Reading your way to recovery

 

By guest author Janet Mulready
Health & Well-being Librarian, Powys

My work as a Branch Librarian in the early 1980s confirmed my philosophy that libraries can and should be central in offering support to the more vulnerable members of our communities. Libraries offer a safe and welcoming environment, and to paraphrase the author Matt Haig – whose books often reflect his own experiences of dealing with mental health issues – where else can you spend time where you are welcomed as an individual, with no mention of the contents of your wallet?

Janet Mulready, Health & Well-being Librarian in Powys

After more than two decades as a primary teacher, I was delighted to return to my library roots and I was very excited to be seconded recently as Health and Well-being Librarian for Powys. The role is funded thanks to the Welsh Government's Integrated Care Fund, through the Age Well Partnership in Powys; it is part of the project which is focused on scoping and development of community hubs, for these will be a source of early interventions to improve access to health-related information and advice. ​Being appointed to such a stimulating job in my 60s certainly shows that you can age well in Powys!

My job is excitingly diverse and has already involved building strong working relationships with other organisations seeking to improve well-being within the community. The provision of services to people living with dementia and their carers is important to Powys Libraries, and the development and dissemination of resources to support this is a significant part of my role. I am currently working closely with museum staff and library colleagues to devise a system of lending memory boxes and reminiscence hampers to care homes. We also supply resources from the dementia charity Playlist for Life via the collection service at branches to those who request them.

Another important role is to promote the Reading Well scheme (Darllen yn Well). The Reading Agency and Welsh Government have provided Reading Well resources in both Welsh and English, to support living with dementia, adult mental health and children’s mental health. All titles are recommended by health professionals and people with experience of the conditions covered.

I work with a colleague in disseminating this important service, which is linked to public libraries’ ever-expanding work around community health and well-being. The books can be referred via a Book Prescription, and are also available for self-referral via the Powys library catalogue, for collection from the local branch; some are also available as e-books or audio books. The system supports a self-management model, to encourage patients to take an active role in the decisions made around their health and well-being.

The Reading Well for mental health collection provides general information on mental health and well-being, and offers condition-specific titles, support for those difficult experiences which affect us all, such as bereavement and loss, and personal stories. To ensure the collection is accessible to a wide range of audiences, it includes a range of different formats and reading levels. Topics include therapies and approaches, common feelings and experiences, self-help books to support mental health and personal stories. The scheme supports living well and self-care and self-management models. As a community intervention, it also allows for public services to work together to support the health and well-being of their communities.

As well as signposting to sources of professional help and support, it recommends other well-being activities such as reading groups and volunteering opportunities. And of course, libraries are a vital source for the comfort of fiction. To quote Matt Haig again, “There is something about absorbing yourself in a story that can make you feel comforted. One thing about depression is that it is plotless, there is no shape. Stories have shape – and books became my antidepressants.”

A further remit I have is to help library staff to become confident with services that are available in Powys to support residents, so I prepare and disseminate regular ”How to Help with …” resources. The pandemic has meant that part of my work focus is working with colleagues to develop digital access to supportive services. We have initiated an “Ask a Librarian” enquiry service via the website and the loan of blood pressure monitors; many people are concerned about the physical health effects of lockdown and a more sedentary lifestyle due to home working, yet are understandably reluctant to “bother” a health professional, so they can borrow a blood monitor for free and have it delivered to their local branch for them to collect. As lockdown eases, we are looking to provide rooms in selected branches for individuals to have privacy for online medical consultations.

The importance of digital services and new means of communicating has become important for all of us, so my role also involves supporting colleagues in providing health and well-being information and services digitally. A large number of people are experiencing anxiety due to the restrictions on social interaction, and so we are working on producing well-being videos and resources such as adult literature hours, to play a part in reducing isolation.

A typical working day for me at the moment can involve giving a zoom talk on the Reading Well Scheme, applying for funding for well-being projects, making a video, and writing a Help sheet. Every day brings something new and involves me collaborating with some inspiring, committed people. I have a wonderful job and I am very grateful to have the opportunity, in a small way, to make a positive difference to people!

Many thanks to Janet for telling us about her new role as Health & Well-being Librarian for Powys. 

Find out more about the Powys library services on the English & Welsh websites below:

Powys Libraries' Services

Llyfrygelloedd Powys

If you have any queries then please drop them in the comments section below. Alternatively you can contact Janet directly by emailing: janet.mulready@powys.gov.uk or ringing: 01639 845353.

DIY Futures: the library tour

When’s the last time you stepped inside a Powys library?

I was at Welshpool Library last week for the launch in the library service of the DIY Futures book – It’s the inside that matters - which Jane wrote about in January…  And a whole group of us chatted, drank tea, munched on grapes and digestive biscuits… and generally had a good old chinwag about the book, the Light the Way (mental health action group) meeting later that afternoon, the benefits of volunteering, and how many of us had lost freezer contents to the power cuts of the previous week… 

Which was great.  But what we noticed was… how different it felt to library experiences of the past. No one said “Ssssh!! Be quiet, you’re not allowed to talk above the level of a whisper in here…”  No one told us to pack away the nibbles and clear out with our cups…  Instead we were made welcome to share the content and success of the book with other library-goers and staff in our own DIY way. 

Many of the beneficiaries of the DIY Futures 1:1 service, which came to an end in March 2013, were there. Two of them gave short readings from the book. The event was accompanied by an exhibition of artwork created especially for this unique publication:

"This artwork was produced through a series of visual poetry workshops run by Celf o Gwmpas using their artist in residence programme. The workshop leader was Sean Burn, an outsider artist with a growing international reputation. His work challenges the language of racism and “reclaims the language of lunacy”; emphasising the way in which the language of illness pathologises natural responses to the ups and downs of life and for some people extreme circumstances, such as abuse, violence and neglect.

These challenges to established thinking parallel the work of DIY and the book. Instead of starting with symptoms and diagnosis, set ways of being told by someone else – this is who you are – the work of DIY started with the person – who you are, what do you want to change and what support do you need." Jane Cooke, DIY Futures Project Manager

This event is one of three taking place in the county libraries as the DIY Futures project draws to a close at the end of March 2014. Colleagues were welcomed at Ystradgynlais Library last Thursday, and are looking forward to attending Brecon Library on Wednesday 26th February (with the added bonus of a trip to The Hours café to look at the artwork and eat cake). 

The Powys library service has welcomed the book into its collections enthusiastically, and we would like to thank the staff for their support in this and the book’s ongoing promotion.

If you would like to borrow the DIY Futures book, each Powys library now has a copy in its lending collection. If you prefer to read books on a digital device such as a laptop, tablet, ebook reader or smartphone, we are working on an ebook which we hope will be available soon.

Have you been to your library lately? Tell us what you think, and the sort of books you would like to see stocked on the shelves alongside It’s the inside that matters.

Chatting to library staff about the DIY Futures book It's the inside that matters