“Mental Health:You Can’t Put a Plaster On it”
On Mon
day 9 Oct Soroptimist Club Members and guests heard from local mental health service providers about support available to people in Hertfordshire.
Barry Canterford, (pictured above right) Public Governor at the Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust www.hpft.nhs.uk/ which delivers mental health services in Hertfordshire, gave an excellent presentation which can be viewed here: Mental Health Oct 2017 HPFT
Leslie Billy (pictured above left) Chief Executive of Viewpoint www.hertsviewpoint.co.uk/ provided insight to the work of Viewpoint in improving mental health services from the users’ perspective – his presentation can be viewed here: Mental Health Oct 2017 Viewpoint
A summary report of information from the evening is available to download here: World Mental Health Day Oct 2017 Meeting Report
This event marked World Mental Health Day www.who.int/mental_health/world-mental-health-day/en/
The evening was organised by the Club’s Sustainable Environment and Wellbeing (SEW) Team and particularly our Member Katherine Clark (pictured here on the right of the photo with Leslie, Barry, President Rita Andrews and the Club’s mascot “Sally Bear”). Katherine helps people with mental health issues though her Life Skills Coaching Programme: www.essentiallifeskills.org/ SEW Team Members all wore blue ribbon badges as in the picture.
Following the evening we realise we all have much to learn about the field of mental health and the services available to support people, so that we can then advocate for improvements from a position of knowledge.