Health and Wellbeing
Partnership encourages all to check in with their mates to prevent suicide
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP) is launching a new campaign on Monday 16 May to create awareness around male suicide across the area and is urging everyone to get involved.
The campaign, which builds on the Partnership’s national award-winning staff suicide prevention campaign ‘Check-In’, aims to promote a wellbeing culture by normalising the conversation around suicide and mental health as well as providing communication assets, links to credible sources such as the life-saving Zero Suicide Alliance training, and signposting to local support.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risk factors that may lead to suicide, inspiring people to start conversations about mental health with the men in their life at home, in the community and at work. It sets out practical help we can all give when checking-in. Messages include:
- Is your sporty mate suddenly off his game?
- Does your mate always want to have one to many?
- Does your mate get down when he can’t see his kids grow up?
- Has your mate left service but he’s still fighting?
Developed with local men and built from their experiences, the resources can be used publicly in various places – in person and virtually, such as What’s App groups, on Facebook and Instagram, in workplaces, community groups and elsewhere at staffcheck-in.co.uk/campaign-toolkit/males/ from Monday 16 May.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that suicide is more common in West Yorkshire than in England as a whole, with significantly more men taking their own lives than women. The ONS data shows that there were 235 deaths registered by coroners as suicides in West Yorkshire in 2020, with an average of 4.5 people per week.
This priority area of work is one of WY HCP’s ten ambitions set out in their five-year plan.
Jessica Parker, Project Manager for WY HCP Suicide Prevention programme, believes the campaign will play an important role in the conversation surrounding suicide, and could potentially save lives.
Jess said: ‘I’m urging everyone to get involved in this life-saving campaign and would encourage everyone to check in with the men in their lives to ask if they are ok. WYH HCP Suicide Prevention Strategy has developed strong momentum around making suicide prevention everyone’s business. We all have a part to play in combatting stigma and identifying men in our lives who are going through struggles and ask them if they need help’.
Surinder Rall, Service Lead for West Yorkshire Suicide Bereavement Service, says it is essential that we all know the warning signs of suicide. ‘I lost both my father and my uncle to suicide. So, I speak from experience when I say that we should all work together to combat the stigma and talk more about suicide. To achieve our target of zero suicides in West Yorkshire, we must continue to talk and ask each other about mental health and suicide. That’s what the Check-In campaign is all about’.
Rob Webster CBE, CEO for WY&H HCP said: ‘While people at risk of suicide may try to hide how they are feeling, they often give out warning signs. You might notice changes in their behaviour or be aware of events in their life that could be affecting them. By knowing what to look for, having the skills and confidence to have a conversation and provide support, you can make a huge difference to someone’s life, and their family. I’m urging everyone to get involved so they know the signs and how to respond. You can also start straight away by doing the online training provided at www.zerosuicidealliance.com’
All partners in West Yorkshire – health, care, voluntary sector and beyond, are encouraged to download the free resource, such as posters, social media messages and films to use in their organisation, place of work, teams or at home among friends, family, and community. All are available at staffcheck-in.co.uk/campaign-toolkit/males/ from Monday the 16 May.
Platinum Jubilee Art Competition deadline June 6th
To celebrate how art can boost wellbeing, Calderdale Adult Learning are holding an art competition based around the theme of ‘Platinum Jubilee.’
Prizes include art supplies, shopping vouchers and CAL course discounts.
Please email a photograph of your artwork to cal.artcomp@calderdale.gov.uk with your name, postcode and telephone number.
If you are unable to access email please call 01422 392820 to arrange another option.
Entry open to all Calderdale residents.
Competition closes 6th June
Vita Health Group on Combatting Loneliness and Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness and Combatting Loneliness
Mental Health Awareness week takes place from 9th-15th May 2022, and this year’s theme for the week is Loneliness. Never before has it been more important to give mental ill health the time it deserves and break down the stigmas associated with this devastating and destructive illness that so many of us suffer with.
As many people will be aware, one of the big contributing factors to mental ill heath these days is loneliness. We know that loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and has had a huge impact on our mental health, not least because of the pandemic and ongoing lockdowns we have all experienced.
We know that our connection to other people and our community is paramount to protecting our mental health, and as such, we all need to work together to find better ways to tackle loneliness, both within ourselves and within others. Because reducing loneliness is a major step towards a healthier society.
Loneliness and its impact on our mental health
Loneliness is a normal human feeling, which almost everyone will experience at some point in their lives.
Generally, it presents itself in a feeling of being isolated or disconnected from others. It may also manifest itself as a feeling of not being understood or cared for.
When we are on our own, but don’t want to be, it’s natural for us to feel a bit lonely and sad. We may start thinking in a negative or self-critical way, which can lead to low motivation and social withdrawal. Without active coping strategies, this pattern may continue to make our mood even lower and result in more negative thoughts and avoidance responses. This is what we call the vicious cycle of loneliness.
VitaMinds is here for you.
Vita Health Group celebrates life. Improving lives physically and mentally drives everything we do.
We work in partnership with the NHS to provide mental and physical health services, work with the UK’s largest companies to help support their workforce and provide a full range of physiotherapy services to private customers.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 : #IveBeenThere
Mental Health Awareness Week is running from 9-15 May and this year’s theme
is exploring the impact of Loneliness and seeks to encourage people to ‘lift someone
out of loneliness’.
Why loneliness?
Loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and has had a huge
impact on our physical and mental health during the pandemic. Our
connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting
our mental health and we need to find better ways of tackling the epidemic of
loneliness. We can all play a part in this.
Get involved
You can visit the Every Mind Matters loneliness webpage for support and
advice on dealing with loneliness. It also has a Mind Plan quiz, to get a
personalised mental health action plan with practical tips to help you deal
with stress, anxiety, low mood and trouble sleeping, plus advice on how to cope
with feelings of loneliness.
Visit www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/loneliness/
A Celebration of Wellbeing and Mental Health Wednesday May 11th
Halifax Minster in partnership with Calderdale Interfaith and Healthy Minds are hosting a Celebration of Wellbeing and Mental Health on Wednesday the 11th May as part of Mental Health Awareness Week.
The session is FREE to attend. There will be talks from Jim Mc Manus, director of Public Health Hertfordshire and Calderdale’s Healthy Minds, Jonny Richardson.
A vegetarian Lunch will be provided to all attendees.
Calderdale College will present a drama and there will be workshops in the afternoon.
Please register for your free place through Eventbrite here:
Celebration of Wellbeing and Mental Health at Halifax Minster
All most Welcome.
X-Pert Health Weight Loss and Wellbeing Programme starting May 9th
X-PERT Health is a Calderdale based charity providing members of the public with education programmes to help prevent or manage diabetes and other long-term medical conditions.
Believing in Educate not Medicate, they offer a course that will help users understand nutrition and diabetes in a way that will encourage improvement in their health.
The course, hosted by Diabetes Specialist Educator runs for 12 weeks with 1 session per week on Zoom, covering a different topic each week.
Please note, this weight and wellbeing course is for general interest and it is not specific to people with diabetes.
We myth bust many dated concepts that focus on eating less and moving more. Through evidence based learning we shos you how your body uses food and how different dietary approaches impact your weight and overall wellbeing.
Next Programme starts on Monday 9th May 2022 from 5:30pm – 7:00pm
To book a place go to www.xpertweight.co.uk/shop or call 01422 847871
For all enquiries email admin@xperthealth.org.uk
Take the Healthy Minds Wellbeing Measures Survey
We are seeking views on how mental health services can record and measure what difference they make in people’s wellbeing.If you have had treatment or support from mental health services in the NHS or through organisations like Healthy Minds, you are likely to have been asked questions about your feelings and how well you’re doing on different areas in your life.We have launched a survey to get your views on two examples of these “outcome measures” that are currently being considered for use in mental health services throughout West Yorkshire (and possibly further afield). We want to gather views so that we can tell NHS England what people think, and they can take this into account in deciding what measures to use.
Please take a look at the two example sets of wellbeing measures on the webpage and complete the survey questions via the link.
It should only take a few minutes to complete the survey. You won’t be able to fill in the wellbeing measures – they’re just shown to illustrate the questions they ask. We would like you to compare the two sets of measures and tell us what you think. You might want to consider how they look, how easy they are to fill in, and the language they use – but you can say as much as you want and all comments will be useful.Please feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested. Please complete the survey by 11th April 2022. We will update this page with the results from the survey and news of any developments as this work progresses!Thank you for your feedback.
Staying Well Community Get Together March 30th
Staying Well, joined by Healthy Minds and Focus 4 Hope would like to invite you to a day of mindful and relaxing activities. We will share activities in the local area and are keen to hear from you about what is missing.
Come Join us at St John the Divine for a fun day of activities, information and pizza!
Wednesday 30th March 11am to 2pm
For more details, please contact
Staying Well
t: 01422 392 767
e: stayingwellproject@calderdale.gov.uk
w: www.stayingwellhub.com
Venue: St John the Divine, St John Street, HD6 1HN
Healthy Minds ‘Values, Identity & Future’ event March 21
- A range of ways you can share your thoughts (verbal, written, visual etc)
- Small table discussions to develop work done in the previous workshop – we know that ‘Transforming’ didn’t resonate with many of you, are there better ways of describing some of the ideas underneath this word?
- Refreshment break – drinks, nibbles and cake (let us know if you have any dietary requirements!)
- Interactive displays exploring some of our more established values – to capture your perspectives in a variety of forms including: craft, colouring, writing, voting, anonymous suggestion box.
- A chance to meet others involved in our organisation and connect with different aspects of our work.
- An opportunity to feedback on these engagement events – do you feel you have been genuinely involved?
- Takeaway goodie bags! (who doesn’t love a party bag?)
Thom – thom@healthymindscalderdale.co.uk
Georgia – georgia@healthymindscalderdale.co.uk
We are looking forward to seeing you on the 21st!
Staying Well Community Get Together March 30th
Come Join us at St John the Divine for a fun day of activities, information and pizza!
Staying Well, joined by Healthy Minds and Focus 4 Hope would like to invite you to a day of mindful and relaxing activities. We will share activities in the local area and are keen to hear from you about what is missing.
Event is taking place on Wednesday 30th March 11am to 2pm.
For more details, please contact
Staying Well
t: 01422 392 767
e: stayingwellproject@calderdale.gov.uk
w: www.stayingwellhub.com
Venue: St John the Divine, St John Street, HD6 1HN
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