Foundation Focus - January 2009 Edition - Kent and Medway NHS ...

NEWS
Kent and Medway
NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
New campaign says now
is the ‘Time to Change’
Time to Change is England’s most
ambitious programme to end the
discrimination faced by people who
experience mental health problems, as
well as improve the nation’s wellbeing.
Launched in January with a major
publicity campaign, Mental Health
Media, Mind, and Rethink are leading
this programme of 35 projects, funded
with £16 million from the Big Lottery
Fund and £2 million from Comic Relief
and evaluated by the Institute of
Psychiatry, King’s College, London.
The campaign aims to engage local
community projects working alongside a
national campaign, a mass participation
week, legal test cases, training for
student doctors and teachers, and a
network of grassroots activists combating
discrimination and tackling one of the
last great taboos and social injustices.
People with mental health problems
and carers consistently identify stigma
and discrimination as major barriers to
health, welfare and quality of life. In fact
87% of people with mental health
problems recently said that either actual
discrimination or fear of discrimination
had affected them.
The impact of prejudice, ignorance and
fear around mental health can be
devastating for people, families,
communities and society collectively.
Stigma may prevent people seeking help
when they need it. It stops people with
ability getting the jobs they are qualified
to do. It can mean people can’t play an
active role in their community. It can stop
people building new friendships and
mean losing existing ones. Stigma kills
hope, relationships and opportunity.
With one in four adults experiencing
mental health problems at some point
in their lives, and over 1 in 50
experiencing severe mental illness,
millions of people across England live
with stigma on a daily basis.
Time to Change’s social marketing
campaign aims to tackle this by:
• Raising awareness of the stigma
and discrimination that millions of
people with mental health problems
face every day
• Changing stigmatising attitudes into
acceptance and respect, and beginning
to reduce discrimination
• Creating a new England-wide public
space to lead the debate on bringing
attitudes on mental health into the
21st century
To find out more about the Time
to Change programme and how you
can get involved visit
www.time-to-change.org.uk
Football, urban arts and music at I-Fest
The I-Fest, a street festival of urban arts and football to promote and celebrate mental health
was held at 'Goals' Soccer Centre and Leigh City Technology College in Dartford in October.
Organised jointly by Kent and
Medway Partnership Trust and
Charlton Athletic Football Club
Project, the event certainly lived
up to its promise as an actionpacked,
fun-filled day.
The Project is a groundbreaking
scheme that has
already won several awards. It
uses the power of football to
engage and motivate young
people recovering from serious
mental illness and to help
promote social inclusion and
social functioning – the most
powerful indicators of a full
sustained recovery.
Teams from local youth
organisations and estate leagues
from Dartford, Gravesend and
Swanley took part in the event,
which was officially opened by
the Dartford MP, Dr Howard
Stote. After a long day’s hotly
contested football action, the
team from Darenth (right)
eventually ran out winners of the
tournament and were presented
with their trophy by Barry
Simmons and Carl Krauhaus
from Charlton Athletic’s
Community Scheme Solutions.
All of the competitors were
also able to spend around halfan-hour
in the company of Luke
Varney, Charlton Athletic’s striker
(subsequently transferred to
Derby County), who was happy
to answer questions from the
players about life as a pro
footballer and sign autographs.
Charlton also donated a shirt
signed by the first team squad as
the first prize in the raffle that
raised money for Demelza
House. Everyone attending was
also given a free ticket for the
following weekend’s Charlton
match at the Valley against
Barnsley.
Other activities on the day
included graffiti art, street dance,
self-defence, drumming circle,
DJing and music and a
demonstration of circus skills.
The day was concluded by a
superb set by Hobo Jones and
the Junkyard Dogs, fresh from
their success at 2008’s
Glastonbury Festival.
Organiser of the event Pete
Wilson of KMPT’s Early
Intervention Service commented:
“This innovative scheme has
already won an award in the
NHS Best of Healthcare Awards
and is currently being rolled out
across the whole of Kent. It’s
having a significant and positive
effect upon the mental health of
those young people involved. We
have a further three schemes
starting in January
and are working on plans for an
11-a-side tournament to be held
at the Valley in May 2009 as a
joint project with the sister
scheme in Oxleas.”
Foundation Focus January 2009
3