I would like to pass my sincere thanks on to everybody at Forward Leeds, 5ways, Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service and Touchstone. I have been trying to reduce my drinking for approximately 10 years and the last 5 years have been particularly difficult as my consumption increased and seriously affected both my mental and physical health. My first contact at Forward Leeds was with a worker that himself had had an
I recently fasted for two days during Ramadan, to show support for colleagues in the Liaison and Diversion team and across Touchstone, and to raise money for Touchstone’s food project. This was a daunting challenge for me. Getting up at 3:15am to have breakfast, then back to bed for a few hours before getting up and working from home all day, without the distractions of ‘normal life.’ Abstaining from food
Pronouns: They/Them/Their Some of you may recall my recent shout out for people to be mentored by SMT or to offer reverse mentoring to SMT especially in the areas we felt less knowledgeable, such as Judaism and Trans and Non-binary identities. I am delighted to say that Finn Dobson, who is a peer support worker within Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service, answered the call. Finn told me they had really started
11th-17th May 2020 marks Dying Matters Awareness Week. This week is run by Dying Matters, and their tagline is “let’s talk about it”. This is reflected in this year’s theme, which is “dying to be heard” – encouraging us to talk more about our plans for our death and our thoughts about dying, as well as providing us all with helpful tips for having these conversations. Here at Your
Ramadhan Mubarak! Your Space Leeds would like to wish you a blessed and productive Ramadhan. Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar calendar for 29/30 days depending on the moon Muslim’s spend the daylight hours in complete fast abstaining from all food and drink. Ramadhan is a time to purify the soul, focus ones attention to Allah (God) practice self-discipline and sacrifice a time for reflection. Ramadhan (Sawm)
Last week (06/04), before Vaisakhi and the Easter bank holidays, Touchstone’s very small (but very vital) Sikh Elders Service did some brilliant work supporting the frail and elderly Sikh and BAME people across Leeds. 25 calls were made, including video calls, to offer 1:1 support and comfort to service users. The team supported people with health and wellbeing, understanding of government advice, accessing food (including shopping and distributing food parcels),
Useful online Leeds Recovery College initiatives in their latest newsletter which will be going out weekly. Looking to highlight different themes each week and working with some of their facilitators. Follow the link to read the newsletter - https://bit.ly/2QVgo6g Leeds Recovery College are also providing online resources, follow the link to explore - https://www.recoverycollegeonline.co.uk/recovery-wellbeing/ Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash
(Written by Matthew Hall – LSLCS Crisis Support Worker at WBC) New Years’ Resolutions… sometimes the New Year can bring a sense of pressure. The days are shorter and dark, the weather can be cold and wet – and the world can feel a more lonely and scary place. If you are struggling with your mental health in these conditions, then this could increase your feeling of desperation and
(Written by Matthew Hall – LSLCS Crisis Support Worker at WBC) With the UK building up to a general election before the festive period, with things feeling as insecure and confusing in this pre/post (stuck in the middle (!) of a Brexit world) - it may not be surprising if all of this can feel too much. I work as a Counsellor and Crisis Worker across Leeds, and hear
November 16-24th is national HIV Testing Week and Touchstone held a testing session with our partners Skyline on 20th November for our BAME service users and staff. Our CEO, Alison Lowe and Operations Director, Arfan Hanif led the way in showing commitment to being tested and the video of their test is here and on all this on our social media platforms. https://youtu.be/MiGc9-bICEk HIV Testing Week seeks to promote