, and understanding based on their shared experiences. They advocate for social change and share resources, knowledge, and skills to better manage their caregiving duties.
Developing Lifelong Skills
Resource-sharing carer groups focus on maximizing the use of resources and skills among caregivers. These groups encourage practical support, such as helping with everyday tasks, and foster a culture of giving and gratitude. By doing so, they help create strong, supportive networks that caregivers can rely on.
The Role of Accountability
Creating a Culture of Accountability
Accountability is a crucial element in many carer peer groups. These groups ensure that caregivers remain motivated and responsible in pursuing their personal and professional goals. They offer consistent check-ins and progress reviews, helping caregivers stay focused and committed.
Encouraging Empathy and Understanding
Accountability groups also emphasize the importance of empathy and understanding. By fostering a non-judgmental environment, these groups help caregivers build compassionate connections and develop deep listening skills. This creates a supportive space where caregivers can feel safe expressing their thoughts and feelings.
Promoting Empathy and Safe Spaces
Safe and Non-Judgmental Environments
Creating a safe, non-judgmental space for caregivers is essential. These groups provide an environment where individuals can freely express themselves without fear of criticism or harm. The focus is on healing and recovery, reducing isolation, and promoting self-compassion.
Enhancing Communication Skills
Such groups put a high priority on confidentiality and empathy, which are vital for building trust among members. They work to improve communication and interpersonal skills, helping caregivers better navigate their caregiving roles and manage conflict within their relationships.
Empowering Caregivers
Building Confidence and Resilience
Caregiver empowerment groups focus on fostering a sense of control and belonging among caregivers. They promote resilience and encourage caregivers to overcome obstacles. These groups help build strong social networks and challenge social norms, providing tools and resources for skill development.
Encouraging Personal Development
These groups often serve as networks of encouragement, where members motivate each other to achieve their goals. They focus on building confidence, self-belief, and resilience through peer mentorship and role modeling. This helps caregivers take on leadership roles and further their personal development.
Specialized Carer Groups
Alternative Therapy and Recovery
Some carer peer groups focus on alternative therapies, providing non-professional and voluntary alternatives to traditional therapy. These groups might use methods such as art therapy, mindfulness practices, or peer coaching. They aim to enhance communication skills and offer a space for healing through creative expression.
Problem Solving and Growth
Problem-solving care groups help caregivers brainstorm solutions to common challenges using shared experiences. They encourage critical thinking and offer emotional and motivational support. These groups also focus on resilience building, helping caregivers develop emotional agility and self-awareness.
Conclusion
Carer peer groups play a vital role in supporting caregivers. They offer emotional support, facilitate resource sharing, promote accountability, create safe spaces, empower individuals, and provide specialized support. These groups are complex and require significant effort to establish and maintain. However, their benefits far outweigh the challenges. By participating in care peer groups, caregivers can find the support, understanding, and personal growth they need to continue their vital roles.
Despite their complexities, carer peer groups are essential in fostering a supportive environment for caregivers. They provide the tools and resources necessary for caregivers to thrive, ultimately enhancing the overall quality of care provided to their loved ones. As the demand for caregiving continues to grow, the importance of these groups cannot be overstated.
During Hoarding Awareness week 2024, I did a blog post on the excellent animation short that raises awareness of Hoarding.
The animation film is called ‘Of All the Things’ , which is partly funded by the BFI NETWORK, that delves into the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship amidst the challenges of hoarding disorder.
As a carer with lived experience of caring for someone with mental illness, I understand how the animation can offer a fresh perspective on the journey towards understanding and connection while aiming to raise awareness and combat the stigma surrounding this often misunderstood condition.
Latest research focus for carers who support someone suffering from breathlessness. Kings College London are keen to explore some of the issues carers can face when the person they care for is breathless. This can be a symptom for people with heart and lung problems, respiratory diseases and cancers. It can be quite stressful and frightening for carers especially if they haven’t had support or training on how to cope with this.
If interested please contact eleanor rochester – eleanor.rochester@kcl.ac.uk
Oxehealth is a health technology company focused on inpatient mental healthcare. Oxehealth is looking to extend their co production activities to bring together a wider range of voices from both patients and carers. They are planning to run both in person and online focus groups to deep dive on specific areas of product development. There may be further opportunities for participants to extend their initial involvement and join their core expert by experience group.
Who should attend? Welcome to both service users and carers with experience of inpatient mental health settings. Experience of Oxehealth vision based patient monitoring system is desirable but not essential.
What the sessions will cover? Focus group 1: Patient monitoring – privacy and choices Aim is to get feedback to help prioritise initiatives designed to enhance privacy, agency and choice for patients on inpatient wards when using vision based patient monitoring systems. Focus group 2: Developing sleep reports for patients and carers Aim is to get feedback on design and content for reports for patient and carers which provide information on how patients have slept.
Will I get paid for attendance? Yes, compensation will be paid at the rate of £30 per hour. Each session will last for 1.5 to 2 hours. Reasonable travel expenses for face to face attendance (with receipts provided will be compensated up to the value of £30
When will the meetings be held? We will hold 4 sessions with c 6 – 8 attendees each in March/April (2 on each focus group topic). The sessions will be c. 1.5 hours each and will be on weekdays either a morning or afternoon session. 2 sessions will be in person in central London; 2 sessions will be online on Microsoft Teams
What work will I have to do in advance of the session? Before each session, we will meet online with each prospective participant for 30 min to 1 hour meeting to provide an opportunity for participants to find out more about the technology and the company.
To express interest please contact Karen West – karen.west@oxehealth.com
Welcome unpaid carers. There is a new research Opportunity from the University of East London.
Carers can play a vital role in supporting someone with psychosis, particularly when an inpatient admission is needed, but unfortunately are often left out of important conversations. I’m hoping that this research can go a small way towards including carers’ voices in the discourses around restrictive practice/the development of inpatient services.
Alison Byrne who is a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at the University of East London is looking to reach people who are:
Over 18 years old
A relative or other carer (including friends) of someone who experiences ‘psychosis’ (e.g. delusions, hallucinations, or other unusual experiences; a formal diagnosis is not necessary)
Their loved one has had at least one admission on a UK inpatient ward relating to these experiences
Caring for a loved one with cancer? The university of East London study offers 4 free (online) hours of coaching in exchange for a 1 hour interview.
The study aims to support carers of cancer patients through coaching conversations, and is part of a Master’s dissertation investigating the wellbeing effects of coaching. The research has been ethically approved by University of east london’s Psychology Ethics Committee.
You’ll be asked to participate for around 5 ½ hours of your time, and the sessions can be slotted around your availability. The coaching is confidential.
To book a 30 minute consultation to see if this is right for you, contact Jo at u2097099@uel.ac.uk
This blog post is from carer activist and author Matthew McKenzie. I am involved in many things and often campaign and raise awareness of those caring for someone with mental illness or cancer. One of groups I run focuses on Carers Trust Triange of Care membership updates.
It is important families, friends who are unpaid carers who care for someone using mental health services be kept in the loop. It is even more important that carers be involved in shaping triangle of care at their local mental health service. All too often carers can be seen as a hidden resource, perhaps seen as someone behind the scenes quietly getting on with it.
Carers should not be hidden, it is important to know what your organisation is doing to improve the lives of unpaid mental health carers.
Our next triangle of care community meeting will be on July 31st. See poster below.
Welcome back to another blog post by carer activist Matthew McKenzie. Quick question. Do you know about Allied Health Professions?
Well, allied Health professionals work to provide the community with the best support and health benefits using their skills and expertise.
Allied Health professionals work in many different settings and they do not always have to be based in hospitals. There are around 14 all doing their best to serve the community.
Art therapists Dramatherapists Music therapists Podiatrists Dietitians Occupational therapists Operating department practitioners Orthoptists Osteopaths Paramedics Physiotherapists Prosthetists and orthotists Radiographers Speech and language therapists
Still, serving the community is not enough. It is about including the community and putting people first. This is done through co-production, leadership, innovation and bringing out the best in the AHP community. The health of the community is a challenge if the health of the environment suffers, so it is important to prepare for a greener future and cleaner future.
The Allied Health Professions have set their strategy for england, which you can view below.
There also is a new video to promote why AHPs should continuously improve their contribution to high-quality health and care services.
As a carer activist, I know full well that high quality care can have a positive impact. We all have a part to play, just as we all want healthier lives. Users of health services want their views taken into account and this can lead to a better strategy.
A Caring Mind 