We are currently looking for New Trustees to ‘Help Us Reinvent The Universe Or At Least Our Part Of It’
We currently run the following projects
Our Linkworking Project has been running for 10 years. We currently run sixteen sessions a week on the inpatient wards at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and in the community resource centres. In 2016 we reached 2217 vulnerable service users to discuss their care and treatment. These sessions are followed by a handover with ward/service managers; where we raised 2804 issues to address immediate needs. Our project supports service users to understand their treatment, services available to them and brings hope during dark and difficult times, in fact many of our team joined after coming into contact with the project themselves. Our outcomes and qualitative data provide insight for the CCG and have a positive impact on local commissioning.
We run 10 Mental Health Open Forums each year, attracting over 520 (2016) Service users. It is designed for service users to come together in a safe environment to meet commissioners and Service Providers, giving them a chance to ask questions and debate current and topical issues/services relevant to their recovery and wellbeing. Our forums also attract large numbers of carers and professionals.
Our Welfare Benefit Surgery has helped thousands of vulnerable people make and maintain benefit claims (634 during 2016). We also attend assessments and have won over 70 ESA & PIP tribunals. We support claimants to maintain their On-Line Universal Credit (UC) Claims; which is a major obstacle as many of our clients are illiterate or have no computer experience. We address immediate financial poverty through access to food banks and Discretionary Payments. Currently we work very closely with Mind’s Welfare Benefits service and have close relationships with SLaM, Croydon Council and the DWP.