The first in a series of conferences took place in the Waterfoot Hotel. Guest speakers included Gary Kane, AMH Works; Louise Magee Allstate NI and Brendan Miskelly PWC.
To find out more about AMH Works and their services click here and follow them on Twitter @amhworks.
Approximately 1 in 20 (5%) of people in work will develop a diagnosable mental illness as a result of work related stress. In 2011, mental ill health cost the Northern Ireland economy £790 million which equates to £937 per person who works here.
So what are local employers doing about it?
A series of free-to-attend seminars are being planned across Northern Ireland to provide managers and local business owners with an insight into best practice in the delivery of wellness and support programmes in the workplace to create a culture enabling staff to remain productive.
Guest speakers include representatives of local employers such as Allstate NI and Price Waterhouse Coopers, as well as international contributors like Virgin Atlantic.
Organised by AMH Works, a project by charity Action Mental Health (AMH) in partnership with The Big Lottery Awards For All fund, the events will showcase local businesses and the work they have been doing to better support employees who have developed, or are at risk of developing, a mental health issue.
Corporate resilience is essential for businesses and services to survive and grow. To strengthen corporate resilience requires strengthening the resilience of the workforce, together with ensuring the cultural environment clearly links the wellbeing of individuals to their performance and the performance of the organisation as a whole.
AMH’s Chief Executive David Babington explains;
“Stress and depression are at the highest levels they have ever been, and this is causing huge problems both to individual employees and the organisations they work for. Last year alone, mental health cost the Northern Ireland Economy £790 million. Mental health problems are also one of the largest contributing factors to long term absenteeism. Many individuals and organisations are facing uncertainty, job cuts and a period of great change, and against this background, keeping people engaged and performing well, can seem like an uphill battle.”
The first event will take place on Thursday 12th February 9.30am – 1.00pm at Waterfoot Hotel, Derry. Places are free and conclude with lunch. Book your place by email: [email protected] or call (028) 9182 8494
Further events are planned to take place in Fermanagh and Belfast.
– “a lived experience of schizophrenia” – Artist Pat Ross in association with AMH.
This amazing and powerful exhibition has reached its 4th stop in a tour across NI – The Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont. The launch, kindly sponsored by Chair of the Health Committee, Maeve McLaughlin, took place on Friday and the exhibition will remain until 13th February.
AMH Promote clients Sarah Larmour, Peter White, Shelley McKee, Darragh Conlan and Tina Hewer along with Juliet Gates gave a presentation at the sixth form morning assembly at Bangor Academy School about what it is like to have a learning disability. The clients put together a PowerPoint touching upon issues that they felt were important to convey i.e. what it is like to have Down Syndrome or a learning disability with Autism, their difficult times growing up and being teased but, most importantly, all of the things they can do and to highlight that they are not that different from everyone else.
The school were very welcoming and the presentation went very well. The school have offered to do some fundraising for AMH in the future.
Towards the end of October 2012 I became seriously ill mentally. I was practically a recluse who, due to paranoia and anxiety shut myself off from friends and family. As each day passed and the depression increased suicide was looking like an increasingly good option. My self esteem, self worth and confidence was zero.
Then in early 2013 my CPN referred me to Action Mental Health in Antrim. This turned out to be the start of a journey down the road to getting well that is still continuing today. Action Mental health run several courses in their facilities in Antrim and the one that appealed to me the most was the cookery class. This gave me a reason to get out of bed in morning, a purpose and something to do. It also got me out amongst people again, which was good for my confidence. In this country unfortunately there is still a stigma attached to mental health problems and sometimes I can feel different to others, but on the course everyone else had problems, so I didn’t have to worry about being ‘different’ and no longer felt alone. It also was rewarding making things, we started off with eggs, flour etc but by the end of the day we would have a cake to show for it. Achieving something as simple as baking a cake made me think maybe there are things I can do and that I’m not completely useless. For many years I had wanted to get back into education and the cookery course gave me the confidence to give it a try. With the help of members of staff at Action Mental health I enrolled on an Access to University Course run by Belfast Met. The staff helped me by making phonecalls on my behalf to find out information on the course, how to pay for it etc. This might not sound like much but to me it was a big deal as at that stage I found it daunting and stressful having to speak to people either in person or on the phone.
Come May this year I will have finished the Access to University Course and I am on track to pass, this will enable me to advance to University. The other students on the course elected me class representative. Doing the Access Course has helped me in so many ways. Self worth, self confidence and and self esteem levels have all risen. Today I am nearly unrecognisable from the person I was back in October 2012, and a lot of it is down to Action Mental Health.
Patrick Mc Caffrey from Western Cars, Enniskillen presented a beautiful home baked Christmas cake to staff and clients in AMH New Horizons Fermanagh. The cake, which had been raffled in the Enniskillen Car Centre Christmas draw, had been won by a local resident who kindly decided to donate it to the charity, where it will be shared for afternoon tea by clients in New Horizons, BOOST, Time Out and Mens Shed programmes.
Many congratulations to Richard Simms and Ken Strang who recently trekked to the most iconic base camp of all, at the foot of the greatest mountain in the world – Mount Everest and raised money for AMH. Their challenge was modestly named “Richard & Ken’s Wee Walk in the Hills!”
Surrounded by spectacular high altitude scenery and views of the mighty Himalayan peaks, it took 10 days to trek to Everest Base Camp, which sits at a height of 5600 metres above sea level with less than half the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Once they reached their destination they had to turn around and trek back down again, walking for 17 days in total and conquering two peaks and two passes.
To date the pair have raised £1,375.13! Thank you so much and well done!!!!!
“Read Between the Lines”Artist Pat Ross, in association with Action Mental Health
This magnificent art exhibition will shortly be departing Belfast International Airport. It’s next destination is Parliament Buildings, Stormont.
The exhibition will be launched, at an event sponsored by Health Committee Chair, Maeve McLaughlin MLA on Friday 6th February 2015 at 12 noon in The Long Gallery. Please come to celebrate and welcome this “lived experience of schizophrenia”.
Light refreshments will be served. To register your interest please contact [email protected].
The exhibition will remain in Stormont until 16th February.
The reaction to the exhibition has been amazing so far – with many international travellers tweeting pics and comments across the globe @amhNI.
