Time to Talk Day 2020 took place on 6th March and services across Potens got involved in the day with the key aim to encourage everyone to be more open about mental health – to talk, listen and break down barriers.
Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet too many people are made to feel isolated, ashamed and worthless because of this. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to be more open about mental health – to talk, to listen, to change lives. We know that talking about mental health can feel awkward, but it doesn’t have to.
With this in mind some of Potens services took time out to engage, learn more about mental health and open up conversations around health and well being.
185 Watling Street, Preston
Deputy Manager Emily Hartley explains: “We organised a word ‘treasure hunt’ with words hidden around the service that people had to find. Words were rearranged on a board to make up the sentence; ‘Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder. Let the challenges make you strong’. With more games and information sharing the group took part in a pamper session – discussing the day and how they felt; they talked amongst themselves as one whole, each service user taking part in the conversation and working collectively.”
Mansard House, Preston
Team member Emily Hanlon said: “Our night began with an impromptu singalong lead by SA who played his guitar superbly, with service users and staff sitting together singing some of their favourite songs – just about managing to stay in tune! This set the tone just perfectly for a game of Bingo (with a twist!) where participants were asked a variety of random questions about themselves, this got people talking and finding out more about the people they share their home with – and everyone involved engaged brilliantly.”
The Barn, Leyland
Terriann Gittins explains: “We took some official time to raise awareness for mental health. We set up a game of snakes and ladders which included quotes with mental health statistics on. As each of the service users took their go at rolling the dice we would read out the facts on the cards and discussed what each square meant and how mental health affects everyone differently.”
Cae Glas, North Wales
Ceri Jones explains: “This year we made a pact to look after everyone’s mental health not just our residents. We sent Mark, one of our support workers on a Mindfulness course so he could bring his new found knowledge and skills back to Cae Glas. On Time to Talk day Mark invited all staff members to a mindfulness session. Within the session we completed some sensory work, ‘imagining a place you feel safe,’ asking what they could hear, see, touch and taste.
When our staff members are feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed they can now use this method to take a minute or break from a stressful situation. We also spoke about our own experiences, what we found helped and what doesn’t help.”
