Blog

Touchstone East Leeds Health for All (ELHFA) aims to reduce health inequalities and promote local health improvements. In 2015–16, we used community development approaches and engaged with local communities and partner organisations to improve health and wellbeing directly as well as addressing wider determinants of ill health. ELHFA ran eight different project activities that promote healthier lifestyles and wellbeing. People who accessed our services improved on average from 0.6 to 1.2 points on all the seven areas of outcomes on the Wellbeing Wheel measures. Our Activities

Touchstone Community Development Service (CDS) aims to improve the quality and equity of mental health access, experience and outcomes for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in Leeds. To achieve this, the CDS team actively engages and works co-productively with various statutory, third sector and community and faith-based partners. In 2015–16, for each quarter, we engaged with over 70 groups, services, and strategic and local multiagency networks. CDS is funded by Leeds City Council Public Health to deliver on three key priorities: Challenging stigma and discrimination

WY-FI entered Year three of the project in June 2016. A Big Lottery funded partnership working collaboratively with services and beneficiaries (service users) across West Yorkshire as part of 12 National Fulfilling Lives Projects. Our aim is to engage and support individuals with experience of Multiple Complex Needs (MCN: Homelessness, Offending, Mental Health & Addiction) and contribute to movements in system change that improve accessibility to individuals experiencing MCN. As a specialist provider within the partnership we lead on BME Engagement & ETE (Employment, Training & Education).

The importance of safe, stable and secure housing in promoting wellbeing and positive mental health cannot be overstated. The Housing Team strive to support people to find appropriate accommodation as well as manage and maintain existing tenancies more effectively. 216 service users were supported in the last year. Outcome Star Scores for the year demonstrate significant improvements – especially around tenancy management and improved mental health. Service user feedback from recent questionnaires has been very positive about Touchstone’s Housing Service: 100% of service

Touchstone’s SADEE SMILE project was a nine month pilot aimed at improving self-management of Type 2 diabetes within South Asian communities. Each course ran as an eight week structured diabetes education programme tailored specifically for South Asians and delivered in community languages (Urdu and Panjabi). The project was funded by Leeds City Council Public Health and delivered in partnership with Leeds Health Care NHS Trust and Health Together and Leeds Beckett University. The key outcome for the programme was for South Asians diagnosed with Type

Dosti is an Asian Women’s support service based in Leeds, offering a supportive environment for Asian women with mental health issues. In April 2016, Dosti joined Touchstone via a merger. Services are only offered through referrals which can be self-referrals or referrals from other professionals such as GPs. Access to the service is fast and in most cases the contact time is within one week of the referral being received. We offer one-to-one emotional support, counselling, relaxation techniques, CAB and advocacy support. Our services

The Recovery Centre at Asket House is an innovative partnership project comprising Touchstone, LYPFT, Community Links and Leeds Mind. Touchstone employs two full-time recovery workers, whose role is to form supportive relationships with service users on ward, then support them to move out into the community. Once the transition is complete, recovery workers can continue to provide support for an additional six months. The ethos behind the new project is that providing strong support following a move from hospital back into the community will

Over the last year, the Support Centre has been busy implementing a new service model which includes: more peer-led social groups and popup groups; volunteers supporting different groups – such as the Women’s Group – Men’s Group and Social Group. Contributions from five Social Work students who have been on placement from Bradford University have also helped to support the change required to deliver a service that is sustainable and continues to meet the diverse needs of our service users. The new model

Touchstone works in partnership with Leeds Mind and Community Links to support individuals to achieve their employability goals. All clients are referred to the Touchstone worker via the community mental health teams in Leeds where the Employment Specialists are co-located. Touchstone has one allocated worker a Mental Health Employment Specialist who offers a client centred approach to identifying Employment, Training and Education goals through one-to-one and Group work. The Employment Specialist may also support the individual to access sessions that support a client