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December 2015
Hello <<First Name>>,
A quick update before the Christmas period is upon us - at least it was going to be a quick update, but as usual, we've been busy!! Wishing you peace and joy over the holiday period and a fulfilling journey through 2016.
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Festive Opening
FDAMH will be CLOSED on: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (Thursday 24th December and Friday 25th December) and on Hogmanay and New Year's Day (Thursday 31st December and Friday 1st January).
Normal opening hours on all other days.
The Counselling Service will close for appointments at 4pm on Friday 18th December and re-open on Tuesday 5th January at 9am.
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FDAMH-led Project Wins Falkirk Council Award
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The FDAMH-led project that worked to improve service responses to those affected by complex issues, including mental health problems, has been recognised in Falkirk Council’s Celebrating Success Event. The project won the award for ‘Health Initiative’ at the ceremony on 16th November. We would like to extend our thanks to the large team of people involved in making this project such a success.
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Youth Philanthropy Initiative
A group of pupils at Braes High School have given a superb presentation about FDAMH in a competition to help chosen charities win £3000. Attending the presentation event, Julie Law of FDAMH said that all of the pupils gave first class presentations that had obviously involved a lot of work. Julie was particularly impressed with the very mature understanding of mental health issues displayed by the group of pupils representing FDAMH. Although they did not win it was wonderful to see such mature and empathetic presentations and was heart-warming to be included in the selection. Our special thanks go to the pupil team and staff member Michael Burns.
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Raise Money for FDAMH while you do your Christmas Shopping!
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Use the Easy Fundraising shopping portal every time you shop so that FDAMH gets a wee donation each time you spend some money - without it costing you a single penny!
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Hello Lisa!
If you're a volunteer or regular attender at the Victoria Centre, when you're next in, please introduce yourself to our new receptionist, Lisa!
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No Men Nevis
Have you heard the rumours? Yes, it's true, on July 17th 2016 we are holding a women only sponsored walk up Ben Nevis with space for 250 participants. The genius behind this is Tommy Hamilton, who was responsible for a previous Ben Nevis fundraiser on behalf of FDAMH with the 'Yorkie Boys'. We'll be promoting the challenge more heavily in the coming weeks, but with 90 spaces already gone we thought we'd let you know now in case you want to join in!
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Thanks for New Funding from:
Our swimming and running Claire Brunton
Carmuirs Primary School
Bank of Scotland employee donation matching
Ammado Foundation
Falkirk Ladies Circle
The Media Whores
Integration Fund
(More on some of these in our next news!)
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Singing our Hearts Out and Feeling Good!
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Our Singing Workshop, led by Kim Edgar, on Friday the 4th December was a great success - we've had fantastic feedback and therefore we are keen to find funding to make it a more regular occurrence! We've put together a little Christmas fundraising campaign if you're able to give our activity groups a boost for 2016 and help make our longed-for choir a reality!
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Those of you who met Kim at the Singing Workshop might be interested in seeing Cara (Kim's band) performing, these are the next four dates she's playing in Scotland - you can click on the links for full details and to purchase tickets:
Wednesday 27th January 2016: Celtic Connections, Glasgow
Thursday 28th January 2016: Eden Court, Inverness
Friday 29th January 2016: Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline
Saturday 30th January 2016: Queens Hall, Edinburgh
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Art Classes off to a flying start
Our new art classes have begun in Park Street's Education Centre and our budding artists will be exhibiting their work in the Falkirk Town Hall with an opening event on the evening of the 5th of February – invites will be going out soon!
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Health and Wellbeing Drop-In
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Good News if you're waiting to join our Women's Group
We have been experiencing very high demand for our weekly Woman’s Group, with double the average attendance of 3 years ago and a long waiting list of 38 women. After discussion with the women who currently attend we have decided to run two alternating women’s groups – each taking place fortnightly. This will allow twice as many people to benefit from the service. Although these changes have freed up a large number of new spaces, people wishing to access the groups will still have to join our waiting list. If you are interested in joining please contact Michele Reap at FDAMH on 01324 671612.
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Service User and Carer Involvement
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Day Care Services Review
Members of our monthly Involvement Group have been quite concerned about the recent review of Day Care Services. People were under the impression the review was going to have been completed by the end of November but there has been no feedback to date. We will report back if we hear of any further developments.
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Involvement Group Meetings - Join Us!
The Involvement Groups December meeting will be a Christmas lunch at the Graeme Hotel in Falkirk! The next formal meeting will be on Monday 11th January 2016 at 10.30am in FDAMH.
Linda is still keen to increase the membership of the group. Anyone with lived experience of mental health problems who lives within the Falkirk area can get involved. For further information please contact Linda McGonigle at FDAMH on 01324 671600 or click the button below!
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SRI 2 Update
The service-user led evaluation of FDAMH continues (Scottish Recovery Indicator 2). All of the staff interviews have now taken place. This has been a huge exercise so a big thank you to all the interviewers and to the staff for taking the time to participate. It is hoped the draft report will available for staff in February 2016.
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Please Get Involved - Consultation Opportunities (available from your living room!)
There are two main consultations at the moment for people to participate in:
- Consultation on the Draft Strategic Plan for the Integration of Health and Social Care in Falkirk. The plan sets out how services will be delivered locally for the next three years - you can complete the online survey to highlight what you think should be the priority areas. Offline forms of participation are also available.
- Consultation on Human Rights for Mental Health - Rights for Life. This is a national consultation and aims to establish a set of rights that people affected by mental health issues want. You can complete the online survey to indicate your agreement with the rights that have been drafted so far.
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Launch of iFive - Quarriers Toolkit for Participation
It is well understood that services work best when the people who use them are included and engaged at every stage of the decision making process. Quarriers have launched the iFive tool kit to empower individuals to identify and implement opportunities for positive change. Linda, our Involvement Co-ordinator, attended the launch and says she will be able to use the day to help add to her own “Toolbox for Involvement”.
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Carers' Respite
We are very pleased to announce a fabulous set of Carers' Respite Courses due to commence in 2016. Some of you will be familiar with our hugely successful Mindfulness for Carers - see next story - and we'll also be delivering an Art Group and Alternative Therapies Course. All three courses run for 6 weeks and dates and time will be released in the New Year. They are available to anyone in a caring role living in Falkirk and District. If you are interested please contact Neil or Susan at FDAMH by calling 01324 671600 or click the button below.
Funded by the Creative Breaks Programme.
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Experience - Mindfulness Course
Chris and Lawson reveal how FDAMH's Mindfulness Course helped them both in ways that other interventions just hadn't succeeded...
"Our lives contained stresses and anxieties due to both of our personal circumstances. Over the past few years we have explored individually and jointly various ways of combating the stresses and anxieties that had become a significant part of our daily lives. These ways included CBT and Stress Management which although helpful and educational, did not provide solutions to the issues we were experiencing.
We had heard a bit about a Mindfulness in the media and thought it may be helpful to us. Earlier this year we went to see Ruby Wax’s show about Mindfulness which gave us an insight into the techniques used, which spurred us on to look for a local course. Later in the year we were fortunate to find the FDAMH course and after a chat with Neil Sowerby enrolled for this in the Autumn of 2015.
During the first couple of weeks on the course we realised that we had begun to discover the benefits of using breathing and other types of meditation to acquire the ability to gain a real understanding of what our bodies were feeling and how to accept what was going on around us. This in turn developed to seeking out the capacity to be kind to ourselves, which was something that most people attending the course had had difficulties with. Finally, this course provided a safe environment in which to practice these meditation techniques and discuss our experiences with a group of people who we were comfortable with. This became an experience that we looked forward to every week.
The 8-week course has been very beneficial to us and we would have no hesitation in recommending this to others."
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Forth Valley Carers Card
Carers are hoping to be more easily identified by Health and Social Care providers thanks to the new Forth Valley Carers Card. The card should hopefully enable carers to gain recognition of their role as a partner in care, have their views heard, participate more in care planning and get better access to caring information on the person they care for.
The card will be issued from either Stirling Carers Centre or Falkirk & Clackmannanshire Carers Centre, depending on the local authority the carer is living in. To find out more please contact:
Stirling Carers Centre – James Marshall on 01786 447 003 or info@stirlingcarers.co.uk
Falkirk & Clackmannanshire Carers Centre – Ian McCourt or Claire Crossan on 01324 611 510 or centre@centralcarers.co.uk
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Carer? Make sure you get your Flu Vaccine
NHS Forth Valley are providing three additional vaccination clinics specifically aimed at Carers. These sessions will be free to all who receive a carer's allowance, or are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person. The Falkirk clinic will be on 22/12/15, 13:00 to 17:00 at Newcarron Court Nursing Home, Ronades Road, Falkirk, FK2 7TB.
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Volunteer Support and Development
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Congratulations to the winners of the Volunteer Quiz!
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Attachment Workshop
We would like to thank Anne O’Grady for taking time out from her busy schedule and delivering an Attachment Workshop to staff and volunters. The workshop was very well attended and beneficial to all. If you volunteer with FDAMH and want to keep up-to-date with all of the great opportunities on offer please take a peak at your weekly e-Bulletin from FDAMH!
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New Volunteers are Great News for Services
Another 7 volunteers have just successfully completed our training programme - many congratulations to you all and we hope you enjoy being part of FDAMH's volunteer team!
Our new volunteers will be taking up a range of roles: two drivers will be particularly beneficial for our Stepping on Groups which work to relieve the isolation experienced by older people; two new Women's Group volunteers will help support staff run this ever-popular weekly session; two new Befrienders mean another two people waiting for befrienders are about to get good news; and one volunteer will support our Social Prescribing team and get involved with training.
FDAMH couldn't deliver many of its services without support from volunteers - people just like you. There are many roles and different levels of commitment. Why not call us for a friendly and frank chat about volunteering with FDAMH? Volunteering in 2016 could be the start of a whole new you, so give your life a fresh twist and call Morag on 01324 671600.
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We'd Like to Help YOU Build a Better World!
Not sure what you have to offer your community? Uncertain about what volunteering at FDAMH could mean for you? Interested in having a chat about volunteering? You can contact Morag Fullard, Volunteer and Training Development Coordinator, on 01324 67100 or by emailing morag.fullard@fdamh.org.uk
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Full details and event information for further weeks is available on our website!
Please get in touch with us before attending any of the groups for the first time: it helps to make sure you're accessing groups that are best suited to your needs and we can let you know which groups have a waiting list.
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Carers Christmas Night Out
Wed 16 Dec
La Banca, Falkirk
Women's Group - Pamper Day
Thu 17 Dec, 10.30am-1pm
Victoria Centre
Welfare Benefits Appointments
Fri 18 Dec, 10am-12noon
Victoria Centre
FDAMH Christmas Party
Fri 18 Dec, 12noon-4pm
British Legion, Grangemouth
Bereaved by Suicide Group
Christmas Meal In
Tues 22 Dec, 6pm-10pm
Victoria Centre
Drop-In Christmas Party
Wed 23 Dec, 12.30pm-3pm
Victoria Centre
FDAMH Closed
Thu 24 and Fri 25 Dec
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FDAMH Closed
Thu 31 Dec and Fri 1 Jan
Carers Wednesday Night Group
Wed 6 Jan, 7pm-9pm
Victoria Centre
Women's Group
Thu 7 Jan, 10.30am-1pm
Victoria Centre
Welfare Benefits Appointments
Fri 8 Jan, 10am-3pm
Victoria Centre
Carers Coffee Afternoon
Fri 8 Jan, 12noon-2pm
Victoria Centre
Women's Group
Thu 14 Jan, 10.30am-1pm
Victoria Centre
Welfare Benefits Appointments
Fri 15 Jan, 10am-3pm
Victoria Centre
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We recognise that the festive period can be difficult for a large number of people for a wide range of different reasons. Here are links to a variety of resources about coping with the holidays:
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