Help offered to all
a little bit about what they are feeling and quite a few have come forward.
“We have also been helping people who have been sent to hospital, both before and after.
“We speak to families and to doctors, any way we can to help out.
“We have also started an overnight call service to help those who are struggling and can’t sleep.
“Of the 1100 that are members we have directly helped 965 of them. We also have 19 administrators signed up in just three months.
“A lot of people have been struggling with mental health and seeing people meet face-toface for a walk means the world to them.
“They can speak to each other
Healing Together founder and trustee Roxanne Kerr announced a new mental wellbeing festival and to us and that will build confidence up for people coming out of lockdown.”
This week also saw a Perth and Kinross charity win funding to put on a new wellbeing festival in the area amid the mental health crisis caused by the pandemic.
Trauma Healing Together (THT), a mental health charity set up in 2020, has been granted £9100 from the National Lottery Community Fund to organise the Perth and Kinross Mental Health and Wellbeing Festival, which will take place between August 9-15.
THT’s festival will be held entirely online and will include virtual workshops by a number of local organisations.
There will also be educational webinars designed to reduce stigma around mental health,
Q&A sessions with organisations that provide mental health services in the area, and a series of podcasts on mental health topics.
Among the organisations which have already signed up to are The Stephen Lyon Organisation, a Kinross community-based group empowering people who experience suicidal thoughts; All Strong, a social enterprise providing fitness activities to help people self-manage their mental health; Starting Step, a social enterprise dedicated to providing those who suffer from social disadvantage with the tools to be the best they can be; and Plus Perth, a charity whose mission is to improve the lives of residents of Perth and Kinross who have experienced mental distress.
In addition, THT is appealing to any other interested third sector organisations within the Perth and Kinross area to sign up to the festival.
THT founder and trustee Roxanne Kerr said: “After almost a year of people living in isolation, we want to bring people together in an event which not only supports people struggling with the aftereffects of COVID-19 but also promotes the fantastic work of other not-for-profit mental health organisations in the area who continue to work tirelessly to support people with their mental health.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on people’s mental health, and this will likely continue for many years after the crisis has ended.”
Points of contact for these charities are:
• www.facebook.com/ andysmanclubperth
• www,lighthouseforperth.org/ • www.facebook.com/groups /2954840038175127/?ref=share
• www.traumahealingtogether. org/