Issue Fourteen – Summer 2014
Transcription
Issue Fourteen – Summer 2014
express Combating Homelessness Creating Opportunities Promoting Change BHT’s Client Involvement Magazine Photo by Leanne Newton, Client Hub Photographer BHT's Client Action Network Listening to Our Young People Creating a range of opportunities so The Hastings Young People’s Project you can be involved as much as you (HYPS) on how they're implementing New premises with a larger, brighter want, depending on your interest meaningful Client Involvement at a drop-in, lovely furnished counselling areas and levels of commitment. project level. rooms and an art therapy room. 4-5 9 - 11 Spotlight on the Mental Health and Wellbeing project 18 - 19 Issue 14, Summer 2014 | www.bht.org.uk Index express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Editorial 2 Express and Beyond... Involvement 4 BHT's Client Action Network How Can I Get Involved in BHT? BHT Women’s Involvement Network BHT Pride 2014 History in the Making Interview with Cherry HYPS Social Media and Empowerment Project Research Saves Lives 13 Recovery on the Sea Shore Seven Sisters and Brothers Route One Client Representatives Move On Untitled in the style of Andy Warhol 18 The Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and Threshold Counselling Through your eyes Your responses informed us as to why you pick up Express magazine. We found out that the majority of BHT Clients who responded read the magazine to find out more about BHT services and what other projects do, read about topical issues affecting BHT clients and to gain inspiration from other clients, and to read about their experiences of recovery and hope. BHT understands this is important to you. The BMECP Community Champions Programme Spotlight on... In this Summer edition of Express magazine, we showcase some inspiring examples of BHT Client Involvement and achievements, and report back on the results from the latest Express feedback survey. Congratulations to Tim O’Sullivan, who was randomly selected from survey respondents to win a £20 voucher. Listening to Our Young People Achievement Express 20 My China Discovery Tour 3P Life: Less Stress, More Happiness You may be aware that the economic climate is extremely tough and competition for funding is high, with many other local charities seeking the support of the community, and local providers chasing pots of money and competing for the same service contracts. With this in mind, BHT has a responsibility to ensure that BHT is using its limited marketing resources (which fund Express Magazine) to reach the widest audience possible. Robert Grant’s ‘The Judas Tree’ First Time in a Long Time… Me, My Mental Health and I Contact details 2 www.bht.org.uk 24 If you have any general comments, please email them to [email protected] express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Editorial and Beyond… BHT is proposing that the current Express magazine is replaced with a BHT Annual Review published in the winter and an Impact Report published in the summer, covering different aspects of BHT’s work and projects. BHT clients will be invited to help design and produce both publications with the input of BHT’s Fundraising and Publicity team. The publications will showcase BHT’s successes, share good practice and focus on issues important to BHT clients and remind funders, commissioners, businesses and supporters why and how they support the work of BHT and the services it provides. The online Client Hub will continue to be available 365 days, 24/7 for you to upload articles you would normally view in Express magazine. Visit www.bht.org.uk/client-hub BHT clients will be invited to help design and produce both publications with the input of BHT’s Fundraising and Publicity team. We hope that you will see this as a positive move and an opportunity to share the work of BHT clients through more mainstream publications with the potential to reach a much wider audience. The Client Hub team is already aware of these changes and offered their thoughts and feedback. However, we felt it important to carry out some further consultation within the wider BHT client community before making any final decisions. Further information and a questionnaire will be sent to all BHT projects in June. After BHT has received your feedback, we will make a final decision on the future of Express magazine. www.bht.org.uk 3 Involvement express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 BHT’s Client Action Network Article by Andrea Horwood, Client Involvement Coordinator BHT uses a model of Client Involvement called the Client Action Network (CAN). Every BHT client is part of CAN where there are lots of opportunities to get involved and have your say within your project and across BHT. We developed CAN because we recognise all BHT clients are individuals and so we have created a range of opportunities for you to be involved as much as you want, depending on your interest areas and levels of commitment. Every BHT project has a Client Involvement Staff Representative who will keep you updated on opportunities to get involved with BHT. I have very much enjoyed meeting and collaborating with the Client Hub. We have now brought the Client Hub into reality – everyone in BHT is welcome to contribute. Client Hub Community Reporter BHT has helped me gain the confidence to talk more openly in public. This has empowered me to voice the concerns of other residents and help shape BHT policies and procedures accordingly. 4 www.bht.org.uk By visiting BHT’s Client Hub at www.bht.org.uk/client-hub you can find out how you can get more involved, keep updated on what’s happening in BHT and read about how other BHT clients are getting involved and taking on the issues that matter to them. express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Involvement How Can I Get Involved in BHT? Become part of the BHT Client Hub Team Client Hub Community Reporters are active around BHT, gathering content and writing the articles for you to enjoy. Our Client Hub Photographers take some great shots to accompany the articles and manage our image bank and Quality Controllers work alongside the Client Involvement Coordinator to ensure the quality, accuracy and suitability of articles submitted to the Client Hub. Develop your skills as a Client Recruiter Receive training and support to sit on BHT staff interview panels and play a key role in the decision making process for hiring new members of staff within BHT. Become a Client Trainer or Client Auditor These key roles will become available in the Summer / Autumn 2014. BHT Client Trainers will If you would like to find out more about any of the opportunities outlined above, please contact Andrea Horwood, Client Involvement Coordinator by calling 01273 645468 or emailing [email protected] receive a comprehensive training and support package to help develop and deliver staff training within BHT, working with and alongside highly skilled and reputable trainers across East Sussex. Client Auditors can expect to receive full training and support to challenge and improve services within BHT, carry out research with your peers, service audits and review key policies and procedures within BHT. BHT clients have already been involved in BHT peer audits this year and carried out Client Involvement Health Checks on BHT Services. These are really interesting roles which will enhance your CV and you never know, might lead you to sitting on the Board of BHT! Take on a Client Rep role and get involved within your project where you can have your say on the running of the project and how services are delivered. Each project does this slightly differently so please speak to your Client Involvement Staff Representative for further information. Your Client Reps are there in order to help enable you to have your voice heard about anything you think might benefit the service. When I heard that BHT was looking for clients to sit on the interview panel for a new Floating Support Worker, I thought yeah, why not, seeing I’ve been there, done that, what have I got to lose? www.bht.org.uk 5 express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 BHT Women’s Involvement Network (WIN) by Emily Stray, Project Facilitator WIN is a Hastings-based outreach service which supports women who feel marginalised, isolated or lacking in confidence due to their current or previous circumstances. There is no strict criteria to join, other than that you will gain something from the learning, social activities and group work we do together. Usually, I visit clients out in the community, somewhere they feel comfortable, usually a coffee shop near to where they live until they feel OK to come and join a group, or I can refer them to other services if that is more suitable. I have had positive feedback from clients saying they really enjoy and look forward to the art sessions which gives them a chance to switch off in a relaxed environment. The pictures were produced by women who attended the session “Something positive for you” co-facilitated by a client who is a talented artist. 6 www.bht.org.uk For more information or to join WIN, please contact Emily Stray, Project Facilitator at BHT Finding Futures on 01424 718984 or by emailing [email protected] express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Involvement BHT Pride 2014 by Travis Cox, BHT Pride Organiser This year’s theme is DISCO, but Pride are also looking to highlight the countries around the world where it’s illegal for a person to be open about their feelings and stand up as part of the world LGBTU community. We have managed to hire a 1970’s style open top bus, so we will drive to the march in style. Of course the bus will be covered with banners, signs and all of us will be dressed to impress, (D.I.S.C.O) style. The pride group meets at First Base monthly, eventually moving to weekly sessions towards the run up to the pride celebrations. Everyone is welcome. We are going to make banners and signs highlighting the countries around the world where its’ still illegal for people to express their feelings and live as part of the world LGBTU community. The group will also highlight the countries where the governments have decided to do a U turn on their legal responsibilities to their LGBTU community. We welcome everyone from across BHT, staff and clients alike, to roll up their rainbow sleeves and get involved. We are also looking for as many donations as possible, fabric pens, markers, paper etc. Anything that will make the BHT Pride bus stands out from the crowd. BHT’s PASH project works with homeless and insecurely housed men and women in Brighton to promote better sexual health and increase access to sexual health services. PASH works with clients from First Base Day Centre and those living in hostels and other venues around the city. To get involved please contact Travis Cox by emailing [email protected] If you are homeless or insecurely housed and would like some information or support from PASH please call 01273 326844 www.bht.org.uk 7 Involvement express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 History in the Making In January, Spoken Memoirs, partners in a charity that promotes educational and social creative media projects, visited BHT Finding Futures to give an overview of their ‘Voices of Jubilation’ project. ‘Voices of Jubilation’ is a research project which explores the reign of Elizabeth II 60 years on from her coronation celebration in 1953, and examines the experiences of those who worked on and participated in the Coronation in June 1953, Silver Jubilee in 1977, Golden Jubilee in 2002 and the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The stories of ordinary people come alive through documentary research at museums, libraries and archives across East Sussex. Nine BHT Finding Futures learners joined the session and were excited and enthusiastic about taking part. Sound Architect arranged for the group to visit ‘The Keep’, the new state-of-the-art historical resource at Falmer which was opened by the Queen in October 2013. This houses the archive of East Sussex and Brighton & Hove local history and Special Collections of the University of Sussex including the Kipling papers, Bloomsbury collections and internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive which the group were introduced to as well as archive material relating to Elizabeth II’s reign. 8 www.bht.org.uk It was amazing... it was lovely to hear other people’s stories of jubilee parties and share memories. Diane Fox, BHT Finding Futures Ambassador For more information, please visit www.soundarchitect.org.uk and www.thekeep.info/ express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Involvement Listening to Our Young People Joanna, BHT Hastings Young People’s Service (HYPS) Client Representative and Hastings Youth Council Member talks to John, HYPS Life Skills Coach John Hi Jo, thanks for giving me a few minutes of your time. I am interested to know how you got involved in Hastings Youth Council. Jo It was through Dereck, a staff member at Brittany Road, who asked me if I would be interested. He put my name forward and I was contacted by Emile, a youth worker at the council and took it from there. John So, what sort of issues have you been raising at the Youth Council? Jo My first meeting was with a local councillor who asked us about issues we felt were important to young people. We talked a lot about depression in young people and how this is not really dealt with. I raised issues around sexual health and others talked about getting more youth clubs and leisure activities. I think there should be a place where young people go, hang out and listen to music. improve my campaigning skills as I am passionate about increasing young people’s knowledge and awareness of Sexually Transmitted Infections, emotional and physical abuse and substance issues among young people. John Quite a list of skills which I am sure you can use in your other work at Brittany Road? What have you been up to here? John It sounds like you have been busy. What skills have you learnt that may help you in the future? Jo I have been here nearly five months now and I would really like to improve Brittany Road, how it looks and improve resident involvement. I am a Client Rep and not enough of the residents attend or join in the meetings so we are going to change the day and time. I am also working to revise the house rules and was really pleased that we managed to change the toilets to male and female bathrooms, although I think the boys are still using the female bathroom!! Jo I think I will be a better communicator, already I feel my own confidence is improving as I learn how to interact with different people. I also want to John Well good luck in trying to resolve that issue Jo and good luck with all your other work and thanks again for talking to me. I also raised the issue of Brittany Road as I have loads of ideas for raising money to help redecorate the place particularly the communal areas and peoples rooms. They are really dark and depressing so some fund-raising may help get people together to brighten the place up. www.bht.org.uk 9 express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Interview with Cherry by Martine Carruthers, Hasting’s Young People’s Service (HYPS) Life Skills Coach Trevisse Smith, known to just about everyone as Cherry, has been a HYPS resident since early October last year. In January 2014 she was asked by her key worker if she would be interested in becoming a member of East Sussex Crime Commissioner’s Youth Council, and curiosity and a desire to do something different got the better of her. Cherry applied and after a telephone interview was invited to a two day training and information workshop held in the Jubilee Library in Brighton. Cherry was one of just three young people from Hastings to be appointed to the panel. She has already given a presentation to an audience of 300 people, including local dignitaries at an awards ceremony at Hasting’s White Rock Theatre. Future plans include giving presentations at schools and colleges about her role and anti bullying campaign. I asked Cherry about her role and how it would help young people: 10 www.bht.org.uk My special project is about preventing bullying. I hope to help develop better relations and understanding between children and young people and the police. I’ve already grown up a lot doing this and hanging out with older people. It’s changed my attitude to the police and others, as I’m more thoughtful and better at seeing the big picture. I hope to be a good role model for children and young people. It has opened doors for me. I never thought I could do anything like this! express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Involvement HYPS Social Media and Empowerment Project by Dereck, Hastings Young People’s Service Support Worker 'Empowerment' is a new social media partnership project between Hastings Young People's Service (HYPS), Eastbourne YMCA and Talkativeonline, funded by a bursary from East Sussex County Council Supporting People. HYPS is in part a contracted service commissioned by East Sussex County Council’s Supporting People. The contract requires us to deliver a tailored structured plan to enable independent living for each client. Gina, a HYPS resident, is one of the driving forces behind the project. Her peer partner Michael, an Eastbourne YMCA ex- client, and Talkativeonline, an online social media company are looking for exciting and innovative ways to make use of social media that will add value to the support they receive in their respective projects. One aspect of social media that has caught the attention of Gina is Vine, a way of creating short looping videos for friends and family. Gina is exploring how these could be used to support and provide information to present and future residents. If like me you are concerned that the world of social media is all too complicated, fear not, as part of Gina’s brief is to prepare a presentation so that even the most entrenched luddite like myself can at last embrace the technical world of social media. This has been a great opportunity for Gina to build her confidence and add to her CV. Gina's effort and enthusiasm for the project is proving to be catching within HYPS and we now have other residents looking for similar opportunities. www.bht.org.uk 11 express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Research Saves Lives by the Sussex Partnership Trust Mental Health Research Network Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT) knows that research leads to better health services and improves lives. The SPFT prioritises research and is leading nationally important research into mental health conditions and treatment. There are many new research studies and the researchers need people to take part. This may involve receiving a new type of therapy, completing a questionnaire or being interviewed by researchers. People value the opportunity to get involved in research and speak very positively about what it was like. Hear their comments in a film we made at www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/r-and-d/ involvement The Research Network was set up to give people opportunities to take part in studies and keep up to date with the latest research. Everyone I met was very pleasant and helpful. I had a brilliant experience - it was really worth it. Pam, Brighton mental health service user 12 www.bht.org.uk If you join the Research Network you will: • • • be contacted about research studies you can choose to participate in receive a research magazine to find out more about the impact of research and how others have become involved learn about local research and events Join the Research Network today! Sign-up online at www.sussexpartnership. nhs.uk/r-and-d/involvement/researchnetwork, call 01273 265896 or email research@ sussexpartnership.nhs.uk This summer, SPTs’ Mental Health Research Network will be holding information open days within BHT Projects. Email [email protected] or call Andrea on 01273 645468 for further information. express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Achievement Recovery on the Sea Shore Painting by David Ward Shore House, a new recovery project set up to provide support to 20 individuals with mental health issues opened its doors to its first residents on Monday 3 February. The emphasis is firmly on Client Involvement and with this in mind an extensive programme of life skills groups and activities is planned. Craft, cooking, gardening and IT skills groups are underway and a meeting has just taken place to discuss clients' interests and further suggestions. This was well attended and some brilliant and creative ideas were put forward: social support groups, weaving, guitar classes, art, poetry, relaxation and a walking group to name but a few. Shore House gives me the opportunities to go in the right direction. I’ve got a lovely room with two big picture windows and a brand new bed. Every week that goes past I am getting more confident in myself. It is hoped that through this programme, which will also include life skills classes such as money management, assertiveness, sleep, hygiene, living independently and alcohol and substance support and advice, clients will be able to learn new skills, gain confidence and move forward with their recovery. I love it here. I’ve done the gardening group and I’ve found out I’ve got green fingers! It’s nice and quiet to do my art work and I get on with the residents okay, I get to play scrabble and do other groups. www.bht.org.uk 13 Achievement express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Seven Sisters and Brothers by Mark Keating BHT Recovery Project client Walking along the Seven Sisters was an experience I shall never forget. It is something I never dreamed possible last summer, but thanks to the Detox Support Project, the Recovery Project and BHT I walked with ten other people in recovery on a wonderful sunlit day, laughing and joking as we went. It was a chance for us all to bond as friends, supporting one another as we made our way together through woods, across fields and along the cliffs. I couldn’t walk at all last year, and I know others also had serious consequences from their alcohol and drug use, but we were all clean and healthy this day, and I believe it gave us all a sense that life is worth living after all. Thank you BHT! 14 www.bht.org.uk express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Achievement Route One Client Representatives Move On by Gerry Clarke and David Foley, Route One Client Involvement Staff Representatives On Friday 25 April at Route One we had an ending meeting with our Client Involvement Representative Steven, who is moving onto pastures new. Steven has been an active participant in his role as Client Involvement Representative and along with Client Involvement Representatives Sonja and Sybil established a dynamic Client Involvement service for all Route One clients and for BHT. Steven is now working as a Peer Support Worker for BHT’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and moving to a new flat as is Sonja, who has also moved on. Steven’s case sums up very neatly the essential role that a Client Involvement Representative can make in creating positive changes and opportunities in their life and we wish him well for the future. If you would like to find out more about becoming a Client Representative within your BHT project, please contact your Client Involvement Staff Representative or Andrea Horwood, Client Involvement Coordinator, by calling 01273 645468 or emailing [email protected] My role as Client Involvement Representative for Route One has helped me to become a more confident person in group situations and as an individual. Steven, Route One Client Representative www.bht.org.uk 15 express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 The BMECP Community Champions Programme by Alieu Marr, Community Champion As a Community Champion I have the great pleasure to introduce the Community Champions as a group. The main aim of the BMECP Community Champions programme is to build the capacity of local black and minority ethnic (BME) communities to engage with decision making processes and other local developments that affect their lives. Acting as a link The Community Champions will act as a link between their communities, key BME organisations and local services. This programme will empower communities to articulate their problems and come up with their own solutions working through their community champions. 16 www.bht.org.uk Skills Amongst other things, we have learnt Presentation, Assertiveness and Research skills. Thanks On behalf of the group, may I take the opportunity to say thank you to the BMECP, especially Doris Ndeble, Chief Officer and also a special thanks to Yaa Asare who has supported us through this wonderful three months of skills training to become Community Champions. express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Achievement Untitled in the style of Andy Warhol by AA, charcoal on paper AA is 15, a College Central student and attends the PFL (Personalised Foundation Learning) Core+ provision. at Finding Futures. Students are given support with functional skills and achieving Level One English, Maths and ICT qualifications prior to going onto college, work or an apprenticeship. Finding Futures offers a personal, self-development and motivational programme for all ages, where people can improve their life skills alongside the opportunity to gain meaningful qualifications in English, Maths, ICT, Employability Skills and a wide range of vocational qualifications. For more information, please call 01424 718984 or email [email protected] Andy Warhol inspired me to do this piece of art work, we were learning about Pop Art. When I am older I want to be an artist. AA, Finding Futures PFL student www.bht.org.uk 17 Spotlight on... express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 The Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and Threshold Counselling By Claire Baldock We have recently moved to new premises with a larger, brighter Drop-in, lovely furnished counselling rooms and an art therapy room. Threshold offers one to one counselling with fully qualified counsellors in a safe and confidential space where you can explore thoughts and feelings, identify difficulties and move towards a solution for the challenges you face. We also offer wellbeing workshops, lifeskills groups and drop-in activities. Threshold’s women only service operates on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week the service is open to both women and men. Future Art Workshops will take place on Tuesday 3 and 17 June from 1pm-3pm. Because the workshops take place on a Tuesday they are open to women only. Introducing our new Client Rep Lisa has been using the service for the past two years. She has included the use of art in her therapy and has taken part in a successful art installation at the Jubilee Library. Upcoming groups Improve Your Mood is a wellbeing group for men and women, with the next session running for four weeks on Thursday June 5,12, 19 and 27 from 2pm3.30pm. It will also run in July. The group aims to support you to understand the cause of low mood, improve awareness of how it affects you and recognise the positives in your life. The course will also assist you to develop strategies to help you to move forward. Art therapy workshops The emphasis on the workshops is to explore creativity in a safe environment. All artistic abilities are welcome and the process of creating is seen as more important than what is created. At our first workshop we used images to create collages of the things we wanted to call into our lives. 18 www.bht.org.uk Angel Art by Lisa The painting shown above is a spiritual painting which Lisa created for World Mental Health Day. Lisa has also attended counselling sessions at our service. express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 New Peer Support Volunteers We have recently set up a Peer Support Volunteer Programme for people with an understanding of mental health to facilitate groups or workshops with clients supported by the Peer Support Intern and Mentor. The programme offers employability skills and helps build confidence. We are currently training five Peer Support Volunteers and will be running the application process again in August. If you are interested in becoming a Peer Support Volunteer please contact us on 01273 929471 or email [email protected] Access to the Threshold Counselling service is via self referral. To download the application form please visit www.bht.org.uk and look under services / mental health & wellbeing. You can also call us on 01273 929471 or ask your keyworker to assist you with your referral. Spotlight on... On the outside I was a successful and competent manager, wife, mother and daughter. Inside I felt anxious, overwhelmed, not good enough, and frightened that when the next of life’s challenges came along, I wouldn’t be able to deal with it. I can’t recall everything I talked about in those sessions but I know I didn’t stop talking, not even to cry. I left with a clarity and understanding of my thoughts that I had been struggling to find for nearly four years. I found the courage to make changes in my work and family life. Accessing the service has led me to take on the role as the Client Rep which is something I am really looking forward to. Lisa, Client Representative www.bht.org.uk 19 Achievement express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 My China Discovery Tour by Gordon Scott, Client Hub Community Reporter When my sister Sylvia suggested I might go to China with her, I was uncertain. However, with the support of the psychiatrist Dr Bongale, it helped me decide. Mercury Direct are a good value travel company and this tour was no exception. The ‘China Discovery Tour’ is recommended for first time visitors to the Orient, but not for those, perhaps who have never flown long-distance-the flight is about 14 hours. The holiday jaunt took in Shanghai, Xian and Beijing. A guide was included. Max, a friendly and efficient guardian of our safety and mine of information. The food was well prepared and simple fare. Strangely, soup was eaten last and resembled leftover vegetable water with chards of lettuce in it. The brief time we were there, it was Chinese New Year – the year of the horse. The Little Drummer Boy and Kyrie Eleison provided the musical backdrop on my journey. Shanghai particularly impressed. 25 million people enjoyed buildings covered in neon lights, with boats on the river covered in them too. A golden galleon floated by and a smog-laden view from a tower and museum visit completed the stay. Then onto the flight to Xian and seeing the terracotta army museum of statues, several 20 www.bht.org.uk hundred of them unearthed in 1973 by a farmer tending his well. The Great Wall was the best part of the trip. A once in a lifetime thing-one felt a sense of achievement Then Tianamen Square. This visit completed the holiday and I enjoyed the experience of being in such a famous place. express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Through your eyes 3P Life: Less Stress, More Happiness by Robert Frith In a nutshell, this philosophy, taught in the United States as well as in England, is a fantastic programme of self development that both challenges and changes the way we all think about everything in life. Such a change in the way of thinking actively encourages all of us to rethink the way in which we perceive everything, in particular the way that we see and deal with life's problems. It is about turning all negative thinking into positive thinking, thereby empowering us to face up to life's problems much more easily and to be able to deal with things in a calm and constructive matter of fact way. I believe that a universal shift in our thinking patterns would and could have a dramatic effect on life as we know it, certainly better decisions would be made by the governments of the world that would surely be for the benefit of everyone. In the meantime we all should know that we have the power within ourselves to change our thought patterns and that we can make things better for ourselves. In so doing we can all start to feel so very much better about our own individual lives, take greater levels of responsibility for our actions, behave more compassionately towards our fellow human beings, and as a result enjoy a much improved state of mental well being. www.bht.org.uk 21 Through your eyes express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Robert Grant’s ‘The Judas Tree’ Reviewed by Chris Ellis, Client Hub Community Reporter Having met and talked with Robert, when he first said he had written this book I was really looking forward to reading it. Then he asked me to write a review... What if I didn’t like it or it was badly written? A host of other qualms hit me. But I did agree, and I’m glad I did. What started out as a bit of a frightening chore ended up being a pleasure; each poem is a standalone piece, and they bought to mind images of my own past. Those things in my life that I had not thought about in years. It did what good poetry should; it entertained on one level, and on so many others evoked thoughts and feelings. Not always comfortable ones, but when a good writer reveals himself through his words it allows us the reader to find something within our own lives. As a whole, right from the start I had the impression that Robert is influenced by the great war poets, and the poem ‘A Wild Rose’ bears this out. The language though is modern, and at times not for the faint of heart, but it is well worth reading. I later did a little re-reading just to pick up on those things that you miss the first time around. Reading it for the first time was a pleasure, and the pleasure I’m sure will not diminish in the future, when just like a good piece of favourite music I go back to revisit it time and again. The book now stands in my book collection, and will be one of those books I dip into every now and again. Robert’s book is available from Amazon at www.amazon.co.uk 22 www.bht.org.uk express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Through your eyes Me, My Mental Health and I I was just an ordinary middle aged female running a pub restaurant business until I lost it all. No one can imagine what it feels like to lose a business, a home and a family in a matter of days when you think your life is sorted. First Time in a Long Time… Cooking by Owen Thomas, Detox Support project I found myself homeless and in a bad place where my mental health was concerned. I wanted to harm myself and was extremely depressed. I often had suicidal thoughts and relied on my true friends to keep me functioning on my worse days. It would have been easy to turn to alcohol or drugs to get me through the worst moments but I didn't and I realised that there was still hope. I learnt how to recover from my depression by using my hobbies to craft new things. My passion for photography led me to spend many hours of my time taking pictures of anything that caught my eye and rarely do I go anywhere without my camera. It has been a slow road through, recovering my strength along the way. I have learnt that I am stronger than I think and also to accept that I am vulnerable but that it is ok. Artwork by Denny Hutchison www.bht.org.uk 23 express | Issue 14 | Summer 2014 Contact details Address 144 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4PH Phone 07775 724799 Email [email protected] Twitter @BHTClientHub Facebook BHTClientHub Client Hub www.bht.org.uk/client-hub What’s In It For Us? View opportunities to get involved across BHT, find out what’s happening in your local area and sign up to volunteering opportunities. www.bht.org.uk/client-hub/whats-in-it-for-us/ Talk to Us Read and listen to the experiences of BHT clients; how BHT clients are getting involved and taking on the issues that matter to them. www.bht.org.uk/client-hub/talk-to-us/ How are BHT doing? Listening to BHT clients helps BHT improve services. In this section, you can provide feedback and find out what BHT does with it. www.bht.org.uk/client-hub/how-are-bht-doing/ BHT - Registered Charity No. 284839. Design, layout and editorial services by: Homes and Communities Agency H1696. Combating Homelessness Creating Opportunities Promoting Change Company limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No 1618610. Registered Office: 144 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4PH 07710 614937 [email protected] http://bht-design.org.uk www.bht.org.uk 24