2014–2015 has been a busy and exciting year for Touchstone in Kirklees. We have continued our community mental health advocacy work and have now integrated the new Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) service into our existing team. We have taken on new staff, embarked on specialised training and increased our service activity by almost 300%. Our staff and volunteers have really embraced these changes and we are proud of the
The tagline isn’t entirely correct – so I’ll start by apologising for that. Very quickly, something about me. I’ve been a housing support worker here at Touchstone for less than a year but I’ve worked with people in crisis for about five years. It amazes me how commonplace dissociative issues seem to be, yet there’s so little awareness of them. So I thought I’d write something about them here. I
Bhoolee Bisree Yaadein (BBY) is a monthly musical event for 55+ years old service users and their friends organised by the Sikh Elders Service. The event is held on the last Thursday of the month at Apna Day Centre where the community gathers to hear local musical talent. The group also play popular Indian singing games remembering songs from the golden era of Indian film and share a vegetarian meal.
10 Ways to Look After Your Mental Health at Christmas The festive season is a time of joy and spending time with loved ones, but it can also be one of the most stressful and lonely periods of the year. During the December rush - frantic present buying and New Year party preparations - followed by the sudden ‘lull’ of January, it is important to try and remember how
I work as part of the Touchstone Housing Team, and as such I tend to work with people who have a housing need as well as a mental health issue. I enjoy this because I feel it takes a holistic approach to helping people’s lives, on the understanding that without stability and security it is difficult to heal our minds, and that without our psychological needs being met it is
On an annual basis questionnaires are sent out to service users in order to ascertain their views and opinions about Touchstone and the service they have received. The feedback and views of service users play a key role in identifying best practice, areas for improvement and informing our approach to delivering quality outcomes and continuous improvement. This year our service users highlighted the following: Overall opinion of Touchstone – 94%
We can easily reach for a drink of alcohol to try and change the way that we feel, this is because alcohol can quickly affect the chemicals in our brain and body. We may feel like it is relaxing us at the time, but what we know from a wealth of research; is that alcohol can actually become an unhelpful way to cope. Alcohol can increase levels of stress,
Bullying does not just happen in school, nor is it always children who are the bullies or the victims of bullying. Bullying can and does happen everywhere. Anti-Bullying week is about raising awareness of what bullying is and works to help people stand up to the bully in their community, be that home, work or play. Every year the Anti-Bullying Alliance co-ordinates Anti Bullying week and at Touchstone, we have
Social Phobia and Drinking – Friends or Foes? Drinking can often seem like a quick and easy way to address problems of stress and nervousness. To mark November Alcohol Awareness Week, Touchstone’s IAPT team look at why this is and how it can actually make the problem worse. The IAPT service can help people to observe and understand their own behaviour and to replace unhealthy coping strategies, like drinking, with more
On Friday 13th November 2015 it was International Day of Kindness. One of our IAPT colleagues Sally P has written the following piece to highlight the widespread benefits of random acts of kindness: Although on those bad days it can feel like we live in a society where people are uncaring, there has been a recent increase of individuals using social media to share examples of kindness in our society.