Mental health charities in Powys - innovating for lockdown

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic I have been amazed by the speed and efficiency with which mental health charities across Powys have been able to adapt the delivery of their usual services to meet the demands of the “new normal”. Most have also developed new and innovative services. Like all of us the people running these charities have faced the sometimes conflicting challenges of trying to meet the needs of their members and clients whilst at the same time the requirement to safeguard their hard-working and committed staff and volunteers. 

The headline news is that - whether online, on the phone, or even - at a social distance - providing a face to face service, your mental health charities are still there for you.

Here are some of the changes they have made over the last four months. These changes are to help support people’s general wellbeing during this difficult time but also to continue addressing more serious underlying emotional distress whether related to Covid-19 or not.

Mid & North Powys Mind

Mid & North Powys Mind staff pre-pandemic

Due to the pandemic we had to close all of our in-person groups and our building to the public, but we have been supporting people on a one to one, remote basis instead (phone, WhatsApp video call, text, etc). We have also continued to support new people during this time. 

We moved our training courses online straight away and have been delivering these via Zoom video conferencing. Courses have included: Hypnotherapy for Relaxation, Recharging & Healing, Stress & Anxiety Management, Keeping Mentality Fit and we have Managing your Emotions running in July. The Mums Matter courses are delivered online now as well, along with a number of regular Mums Peer Support groups across mid & north Powys.

Mid & North Powys Mind continued doing in-person crisis work from the start of the pandemic, for the people that needed that additional support. And now we are moving to a more mixed approach of part in-person work, outside at a social distance, and part remote work, with people. This will much better enable us to support new people, as it is so much easier to build an open and trusting relationship in-person and keeping the part remote element will enable us to have a space to share very sensitive or confidential information, which is not always possible outside.

Our Blended Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy service, normally based at GP surgeries, has also moved remotely and is now open to referrals directly from the public, without the need to see your GP, which is a great step forward. We are also planning new Facebook Live broadcasts to showcase CBT and Silvercloud.

Facebook Live broadcasts have been incredibly popular. We've got three live shows running weekly at the moment: Tai Chi, Hypnotherapy for Relaxation, and Mindfulness. They have been getting over 1000 views per broadcast, 18,000 unique viewers this month alone and some really positive feedback. So we're expanding these broadcasts to include an introduction to CBT & Silvercloud, creative writing and general wellbeing tips from our THRIVE course. We have also started a Facebook chat & support group for our service users.

Our counselling service has moved to remote methods as well – mainly phone and WhatsApp video call. We have been lucky enough to secure a small amount of additional funding to expand this service.

We are working with Adrian Jones at Supporting People, who has a small pot of funding to enable Information Technology (IT) access for service users. That's been really good to help some of our service users get online, plus donated laptops from the Media Resource Centre, for our members.

Within our Outreach Groups, there are lots of people who are very vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19, and some people who are shielding. I think it's particularly hard on them because they're really missing the groups and social contact. We've been doing phone and virtual support, but many don't have internet access or have the tech skills to use online methods of communication. Recently, as lockdown restrictions have been eased, we have been supporting them to meet their peers in their gardens, to help them to feel more connected.

You can get in touch with us by messaging our Facebook page, calling the main number: 01597 824411 or texting: 07539 870 010.

Ponthafren Association

Claire Cartwright, Ponthafren Association Director, makes a dragon mosaic

At Ponthafren we were able to adjust very quickly to a virtual way of working.

All of our core services have continued, albeit in different ways, as well as maintaining contacts with those who need our services.

Our counselling services are continuing and what's been interesting is that there is 97% attendance at the moment, which is remarkable. This is something we are monitoring as we consider how and when we re-open the Ponthafren sites. I’m sure that some services will continue to be virtual whilst having a coordinated approach. The feedback of the virtual services has been extremely positive.

We have upped our social media presence since we've been in lockdown. So for Mental Health Awareness Week we talked about the Five Ways to Wellbeing each day. We encouraged staff to share their experiences during lockdown whether it was learning new skills, keeping in contact with others, being kind and being active. James did a marvellous job in scheduling the posts on numerous social media platforms.

In partnership with Adult Learning Wales we are continuing our life skills courses. The courses cover topics such as Coping with Change, Stress & Anxiety and Resilience & Emotional Wellbeing training online via Zoom.

We are also facilitating volunteer training. So far, it’s working really well in small groups – it can be tiring for the tutor but we always have a staff member in the sessions to help in case anyone needs particular assistance.

A really positive outcome of the forced lockdown has been the informal partnership formed in a direct response to the Covid situation in Newtown. The team involves working with the PAVO Community Connectors, the Town Council, the Salvation Army and one of the local churches. We were meeting daily but now twice a week. We've got 17 Angels working under the network, and approximately 150 Cherubs, who have all responded to the call out for help to help others in the locality. Ponthafren looks after the telephone line and helps to coordinate any call for help. For example: shopping, advice, picking up prescriptions, access to FREE food and specific support. Newtown is providing over 5000 free meals per week via local businesses and community groups.

We're also working with businesses as well, finding out how they can support the community and how we can support them. It's just having a really good community feel which is going to be really beneficial going forward. We've never had this many volunteers come forward in recent times. We really want to capture that and move forward with it.

But now my attention is to how and when we can reopen the Ponthafren sites whilst providing a safe environment for all; it’s going to be a challenge but one that the Ponthafren trustees and staff are keen to do as quickly as we can. Services and the setting may look different but the object of Ponthafren is to provide a caring community offering support to those in need and to promote positive mental health and well-being for all.

Oh, and I nearly forgot we are in the process of purchasing the Armoury in Welshpool. This will enable us to provide an exciting schedule of activities and will provide us with the space to respond to need in the locality.

We’ve been busy!

You can get in touch with us by messaging our Facebook page, calling the main number: 01686 621586 or emailing: admin@ponthafren.org.uk

Brecon & District Mind

Green Minds project, Brecon & District Mind

All our support is provided remotely by phone or online video call. We had some good news recently as the National Lottery is to fund our counselling service to expand it further for a year. The Green Minds project is very busy. They have set up their own website so that they can have interactive sessions on gardening and growing. They are going to be one of the first groups to do some 1:1 work outside using Brecon Cathedral’s walled garden. 

The Mums Matter Programme is now online. The mums’ support group is still happening on Zoom and that has been quite popular. There were some Mindfulness videos which went out in the beginning. Our Blended Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and our Social Prescribing projects are continuing remotely. Referrals to Mums Matter can be emailed to: mumsmatter@breconmind.org.uk

Active Monitoring is returning as Mind Cymru were successful in sourcing funding from Wales Council for Voluntary Action. The model has been adapted so that it can be used by phone, Zoom and WhatsApp starting 15 June across Powys (including Mid & North Powys Mind and Ystradgynlais Mind). We have three practitioners in place in our area and we're taking referrals and they can come from anywhere including GPs and self-referrals. Please email referrals to: activemonitoring@breconmind.org.uk

We have a YouTube channel where we have Mindfulness videos. We have a Covid-19 closed group on Facebook where people can share their concerns. We are posting a regular photo challenge on our Facebook page as well as keeping Twitter and Instagram up to date.

Val Walker, CEO said “For the first 10 weeks it was worryingly quiet. I anticipated the quiet but not for that long. But now, all of a sudden, requests for support are coming in. A police officer requested that we actually go out and see one of our clients. We did a face-to-face session outside which made me think that it was absolutely necessary for us to start thinking about going back to this way of working because that one person was so different after that face-to-face meeting. As some people don't like talking on the phone, our 1:1s will start on a gradual basis outside.”

You can get in touch with us by messaging our Facebook page, calling the main number: 01874 611529 or emailing: info@breconmind.org.uk

Ystradgynlais Mind

Ystradgynlais Mind receive a donation from Cwmtwrch Rugby Football Club

We're really pleased with how we managed to roll out our services to people during lockdown. Our biggest concern really is the people who are the most vulnerable in our community who would not normally attend our services. They tend to be older and don’t have access to IT. We managed to get some funding for some extra staff hours so that they can have more telephone support and we’re also trying to link them up so that people can stay connected.

At the beginning we worked really closely with the local Community Connector to do shopping and pick up prescriptions for people. We had an initial avalanche of referrals but that has slowed down. Our staff were all set up with laptops and filing cabinets to work from home.

We've been working quite closely with the local rugby clubs. And we had some extra funding for our Mums Matter course. This continues every Tuesday afternoon, and those in the peer group are still supporting each other. One of our members is writing a blog post every week.

We provided some Suicide Prevention training with the rugby clubs. Then they got together and did a 4,000 mile virtual journey from Cardiff to Scotland and they raised £2,000! So this brought in a lot of attention including from some celebrities in the rugby world. It’s raised our profile massively in the community.

Plus we had a grant from Mind Cymru for laptops for those without access to IT. One of our trustees was able to distribute those to try and reduce the impact of digital exclusion.

One of our Social Prescribing clients talking about the support we have given him during the coronavirus outbreak:

"I want to tell you how much you both have helped me over this difficult time. It would be so much harder to deal with all of this if I couldn’t speak to you both on your work phones. I can’t imagine how my emotions would have been without you both helping me.

I want to tell you both how helpful and understanding you have been to me, it’s hard for me to put into words how much you’ve helped me. Without the both of you my stress levels would have gone up and up. The support you have given me has been brilliant."

You can get in touch with us by messaging our Facebook page, or using the contact methods on our Contact us page.