‘We’ve not felt abandoned during crisis’ How mental health help has adapted
A Stirling mental health charity has been supporting people battling loneliness and isolation during the coronavirus lockdown.
Action in Mind is a mental health charity that was set up more than 30 years ago and is based in Riverside.
Since the UK plunged in to lockdown back in March, support workers from the charity have been running services remotely, with clients receiving support by telephone or video call.
Katie Heslop, from Action in Mind, detailed some of initiatives introduced to tackle loneliness and isolation. She said: “When the government relaxed some of the lockdown guidelines we have changed in line with them – I now meet up with clients for socially distanced walks. This is having a positive effect on both mental and physical health.
“I have also had a very positive comment last week from a client where they said that as their support has been delivered over the phone for the duration of lockdown they now feel more confident answering the phone and engaging with people that way.
“The Home Support Service have also been supporting people in critical need in the home.”
Services offered by its hub, adult befriending service, counselling, home support and rural outreach.
“The hub service and the Young Persons Social Support group are peer support groups and as such it is unlikely that the groups will be able to run as they are intended for a considerable amount of time due to the government guidelines around group work”, added Katie.
“These groups have continued to run remotely on Zoom with the Hub offering two Zoom sessions per day for service users to attend. This has been very important in maintaining the supportive relationships that the service users have with one another.
“We have also started up a new service in response to Covid-19 and lockdown called Time and Space. Time and Space is a listening service delivered over the phone or via video call and it’s to support people who are finding it challenging to cope with the impact that coronavirus and lockdown has had on their lives.
“We have found that the people who are receiving support from this service have never received mental health support in the past – I think this illustrates how far reaching the impact of Covid-19 has been on our mental health.”
The service is still open for referrals. A number of service users have detailed the support they have received through lockdown.
One said: “Since lockdown the hub has been only support I’ve had, and I look forward to my calls from Karen who always seems to be able to help me deal with my problems.”
Another added: “The hub service through Zoom has helped us in so many ways in overcoming that initial fear and feelings of isolation. It has continued to provide peer support and allow us to share our experiences: joy, sadness, stress, gardening, baking, DIY, crafting and give advice and support to each other over the past four months. We have enjoyed some tours of our home and gardens. We have had someone to listen to us when we have had a crisis. We have found hope and comfort in knowing we are not abandoned and alone in the pandemic. On the contrary, we are cared for.”
For more information about Action in Mind and the services it provides email info@actioninmind or telephone 01786 451203.
The hub service has allowed us to shares our experiences: joy, sadness, stress, gardening, baking, DIY crafting Service user