CHANGES AHEAD2 – INFORMING, CHALLENGING, SHARING, Mental Health online support. My background:
The person I care for became unwell, for the first time, in 1990. I was thrown, headlong, into a situation that I had no idea how to manage. There was no help at home or in the community regarding the unpredictable behaviours, psychosis, and other precarious manifestations. As time went on, I searched f
or anything that may help us understand/deal with our situation. I was grateful for the written information, advice, the books, and groups in the beginning, but in 2016 I became very despondent as the same ideas and information continued to be churned out. One of the main offers of help and support for me was suggesting 'I look after myself', go for a walk, take up gardening, swimming etc. but, as I sat on the bus, looking out of the window, at the person I cared for, watching them in a heightened state of mental distress and unable to help them, all the above advice seemed inappropriate; in fact, I felt most help and advice failed to support us at all. I believed that families and supporters needed a different approach to feel helped and supported. I attended groups and meetings to see how things had changed and whilst there discussed my ideas with family members/supporters and asked them if they would like to meet up with me for face-to-face for advice and support. The feedback was positive, supporters felt the help to be useful and together we requested a meeting with Brighton Council to ask for funding for a service to be set up based on this new way of working. We arranged a meeting with the Performance and Development Commissioner at Brighton & Hove Council to request funding for a carers’/supporters’ office on the proviso that we would remain autonomous from mental health services in order to challenge what was not working and praise what was working, we would offer face to face support, training and advocate on behalf of carers in meetings. and so…. Changes Ahead was born. The original Changes Ahead service still runs in the Brighton & Hove carers’ centre under new management. This online service will work in the same way as the original service but is a separate enterprise. Hopefully it will expand and function as a platform for research/researchers, provide one to one support through video messenger and group gatherings, and share advice and information, but for now, I will monitor the website to see if this service is of use and gathers pace. I hope you will join me in! Regards, Shirley
