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News and Events
Mental Health First Aid Training
Mental Health First Aid Training – Places Available
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life but many of us would not recognise the signs and symptoms and or know how to help. Mental Health First Aid teaches participants how to:
- recognise signs and symptoms
- provide initial help
- guide people towards appropriate professional and other help
Topics covered include:
- What is meant by mental health/mental ill health
- Crisis situations such as suicidal behaviour, self harm, panic attacks and acute psychotic behaviour
- The signs and symptoms of common mental health problems including depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
- Where and how to get help and what sort of help has been shown to be effective
The course has proved successful with a variety of different groups and any interested person can apply for a place.
The training takes place over 2 full days – 5 & 6 June 2008 at UNISON, 165 York Street, Belfast. The course is funded under the Promoting Mental Health Strategy for the North & West Belfast locality and so places are provided to participants free of charge.
For further details and an application form please contact Rachel at Aware Defeat Depression on 028 9032 1734 or info@aware-ni.org
Mothers Day Raffle Winners
Congratulations to the winners of our Mothers Day Raffle for Postnatal Depression. Cheques have been posted to them all. Thank you to everyone who took part.
£300 first prize cheque to Andrea Coard, Carrickfergus
£100 second prize cheque to Mrs Rafferty, Carryduff, Belfast
£50 third prize cheque to Jill McGrath, Belfast
Upcoming Public Talks
10 April, Beacon Centre, Dungannon, Lorraine Henry, Occupational Therapist, Depression: The Road to Recovery
Itchy Feet
Another of our support groups has itchy feet! Our Belfast West support group is moving venue and changing meeting night as of the start of February 2008. It moves from the Springvale Centre to the Suicide Awareness building at 209 Falls Road. Current and prospective group members should also be aware that the group meeting night will now also move from Monday to Thursday. 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7.00pm. Next meeting date 3rd Feburary.Change of Scenery for Ards Group
The Newtownards support group has moved to a more convenient and parking-friendly venue. From 14th January on the group can be found at the Town Hall. The meeting days will also change from January to the the 2nd and 4th Monday every month.New Developments in Lisburn and Poleglass
Support group services in the area are expanding yet again - thanks to the hard work and dedication of the local volunteers.
After meeting for a year at TSL House, the Thursday evening group has expanded from 6 members to a pool of about 40. Towards the end of last year the group would divide with the larger meeting of about 15 people in the main room and a smaller group of about 5 meeting in the reception area. This was far from satisfactory. Everyone thought it was best to meet in groups of about 8 people. So a new venue has been found at ASCERT, 23 Bridge Street. Here there are enough meeting rooms for three groups of about 8 people to meet simultaneously. The three groups will meet from 7.30pm – 9pm every Thursday evening from 10th January.
This has meant of course that more facilitators have had to be found and trained and a major training day for new Lisburn facilitators is being held at ASCERT over the weekend of the 12/13 January.
One group used to meet at ATLAS on Thursday mornings but again, because of increasing numbers, we have split this group into two smaller groups. One will meet from 9.30 – 10.30 and the second group from 10.45 – 11.45. We are asking people to give the Aware helpline a courtesy call to let us know which group they will be attending.
A long term plan has finally come to fruition with a new group starting at Cloona House Oasis Centre, Colin Road, Poleglass. This group will meet every Monday morning from 11 – 12.30 from the 14th January.
Banbridge - Back Up and Running!
04-10-2007
Meetings of the Aware support group in Banbridge will re-commence on Tuesday 9th October. The group will meet in Banbridge Medical Group Surgery at 7.30pm on 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month.
TopNew Daytime Support Group for Lisburn
20-09-2007
A new depression support group is starting at ATLAS, 81 Sloan Street, Lisburn. It will run from 10-11.30 every Thursday morning from 13th September. After the meeting the group can chat over tea and coffee in the ATLAS cafe and anyone can attend. It’s free, you don’t have to book and it’s totally confidential. There’s a free crèche too, but it’s worth checking with ATLAS in advance to confirm. It’s a much needed new initiative that the Ulster Star has had an important role in getting off the ground.
Last July the Ulster Star ran an article, in their Day in a Life series, on David Hughes who was then running the Aware Defeat Depression support group in Lisburn. David, who suffers with depression himself, wanted to both celebrate the group’s success and attract volunteers to help run it.
On the evening that the story came out it had an immediate effect. ‘Within five minutes of the meeting starting that night,’ David told me, ‘a man came in saying he’d just read the article in the Star. He’d got on his bike and come straight to the meeting. Even though there has been a depression support group in Lisburn for years, people just don’t know about it. They are really surprised when they realise there’s such a valuable resource on their doorstep. The story in the Star really spread the word and the group now has so many members that we have to run two separate groups on Thursday evenings.’ Liza Wiseman also saw the newspaper and volunteered her time as a facilitator for the group. She now runs one of the Thursday evening groups. Liza is a family support worker and frequently signposts clients with depression and post-natal depression to groups such as Aware. ‘There just aren’t enough groups like this about to support people in their times of crisis, the mental health service is totally overstretched with long waiting lists,’ Liza told the Star.
‘We try to keep the group to about 8 people, so that everyone feels comfortable,’ Liza explained, ‘and the number of groups can increase to meet demand. ‘
The team is now going to expand yet again to include Annita McKee who is currently training to be a counsellor. She’ll be working on the new daytime group at ATLAS.
Aware’s Community Services Manager, Pat Lynch welcoming the launch of the new group said ‘We are very excited about this initiative for two reasons. Firstly, it provides the opportunity for those who find it inconvenient or impossible to attend an evening group to attend a morning group in their own locality. Secondly, it involves us working in partnership with Atlas, an organization which is doing such great work in the community. Hopefully working together we can make a real difference for those affected by depressive illness.’
‘A support group,’ David Hughes told us, ‘is where people who are suffering from depression can meet and talk with people who really understand the experience they are having. The groups are very informal and members bring up whatever they feel they need to talk about. Sometimes people’s stories are very sad but the groups are full of optimism and hope and laughter and a great deal of good advice is shared. They show that recovery is possible and that’s very reassuring for people. Depression can make people very socially isolated and the support group is very important in getting people out of the house and back into some kind of social setting. They have enormous benefits.’ Already Thursday evening support group members who live in Hillsborough and Crumlin have decided to attend the new daytime group.
Sharon Sinclair, CEO of Aware Defeat Depression told us that “At Aware we are committed to making our services as accessible as possible to the whole community so we are delighted to be working with Atlas to bring a day time support group to the Lisburn area. It combines local knowledge and expertise with Aware’s experience in promoting self help for dealing effectively with depression.’
‘At present,’ Sharon continued, ‘it is estimated that for every four people with depression in the community only two will seek help, and of those, only one will get adequate treatment or support. Working in partnerships like this is going to be crucial in reversing that trend. This addition to our twenty strong network of support groups is, as ever, only possible because of the efforts of our volunteer facilitators like David, Liza and Annita. They share Aware’s vision of an environment where everyone affected by depression can seek and find help”
Dr Gilmore, a local General Practitioner, said of the project, ‘Aware Defeat Depression is a valuable community resource. The group provides a huge range of support to those in need. The feedback I have got from patients has been excellent.’
Aware Helpline is on: 08451 20 29 61. Atlas is on: 02892 60 58 06
TopOvercoming Depression Workshops
Overcoming Depression is a programme of 6 workshops based on the principles of Cognitive Therapy delivered by Aware in partnership with the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation (NICTT).
The programme is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Participants will have the opportunity to learn techniques to combat low mood and maintain good mental health.
Places are still available on 2 programmes commencing in Belfast at the start of October and are open to anyone suffering mild to moderate depression. The workshops will take place once a week in the evening.
Contact Pat on 028 712 60602 for further details
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