It’s with great pleasure that we would like to invite you to participate in our 5th Coproduction Conference for Leeds on 8th July! This year we will have a virtual conference, due to the restrictions currently imposed as a result of COVID-19. On the day, there will be a mix of groups, presentations, webinars and creative space to make the day fun, interactive and, of course, coproduced! There will
I am ashamed to admit that it took me many years of saying “I should really donate blood” before taking the plunge and booking myself into a blood donating session, and handing over 1 of my 10 pints of blood in the hope it could save someone else’s life. I can’t be completely sure why it took so long. I guess it just didn’t seem an overly enjoyable way to
We were featured along side our partners New Wortley Community Centre on BBC Look North last night where we discussed our Touchstone Loves food Project. In the past week we have helped over 400 families by purchasing food and delivering it all over East and South Leeds. 50% of people receiving emergency food parcels are from BAME communities. Our staff and volunteers have been working tirelessly to buy, pack and
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
Touchstone is working with people and partners to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week (#MHAW) with a whole Week of Kindness. Working with Mindwell, Forum Central and others, we have set aside Friday 22nd May for being kind and generous to each other. At Touchstone we have been staggered by the generosity already shown by our staff, volunteers and supporters during the Covid-19 Crisis and we want to say a
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
Touchstone is a member of the Yorkshire and Humber #ThisIsMe Campaign which will be formally launched in our region on 23rd October in an event at Leeds Civic Hall. This is a presentation developed especially for Mental Health Awareness Week #MHAW20 by the Lord Mayor of London’s Office which explains what #ThisIsMe is all about and the accompanying #GreenRibbon campaign. Click here to see This is Me - What is
Please help us stop hunger during the Covid-19 crisis by fundraising or making a donation here. Many of the people and families we support are finding it difficult or impossible to get to food banks. They are hungry, isolated and unwell. Your support for Touchstone is never more needed #nevermoreneeded. With a £25 donation, service users who are self isolating and are very vulnerable will have an essential food