L-R Gerard Bentley, Iona Erskine, Przemystaw (Ruddi) Czerwonik, Kathryn Charlton, Gary Smyth, John Higgins
This year’s the drama group from AMH New Horizons Downpatrick , worked tremendously hard to put on a holiday themed show entitled ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ as part of a CCEA Performance Skills qualification.
The show comprised of 3 scenes which traced the character journeys from Cloud9 Airport to the sunny skies of Majorca!
We asked the troupe of actor’s to tell us about their experience …
Gerard – ‘It is exciting and thrilling to perform in front of an audience – I challenged myself in a way that I never thought I would be able to’
Iona – ‘It is exhilarating to see the end product of the months of hard work have such a positive audience reaction. It was a cathartic experience’
Gary – ‘The sense of achievement is amazing. It was so uplifting to have taken part in the performance’
Kathryn – ‘I feel humbled that the audience were so supportive of what we had created. Theatre has helped me to deal with anxiety. I feel I have more confidence to interact with new people’
Many congratulations to you all – inspirational! Well done!
Our Theatre Group take part in the “Working it Out” project at AMH New Horizons Downpatrick, which is part funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020, the Department for the Economy and the five NI Health & Social Care Trusts.
A Review of Mental Health Policies in Northern Ireland
By Professor Siobhan O’ Neill, Professor Deirdre Heenan and Dr Jennifer Betts
Supported by Action Mental Health
Professor Deidre Heenan, Gary Lightbody, David Babington
As Ulster University launched a new review of Northern Ireland’s mental health policies, it has been revealed that waiting lists for services in Northern Ireland are now 24 times greater than in England and Wales combined.
Brand new figures set out in the policy review by Ulster University
showed that as of March 2019 approximately 120,000 people of all ages in Northern Ireland were waiting over a year for access to health services.
The UU policy review, launched in conjunction with Action Mental Health, is a call to action for a ten year mental health strategy in Northern Ireland – the only UK region without one. It comes in the face of rising suicide rates and a system delivered in a fragmented and piecemeal manner.
The figures, obtained by the University, cast a damning light on health services here in Northern Ireland in comparison to similar statistics for England and Wales combined, where approximately only 5000 people were waiting for over 12 months.
‘Making Parity a Reality’ was unveiled at Stormont on Friday, June 21, at an event featuring special guest, Gary Lightbody of internationally renowned and multi-award winning rock band, Snow Patrol.
Last November the Co Down born singer, who has suffered from depression in the past, hit out at politicians over the impact on mental health services of the absence of a functioning devolved government at Stormont.
Other speakers addressing invited guests of health practitioners, academics, departmental officials, campaigners and local political representatives included policy review lead author, Professors Deirdre Heenan, Ulster University; Action Mental Health Chief Executive, David Babington; Dr Gerry Lynch, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Northern Health Trust and Chair of the Northern Ireland division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; and Professor Nicola Rooney, chair of the British Psychological Society branch for Northern Ireland. The event was sponsored by the Ulster Unionist Party’s spokesperson for Mental Health, Robbie Butler, MLA for Lagan Valley alongside Nichola Mallon, MLA from the SDLP and the Alliance Party MLA Chris Lyttle.
Report author, Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University, Professor Siobhan O’Neill said: “The evidence suggests that in NI there is an urgent and compelling need for a fully costed, mental health strategy as current provision is fragmented, under-funded and overstretched. We need a long-term commitment to address the changes required.”
Commenting on the latest figures for waiting times in Northern Ireland, Professor Deirdre Heenan, Ulster University, said: “Waiting times for services here have become even worse relative to Wales and England – largely because both regions have made progress in reducing their long waits, whereas Northern Ireland has not. The impact of this extensive waiting on a patient’s mental health and well-being, and on their families, can be only negative, indeed a recent report by the Children’s Commissioner explained how vulnerable young people talked about their mental health deteriorating, for some to a crisis point, as a direct result of the delay in being able to access services.’
“As of March there were 120,000 waiters over a year in Northern Ireland, compared to 5000 across England and Wales combined. That equates to 1 in 16 people in Northern Ireland being on waiting lists for more than a year, compared to, at most, 1 in 750 in Wales and 1 in 48,000 in England.
“A patient on the waiting list in Northern Ireland is at least 36 times more likely to have been waiting for more than a year compared to Wales, and more than a thousand times more likely to have been waiting over a year than a patient in England. This is simply not acceptable. For too long mental health services have been an afterthought in Northern Ireland. If the health service is to become more efficient, it is vital that physical health and mental health are integrated.”
The launch of Making Parity a Reality heard calls for a fully costed, ten year mental health strategy with clear targets, aligned to other health strategies, with spending, as a percentage of the overall Northern Ireland health budget doubled to at least 12%, on par with spending in England.
Campaigners are also calling for the Protect Life Two suicide prevention strategy to be urgently implemented, to help reverse Northern Ireland’s suicide rate and for better crises services. The rate of suicide here outstrips all the other UK regions, indeed in 2017 it was more than double the rate of England, standing at 18.5 per 100,000 people compared to 9.2 per 100,000 in England.
Action Mental Health Chief Executive David Babington welcomed the new review, stating: “Northern Ireland’s policy makers need to be ambitious as the mediocre approach that’s been delivered up to now is not good enough. Mental health has for too long been the Cinderella service of the NHS and despite an increased focus and awareness in the area of mental health, as championed by the likes of Action Mental Health, many key challenges remain.
“There are a number of systemic barriers that limit the mental health sector in providing consistent high-quality care, from inconsistent variable commissioning of services, increasing demand and inadequate funding, to the lack of integration with other services. Northern Ireland urgently needs a joined-up approach.”
Dr Gerry Lynch, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists NI and a Board member of Action Mental Health said: “We would like to see parity for Mental Health made real by the commissioning of services currently unavailable or under provided in Northern Ireland, as well as access to crisis services and a targeted increase in trained staff.
“Funding must be put in place in any plan and we need access to data in order to judge progress. This further contribution by Ulster University to the public discussion on mental health is most welcome and we are delighted to support this launch.”
Making Parity a Reality calls for a more holistic approach to health services, with a greater focus on prevention and early intervention to reduce the long term impact for people experiencing mental health problems and their families, and to reduce the costs for the NHS and emergency services.
The review calls for Northern Ireland’s high waiting lists to be presented in relation to their impact on mental health and for a new emphasis on creating mentally healthy communities. Urging politicians and policy makers for greater innovation within Northern Ireland’s devolved administration, the review calls for strategic leadership roles for people with lived experience of mental ill-health.
L-R Peter McCullough, Lesley Whyte, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics and Leeann Matchett, Disability Coordinator, QUB.
Peter McCullough is one of our ESF “Working it Out” clients at AMH New Horizons Antrim studying for a NVQ in Business Administration and has been working at Queen’s.
Peter tells us how he’s getting on.
“As part of my NVQ I was required to undertake a work placement to gain actual hands on experience, to supplement what I have learned in the classroom. When I heard that Queen’s University Belfast had vacancies through their Inclusive Employment Scheme, I was keen to apply.
Queen’s has an excellent reputation as an educator/employer and I was sure to gain invaluable experience there. I knew there would be opportunities to learn, improve and enhance my future employability.
I consider myself exceedingly fortunate to have been offered a placement.
My role is to assist with the administration of the main office for the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics.
My duties include, filing, printing, copying and scanning documents, printer/copier/scanner maintenance, creating Word documents and Spreadsheets, answering the telephone, meeting the needs of visitors, sorting and delivering post and setting up/encrypting PCs/laptops.
My colleagues have been welcoming and friendly from the outset and I feel appreciated and valued. I am awarded many opportunities to develop and learn new skills. My goal is to return to and be able to sustain employment. In addition to learning new skills, my confidence is improving and I feel ready to return to the job market.
My time at Queen’s will undoubtedly improve my employability and I hope to leave with a good reference”.
Lesley Whyte, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics said,
“Peter has been working with us in the main School reception for a couple of months now. Since we met him at interview, it was apparent that Peter had good interpersonal skills that are essential in this front-facing role. Peter has been extremely adaptable, and eager to keep busy when he is with us, hence, a wonderful asset to our team. He has taken ownership of some routine tasks, like distributing mail, updating student noticeboards, and looking after photocopiers, all of which contributes to the smooth running of this busy office. Alongside these daily jobs, Peter has also taken on some projects like updating address lists on Excel and producing name badges for conferences on Word.
We are consistently impressed by Peter’s exemplary time-keeping and enthusiasm, and in return for his commitment to this role, we try to ensure that we give Peter a variety of tasks, including those which will help him advance his skill set in order to build on his experience and enhance his future employability. Peter continues to grow in confidence. He brings a wonderful sense of humour to work every day and is always polite to colleagues and students alike. Peter has proved to be a great team member and his positive attitude is going to make him a great asset to any employer”.
Well done Peter, we wish you well! Thanks for sharing your story!
Peter is taking part in Working It Out which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy.
Clients at Action Mental Health Promote have been treating the cast and crew of a major national TV show to delicious treats during their hard-earned break time.
Presenter Nick Knowles and his DIY SOS Big Build team arrived in Bangor last week to kit-out a home for a local family with special health needs, and washed down their coffee at break-time with delicious traybakes made by the clients from AMH Promote.
AMH Promote provides opportunities for adults with a learning disability to be socially active and develop new skills in a supportive and engaging environment.
Nick Knowles and his team were fittingly attired in their trademark ‘purple shirts’ – the same branding colours of Action Mental Health – with the project marking the SOS show’s first ever Big Build in Northern Ireland.
The show was filming the transformation of the McCreight family house in Bangor, home to Mandy and Davey and their teenage children Ben and Kara.
Clients were star struck meeting the familiar TV face of Nick Knowles and his team, including DIY SOS build manager Mark Millar, a native of Bangor who was ‘over the moon’ to be back on home turf.
The gang from Promote were filmed handing over the traybakes, so hopefully they’ll make the finally editing cut and appear on the popular show when the episode appears on our screens in the autumn. The clients had to explain to Nick exactly what a traybake was after he said he hadn’t heard the term for the delicacies loved by the sweet-toothed Northern Ireland community.
AMH Promote Service Manager Niaobh Adams said clients were delighted to meet the DIY SOS team. “There was great excitement among the clients, getting to meet with Nick Knowles and the Purple Shirt team, especially since purple is our colour here at Action Mental Health.
“They all worked very hard in the kitchen, making a variety of tray bakes to make the cast and crew’s break time all the more enjoyable. It was a great day for everyone at AMH Promote.”
The public can taste the tray bakes that the DIY SOS crew sampled during Promote’s regular coffee mornings that take place on the last Thursday of each month, the next one taking place on June 27.
We’re supporting a campaign spearheaded by MenCap and the Law Centre to make the Personal Independence Payment process better for people with disabilities. We especially want to gather responses from as many mental health service users as possible.
If you have claimed PIP, or supported someone who has, we want to hear from you. What went well? What didn’t go well? How would you improve the process?
This week’s Northern Ireland Alcohol Awareness Week poses a question to those of us who enjoy a tipple: “How Risking Is Your Drinking?”
Some 38% of men and 16% of women are now drinking above recommended limits – 14 units for both men and women – with 1.1m people in the UK being alcohol dependent, according to a recent report from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Its Global Status on Alcohol report found that people who drink to alter their mood – or to change their mental state – are ‘dicing with danger’.
“Sufficient evidence now exists to assume alcohol’s contributory role in depression,” the report stated.
Other studies corroborate the findings, illustrating that up to 12m adults in the UK drink to help them relax or overcome feelings of depression. However, drinking to mask anxiety, lift a depressed mood or to help cope with general unease has the opposite effect: once the alcohol wears off the physical hangover is very often accompanied by anxiety or low mood.
Drinking can also affect your judgement and might open people to decisions and actions they may regret later. Alcohol is estimated to be a factor, not only in 16% of road deaths, but 48% of suicides and 49% of self-harm presentations to A&E.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, in his forward to its report, Cheers? Understanding the relationship between alcohol and mental health, written by Dr Deborah Cornah, states: “The reasons we drink and the consequences of excessive drinking are intimately linked with our mental health, and this holds the key to dealing with growing worries about alcohol misuse.”
Evidence shows:
significant connections between reported alcohol use and depressive symptoms
people report using alcohol to help them sleep
people drink more when experiencing moderate to high levels of shyness or fear
anxious people use drinking ‘to cope’ and are more likely to avoid social situations where alcohol is not available
as many as 65% of suicides have been linked to excessive drinking
70% of men who take their own lives have drunk alcohol before doing so
almost a third of suicides amongst young people occur while the person is intoxicated
anxiety and depressive symptoms are more common in heavy drinkers
heavy drinking is more common in those with anxiety and depression
there is a significant relationship between job stress and alcohol consumption
many GPs believe that alcohol is a cause of mental health problems.
To counter these potential pitfalls, adults – men and women both – should restrict themselves to the recommended 14 units per week, which amounts to six pints of lager, or a bottle and a half of wine spread over three or more days, with a few days being completely alcohol free.
Adhering to healthy limits on your drinking will not only improve your health, you’ll also save hundreds of calories, considering 18 glasses (three bottles) of wine, at 175ml per glass, is equivalent to 2880 calories – or three portions of fish and chips. The same number of pints of beer is worth 3240 calories!
If you’re uncertain about the levels of alcohol you are drinking why not test yourself at www.alcoholandyouni.com/audit
One of our wonderful clients – John from AMH New Horizons Downpatrick, has just completed a work placement in RQIA. This was arranged through the Health and Social Care Board Disability Placement Scheme 2019.
The best news is that John has also just secured a full time job!
Congratulations to John and a big thank you to RQIA for providing the placement.
Pictured L-R Stephanie McKeating – AMH Employment Officer, John Higgins – Placement Trainee and Julie Livingstone – RQIA Placement Manager.
John took part in the Working It Out Project which is part-funded through the NI ESF programme 2014-202 and the Department for the Economy.
Our Chief Executive, David Babington today welcomed some of our partners in the Menhir Project to Action Mental Health.
Pictured left to right : Antonio Benitez, Early Stage Researcher, Universidad De Granada; Prof Maurice Mulvenna, Ulster University; Prof Zoraida Callejas, Universidad de Granada and David Babington.
Zoraida and Antonio are currently on secondment in Northern Ireland kick starting the MENHIR project. #menhir_h2020
MENHIR, led by the Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain will research and develop conversational technologies to promote positive mental health. The technology hopes to assist people with mild depression and/or anxiety manage their symptoms and prevent relapse via mental health monitoring through interactive conversations.
Action Mental Health is one of the project members of MENHIR, a partnership of academia, private and voluntary sector organisations.
The other members are –
Ulster University, Belfast, N. Ireland
Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain
Intelligent Voice Limited, London, UK
Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
Universitá degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy
MENHIR will use co-creation to develop a technology Chatbot to provide symptom and mood management, identification of patterns indicative of relapse and recurrence, personalised support, coping strategies, mental health education and signposting to online resources and local services.
Commenting on the latest figures for waiting times in Northern Ireland, Professor Deirdre Heenan, Ulster University, said: “Waiting times for services here have become even worse relative to Wales and England – largely because both regions have made progress in reducing their long waits, whereas Northern Ireland has not. The impact of this extensive waiting on a patient’s mental health and well-being, and on their families, can be only negative, indeed a recent report by the Children’s Commissioner explained how vulnerable young people talked about their mental health deteriorating, for some to a crisis point, as a direct result of the delay in being able to access services.’
Clients at Action Mental Health Promote have been treating the cast and crew of a major national TV show to delicious treats during their hard-earned break time.
This week’s Northern Ireland Alcohol Awareness Week poses a question to those of us who enjoy a tipple: “How Risking Is Your Drinking?”
One of our wonderful clients – John from AMH New Horizons Downpatrick, has just completed a work placement in RQIA. This was arranged through the 
Our Chief Executive, David Babington today welcomed some of our partners in the Menhir Project to Action Mental Health.