Recovery Devon

Meeting

Connecting Minds Event

15 March 2012, 1.45pm – 4.45pm

The Albemarle Centre, Albemarle Road,

Taunton TA1 1BA

James Wooldridge, Time To Change South West Regional Coordinator, has sent us the following information from Mind about this event.

We are delighted to announce four regional ‘Connecting Minds’ events taking place this March. We are inviting people who are living with a mental health problem to come along to meet others and talk about how to influence local decisions affecting mental health services, change attitudes and find out about getting involved in local projects.

Why should I attend?

• To find out about the new Peer Support programme and Mind’s plans.

• To meet others who are interested in getting involved in our work and discuss what you need to campaign locally.

• To join a discussion and listen to experts in peer support, people from Mind and local projects, the National Survivor User Network and local campaigners.

The events are open to everyone dealing with a mental health problem, those who are new to Mind’s work and those that know us.

Places will be offered on a ‘first come first served’ basis.

Click here for details of how to register.

Your Chance to Comment

We would like to invite you to comment on articles on the Recovery Devon website. This is a new feature which we have added to part of the website. At present this can be used on the Front Page and the News and Book Reviews sections.

We have been trying to make our website more interactive, to enable everyone who wishes, to comment on our articles.

This is your chance to have your say. If you find something helpful here, or just want to make your opinions known, please leave a comment.

Or if you have ideas for things we could add, please let us know.

We also have a Facebook page and Twitter account.

http://www.facebook.com/RecoveryDevon

https://twitter.com/recoverydevon

Long term conditions
and mental health:
the cost of co-morbidities

People with long-term conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, are two to three times more likely to experience mental health problems than the general population. However, a systemic failure to identify these problems and provide effective support is resulting in poorer outcomes for patients and could be costing the NHS billions, says a report published by The King’s Fund and Centre for Mental Health.

The Report is available on the Centre for Mental Health website, here.

In the light of this, we welcome developments which try to address these issues, such as the Torbay Liaison Service at Torbay Hospital. This liaison Psychiatry service works closely with Torbay General Hospital staff in meeting both the physical and mental health needs of individuals accessing Hospital based services.

The service responds to referrals from Torbay general hospital for individuals attending the A+E department or have been admitted to a ward. People attending the out patients department at Torbay hospital access, in the first instance, local community based services.

More information on the Torbay Liaison Service is available here.