If you have experience of a mental health problem, the Centre for Mental Health want to hear from you about voting. Have you registered to vote? Or is it too difficult to? They would like to hear about your experiences. 

At the Centre for Mental health they are undertaking research into the barriers that people with mental health problems face in registering to vote. There will be local elections in May and a general election in the near future, so it is a good time to deepen our understanding of how we can support people to take part. 

They are conducting this research on behalf of the Electoral Commission, the independent body which oversees elections in the UK. As part of its role, the Commission works to promote public confidence in the democratic process. This work is informed by research into public attitudes towards registering to vote and voting, particularly among groups who may face additional barriers that prevent them from taking part in our democracy.  

Similar research projects are ongoing to understand the barriers faced by Deaf people (working with the RNID), people with a learning disability (working with Mencap) and people who are eligible to vote anonymously, particularly domestic violence survivors (working with Women’s Aid). 

Your responses will help the Electoral Commission, Centre for Mental Health and other organisations to support people with mental health problems to exercise their democratic rights. 

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

There are two ways to get involved in this research.  

• Complete a questionnaire: This should take you only three minutes to fill out. It will help Centre for Mental Health better understand the barriers to voter registration for people with mental health problems. There will be a prize draw for a high street voucher for £100.  

• Sign up to one of their online focus groups: There will be about eight people in each discussion – which will last about 45 minutes – and you, and other people with mental health problems, will be asked to share your experiences about the process of registering to vote. Each participant will receive a £20 high street voucher for their time. 

We would like to invite you to help shape our future strategies for mental health and wellbeing, and suicide and self-harm prevention in Wales. It has been 10 years since our previous strategies were published and we have now published the new Welsh Government Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Suicide and Self Harm Prevention Strategies for Wales for a 16 week public consultation. The consultation will close on 11 June 2024.

Mental health and wellbeing strategy

Cymraeg – https://www.llyw.cymru/strategaeth-iechyd-meddwl-llesiant-meddyliol

English – https://www.gov.wales/mental-health-and-wellbeing-strategy

Suicide and self-harm prevention strategy

Cymraeg – https://www.llyw.cymru/strategaeth-atal-hunanladdiad-hunan-niweidio

English – https://www.gov.wales/suicide-and-self-harm-prevention-strategy

There are resources available to support you to have group discussions about the strategies. These engagement packs will provide information for you to talk with others to support them to develop their own responses to the consultations. There are adult and young person resources available.

Please contact the Mental Health and Vulnerable Groups Mailbox to request engagement packs for the strategies.

If you work with children and young people and you would like an engagement pack or support to run a session on the new strategies, please contact mhstrategy@copronet.wales

It is important to us that feedback reflects the diversity of our population so please feel free to share this link with others.

Help and support for your own mental health.

If you need support with your mental health, you can ring the CALL Helpline: 0800 132 737.  Or for urgent support please call the NHS on 111 and press 2.

Please complete this survey if you have an experience of calling 999 in an emergency situation. This could have been for yourself or for a friend or family member. Your feedback is important to us and will help us to learn and improve.

You can use this survey to tell us about your telephone call to 999, how we responded and about any call backs you may have received from our Clinical Advisors.

We do not need to know your personal details and advise you not to provide personal details that could identify you, but have asked some general questions at the end about who you are. This is so that we can make sure we are asking all groups of people about their experience. Any responses will be kept confidential and only anonymous survey results will shared or disclosed.

Please see the privacy notice for more information.

If you would like to discuss this survey or ask any questions about it please contact the Patient Experience & Community Involvement team on 0300 123 9207 or email PECI.team@wales.nhs.uk 

SURVEY

The veterans’ charity Change Step are working alongside Swansea University on a 3 year study investigating gambling addiction and the harms produced from that addiction.  They are currently recruiting veterans for a voluntary study.

It does not have to be a full blown “addiction,” anyone who bets, or has done in the past, would be eligible, they are happy to meet up with veterans and explain the project.

All details of individuals who wish to take part will be anonymous, and those who take part can, if they so wish, pull out at any time in line with the British Psychological Society code of ethics.

Contact details for the project  ask@change-step.co.uk

Older people’s access to GP services is a longstanding issue.    The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales produced a report, GP Services in Wales: The Perspective of Older People, intended to improve access, in 2018. 

For many older people the Covid-19 pandemic made access more difficult, especially for those living with dementia and those who were isolated with no-one nearby who could help them.  The shift to online and telephone-based services was accelerated by the pandemic.  This has been helpful for some older people, but has created barriers for others, especially those who are not online.   For example, a number of older people have told the Commissioner they have been unable to take part in online / video call appointments with their GP and have been unable to book a face-to-face appointment.

Reported NHS pressures are also having an impact on people’s access to health services.  This is something that many of the older people whom the Commissioner and her team have met and spoken with throughout Wales have experienced while trying to access the NHS. 

The Commissioner is keen to know what your experiences of accessing GP practices have been like in the last few months and whether you have found any issues.  If you are aged 60 or over, this survey is for you.  If someone under 60 is filling in the survey form for you, they will need to include your information, not theirs.

If you would like to tell us in more detail about any of your experiences, please use the text box at the end of the survey.

All of the answers you provide will be anonymised so you will not be personally identifiable by the information you provide.

You can share your experiences here – it will only take a couple of minutes – or, if you’d prefer, you can call us on 03442 640 670, email ask@olderpeople.wales or write to us:

Older People’s Commissioner for Wales
Cambrian Buildings
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff
CF10 5FL

Many thanks for your help!

If you need assistance with any of the issues you have experienced, please remember you can contact the Commissioner’s Advice and Assistance team on 03442 640 670 or email ask@olderpeople.wales for help and support.

Sign up at Bit.ly/YourVoiceProject or email: PowysMentalHealthLD@wales.nhs.uk

The Powys Mental Health Planning and Development Partnership is recruiting for a new Mental Health Carer Representative to help shape Mental Health services in Powys at a strategic level.  The partnership is responsible for overseeing how the Welsh Government’s Together for Mental Health strategy is delivered in Powys and consists of all organisations involved in this delivery. ( E.g. Powys County Council, Powys Teaching Health Board, Dyfed-Powys Police). As an equal member of the partnership board you will help ensure that service users and carers have their voice heard in the decision making process around mental health provision in the county .

There are 4 partnership meetings each year, and there are other opportunities to take part in further sub-groups looking at specific areas of services. You would also gather views and experiences of other carers and service users at meetings so that you are actively representing the views of people from around Powys. This would be supported and facilitated by PAVO.

If you would like to apply please contact PAVO Mental Health Team at mentalhealth@pavo.org.uk.

Have your say and help shape public health policy for Wales!

Time to Talk Public Health is Public Health Wales’ nationally representative panel of 2,500 residents across Wales. By sharing their experiences and views each month, panel members will help to shape public health policy and decision making, and contribute to improving health and well-being across Wales.

Panel members wanted

Public Health Wales is looking for residents of Wales aged 16+ to join the Panel!

To ensure the information collected by the Panel reflects the population of Wales, they need a diverse range of residents from all regions of Wales to take part.

Find out more on the Time to Talk Public Health website.

Rusha Mohamed is a Master’s student at the University of Hertfordshire and an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.

Rusha is currently conducting a piece of research exploring Black African clients’ experiences of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of why they are dropping out of CBT treatment earlier than planned at a higher rate than people of other ethnic backgrounds. This will hopefully provide us with further insight into how to improve our services for this demographic.

Rusha is hoping to recruit participants (who meet the inclusion criteria) to interview in this study. Please contact her to discuss any of this further and to answer any questions.

Telephone: 07502 277 613
Email: rm21acl.herts.ac.uk
Twitter: RushaMohamed121

More HERE.

Shrewsbury & Telford Hospitals NHS Trust is improving the way it delivers hospital care across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Mid Wales and want to hear from you.

There are 4 focus groups, into which the Trust would like your input:

1. Urgent & Emergency Care and medicine Focus Group – 7 quarterly meetings between 25th May 2023 and 30th January 2025.
2. Clinical Support Services Focus Group – 4 – Six monthly meetings between September 2023 and March 2025.
3. Women’s & Children’s Focus Group – 8 quarterly meetings between June 2023 and March 2025.
4. Planned Care Focus Group – 9 quarterly meetings – March 2023 to March 2025.

The Trust can also provide a speaker to discuss the Hospitals Transformation should your group or organisation wish to avail
themselves of this offer.

For further information please contact the Engagement Officer, Michael by emailing Michael.crawshaw@nhs.net

There is also information on the Trust website HERE.

The Samaritans are looking for someone with lived experience of suicide, self-harm, or of using their services to join their Policy, Partnerships and Research Committee (PPRC). PPRC is a sub-committee of the Samaritans Board, which helps to ensure that their public policy positions are right for their organisation, that they have a high-quality programme of research, and that their national partnerships are strategically focused. More here.

The national mental health charity Hafal asks you to complete this new survey – what needs to change in mental health services in Wales since the Covid-19 pandemic:

English: https://surveymonkey.co.uk/r/R7RRSWY