Human Rights Day 2022

Today is the final day of 16 Days of Action against Domestic Abuse, ending on Human Rights Day.  

Human Rights Day is every year on 10 December, the day the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The UDHR states the rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Find out more: Human Rights Day | United Nations 

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world. In the UK human rights are protected by the Human Rights Act 1998. Some of those rights include; your right to life, your right to personal liberty, your right to freedom of expression, your right to non-discrimination and your right to not be treated in an inhuman way. 

You can find out more about Human Rights in the UK on the Citizens Advice website here, as well as what to do if you feel your rights have been breached: Human rights – Citizens Advice 

16 Days of Action is all about raising awareness of the presence of domestic abuse and violence towards women and girls in our society. Human Rights Day is an important reminder that everyone has a right to be treated fairly, and humanely.  

Everyone deserves to access support like ours, to help them live a better, safer life for themselves and their family.  

You can find out more about our Domestic Abuse Services at Richmond Fellowship here. 

For immediate support please see the below helplines: 

16 Days of Action against Domestic Abuse

16 Days of Action against Domestic Abuse

16 Days of Action25 November marks the beginning of 16 Days of Action, an important campaign that raises awareness and calls for change to end domestic abuse. It begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, an awareness day aiming to make women and girls safe from abuse and ends on International Human Rights Day.

The 25 November also marks White Ribbon Day, a day inspired by The White Ribbon Pledge led by men who campaign to stop violence against women and break down long established harmful attitudes and behaviours around masculinity.

Did you know:
Globally, an estimated 736 million women—almost 1 in 3 —have been subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life. As well as this, approximately 400,000 perpetrators per year cause medium and high levels of harm, yet fewer than 1% received specialist intervention that might stop the violence.

Our Domestic Abuse Services are an important part of Richmond Fellowship, and the wider Recovery Focus Group. They have been pioneering in the fight to end violence against women and girls for over 30 years now.

Our skilled staff work hard to ensure we take action against domestic abuse every day. Our Perpetrator and Survivor services move the accountability over to the perpetrator and shift blame away from the victims and survivors. This is a vital approach in addressing domestic abuse at the root cause.

Over on our Richmond Fellowship Facebook and Twitter, we’ll be raising awareness and signposting to support. We’ll also be talking about the work of our specialist domestic abuse services. Make sure you follow and reshare our posts to help keep the conversation going and spread awareness as part of 16 Days of Action.

Find out more about our Domestic Abuse Services.

Looking for support?

  • Refuge, 24-hour National Women’s Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247
  • Respect, Men’s Advice Line: 0808 8010327
  • Galop, National LBGTQ+ Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0800 999 5428
  • If you are at serious risk of harm or immediate danger to life, call 999.
  • Ask for ANI, in your local Pharmacy.

Cambridgeshire Employment Services update

Changes to our Cambridgeshire Employment Services

Employment ServiceThe Richmond Fellowship Cambridgeshire Access To Work Service will be closing on the 30 November 2022. However, we continue to provide our Retain Regain and Autism Asperger’s Employment Services across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, and Bedfordshire.

Our specialist employment services provide one to one support for people who are:

  • In work, experiencing mental health challenges and need support to either retain their current employment, return to their current job role or find alternative employment.

OR

  • Out of work due to mental health challenges and are keen to return to employment, voluntary work, education or training.

Find out more about our Employment Services at Richmond Fellowship.

Any new referrals received for the Cambridgeshire Access to Work service between now and the end of November will be accepted and subject to their consent, their details will be transferred across to either the CPFT IPS service or Lifecraft Careers and Employment Service.

Should you wish to speak with an Employment Advisor to discuss your needs in greater detail or to find out how we can support you at this time, please get in touch by calling us on 01223 301032.

If you find yourselves in any kind of mental health distress and feel that you are in need of urgent support, you can access the following free of charge:

  • NHS 111, option 2 (24 hrs)
  • Lifeline 0808 8082121 (11am – 11pm every day including Bank Holidays.)
  • Samaritans 116 123 (24 hrs a day, 365 days a year or email jo@samaritans.org)
  • CPSL Mind 0300 3034363 or cpslmind.org.uk (24hrs a day, 365 days a year).

If you are a referrer and would like to speak with a member of the team to discuss your client’s needs in greater detail please do so by calling 01223 301032.

Cambridgeshire Retain Regain and Autism Asperger’s service remains open and accessible to all. All referrals can be made in the usual way using the following email address: cambs&beds.referrals@richmondfellowship.org.uk or by calling 01223 301032 or 01480 456257.

Find out more about our Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire Employment Service.

International Men’s Day 2022 – Karl’s Blog

As part of International Men’s Day 2022, we’re shining the spotlight on some of the issues affecting men and boys and showing that a career in the charity and care sector is something men can aspire to.

Karl began receiving support from Richmond Fellowship in 2016 after being out of work for many years.

Since 2019 he’s worked as a Peer Support Coordinator at our Kirklees Employment service in Yorkshire. Karl explains how taking up learning and development opportunities has helped him get where he is today.

“With the supportive guidance of my Employment Advisor, I began the first tentative steps in my recovery journey. I attended several courses organized by Richmond Fellowship, specifically designed to help me rebuild my confidence, remain well and develop the practical skills to help me attain either voluntary or paid employment.

Witnessing the inspirational ways in which volunteers co-facilitated these groups alongside full-time members of staff, led me to enquire about the voluntary opportunities available at Richmond Fellowship. After completing the application process, I began my volunteer role, which involved assisting people we support with a basic IT course. I went on to volunteer on other courses and this culminated in my enrolment on the Level 2 accredited volunteer training course, where   I developed a range of new skills and improved existing ones. I found this to be an extremely rewarding and eye-opening experience.

Not long after this, my Peer Support Coordinator told me that she was going on maternity leave and, with her encouragement, I was able to draw on my newly awakened sense of self-worth and my positive experiences as a volunteer to apply for her post. Much to my surprise and excitement, I was offered the job.

I have found my role as Peer Support Coordinator to be a thoroughly enjoyable, enriching, and positive experience. I look forward to going to work every day and I also have the privilege of helping other people (both people using our services and volunteers) on their own individual recovery journeys.

Without meaning to sound overly dramatic, Richmond Fellowship and the services it provides has transformed my life completely and enabled me to leave my debilitating mental health issues in the past”.

Throughout his time as Peer Support Coordinator, Karl has completed several training and development courses including Train the Trainer, Recruitment and Selection, Suicide Intervention and the Deliver and Assessing course, which will enable him to run the accredited volunteer training.

As well as taking part in many of the courses himself, Karl also continues to work hard to look at new ways of involving the people we support, through improving existing training courses and creating new ones to meet people’s individual needs and goals.

Inspired to work for us? Check out our latest vacancies on our online jobs portal today.

If you’re a man struggling with your mental health or experiencing domestic abuse, please see our need urgent help page to signpost you to the correct services.

Richmond Fellowship is a national mental health charity and we welcome donations and fundraising to help support our frontline services. Click here to fundraise or donate to us today!

International Men’s Day 2022 – John’s Blog

As part of International Men’s Day 2022, we’re shining the spotlight on some of the issues affecting men and boys and showing that a career in the charity and care sector is something men can aspire to.

As one of the largest mental health charities in England, people we support often come to work for us themselves. Lived experience is something we’re passionate about as an organisation.

John, an Employment Advisor at our Cambridgeshire Employment service tells us about his journey from a person we support, to his current role in our charity.

“Like everyone, we all have a story to tell, something that shapes us into who we are today. My story is a long one so I will try and make this as concise as possible.

I am a 48-year-old male. I would say I first experienced mental ill health in my early to mid-teens. I can say now that I didn’t fully acknowledge my wellbeing or respect the connection to my physical health as I was growing up but that was the attitude and culture of the day at the time.

I had a pessimistic attitude. I had a breakdown in February 2012 due to work and I made the decision to leave my employment the following month. My GP referred me to Richmond Fellowship straight away and I got to speak to an Employment Advisor quickly. I was receiving support from another mental health charity at the same time.

The support I received from Richmond Fellowship was exactly what I needed. That holistic approach to my recovery was key. I was also getting conflicting advice from the other charity regarding my employment situation, and I didn’t feel that they really helped with my mental health, not the way Richmond Fellowship did.

I noticed a vacancy for an Employment Advisor, while I was accessing the service and was supported to apply for the role I am doing today.

I was now embedded in a team where there were no issues between colleagues, and everyone wanted me to succeed and took the time to help me learn my job. I quickly realised that my attitude was changing from pessimistic to optimistic.

My job is to support individuals to find work or stay in their job but imbedded in that support is advice and guidance on maintaining and improving their mental health. I get to make their recovery a reality!

There are various figures out there. Basically men are three times more likely than women to take/end their life.

As a society we are slowly moving in the right direction, getting men to open up and talk about their mental health, moving away from the macho ‘men don’t cry’ and ‘man up’ culture. Having man caves, Men’s Sheds, Andy’s Man Club and other smaller charities are an excellent opportunity for men to talk”.

Inspired to work for us? Check out our latest vacancies on our online jobs portal today.

If you’re a man struggling with your mental health or experiencing domestic abuse, please see our need urgent help page to signpost you to the correct services.

Richmond Fellowship is a national mental health charity and we welcome donations and fundraising to help support our frontline services. Click here to fundraise or donate to us today!

International Men’s Day 2022 – How we’re recognising it

Today is International Men’s Day.

The day looks to highlight some of the issues affecting men and boys in the UK and around the world.

This includes:

  • The high rate of male suicide (suicide remains the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK)
  • Male victims and survivors of domestic abuse and violence (1 in 6 to 7 men experience a form of domestic abuse in their lifetime)
  • Highlighting positive male role models

One of the areas the day also looks to shine the spotlight on is sectors and workplaces where men can be under-represented.

At Richmond Fellowship, less than 25% of those in our workforce are men. As one of the leading mental health charities in England we’re aware of how important it is to have a diverse workforce across our organisation and we must do more to ensure we reflect society as a whole.

A career in social care or the charity sector is something men can aspire to. Across today on our social media, we’ll be sharing stories from two men, Karl and John who used Richmond Fellowship services and now work in frontline roles to inspire others on their recovery journeys.

Robert Templeton, Director of Operations at Richmond Fellowship previously worked as a social worker himself. Robert says:

“I started my career as a social worker. It is one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve done. The fact you’re able to support some of the most vulnerable in society at the most challenging points in their lives is something that always stays with me. I’d urge any man who thinks a career in the mental health sector isn’t for them to read our inspiring staff blogs from today – as you too, can really make a difference.

We are aware of the alarming rate of men taking their own lives. Suicide in men remains the biggest killer under the age of 45. This is something that must be tackled as priority in society, and we must make sure mental health services are addressing this issue head on.

As an organisation, we are also aware of the impact domestic abuse has on male survivors and we have men with lived experience of this within our staff teams and the people we support. There are dedicated charities and partners we signpost to and work with, to ensure those men most at risk receive the tailored support they need.

International Men’s Day is a great platform for us to talk about these important issues”.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @rfmentalhealth.

Inspired to work for us? Check out our latest vacancies on our online jobs portal today.

If you’re a man struggling with your mental health or experiencing domestic abuse, please see our need urgent help page to signpost you to the correct services.

Richmond Fellowship is a national mental health charity and we welcome donations and fundraising to help support our frontline services. Click here to fundraise or donate to us today!

Black History Month – sharing stories from our services

October is Black History Month, this year we have adopted the theme from a respected official Black History month organiser ‘Time For Change: Action Not Words’. This year is about going beyond celebrating and remembering history, we want to recognise the achievements and contributions that Black people and the Black community make to the UK every day.  

In keeping with this Recovery Focus and its partners want to celebrate what services, staff and people we support are doing to mark Black History Month and make a difference in their local communities. 

Today we are hearing from Nisha, one of our Employment Specialist’s at our Surrey Employment Advisor’s in IAPT (Improving Access to Psychologial Therapies) Service. Our Employment Services support people experiencing mental ill health to regain meaningful employment, training, education or volunteering opportunities that are right for them. 

Nisha shares the story of a person we supported who experienced microaggressions in the workplace, which have led to a job tribunal. Nisha walks us through the support she offered at our Surrey IAPT Employment Service, and shares her own thoughts on microaggressions and stereotyping in the workplace. 

I am an Employment Specialist working jointly with IAPT services in Surrey at our Richmond Fellowship Surrey EA’s in IAPT Service. I have been working as an Employment Specialist for almost three years.  

The experience of our client

Six months ago, I received a referral from a therapist, this client wanted to find another job or to resolve her current work situation. When I spoke to this client, she reported that she was working as a waitress but had been suspended from work with full pay. This client is a black woman and was suspended because of behaviour the employer claimed was inappropriate. 

The client received a call from her manager accusing her of not completing a task. The manager used foul language over the phone and threatened to fire her, the client was shocked with everything she heard and felt bullied. She decided to go into work to explain the misunderstanding. 

In the office, she found her white manager and colleagues, the client meant no harm, but her behaviour was perceived as aggressive, she was asked to leave the premises, as she did one of her work colleagues used inappropriate language towards her.  

She was called for a meeting regarding her behaviour and then was shown a camera which she didn’t know was in the office. The decision made by her company was for her behaviour to be monitored for 12 months without training.  

The support we gave at Surrey EA’s in IAPT

When she came to Surrey EAs in IAPT, she wanted to appeal against the suspension and make a grievance appeal against her two-work colleagues. In our sessions we focused on the suspension appeal and have been asking her company to provide the sound of the video, as the video was used as evidence for the suspension even though it does not have any sound.  

Her company claimed she was aggressive and inappropriate towards her work colleagues. She has been arguing that it is difficult for them to measure her body language as aggressive without hearing the foul and racial comments they are using towards her.  

Because we are not legally trained, I referred her to ACAS and a no win no fee lawyer to look at her case and see if she was subject to racial discrimination. In this case, the client was assigned an early conciliator, who is a mediator on her behalf. 

She personally thinks she was discriminated against because of her expression, which did not mean any harm, but it was perceived as aggressive behaviour. The company also have hidden the verbal abuse she received and ignored the foul and abusive language directed at her from work colleagues. 

My client fully lost her confidence and trust to work with white people because of the treatment she received from her current employer. She lost weight and hair because of the stress, and in one of our sessions she broke down in tears when she tried to explain her side of the story. 

I worked with her on building up her confidence to get back to work, by looking at her previous work achievement and contribution she made. We worked on her CV and interview preparation. As an employment specialist, I could also notice her confidence building up and now she is more aware of her employment and worker rights. She now works part time hours and is working with ACAS to solve her case that is still ongoing. 

My view on microaggressions in the workplace

As an employment specialist and a woman of colour, I have dealt with a few cases, like this one, about racial discrimination at work as well as hearing from other BAME people about how they have to deal with microaggressions in the workplace.  

Microaggression is an insensitive and problematic action or statement that often plays into racial stereotypes.  

Examples of microaggressions include: 

  • Not taking the care to correctly pronounce someone’s name or asking to shorten it. 
  • Denying someone’s racial ethnicity by stating that ‘you don’t see colour’. 
  • Like this experience above, assuming a black woman is being loud and aggressive.  

We should all call out microaggressions when we see them. 

I strongly believe that cultural awareness is a positive way forward to tackle racial discrimination and microaggressions at work. We should encourage learning of other people’s cultural norms, belief, attitudes, and behaviours, rather than allowing cultural barriers to feed into the stereotyping and prejudice narrative. 

It would be good to have an environment where people could learn about other cultures and behaviours rather than just white cultural norms. For example, African and Caribbean cultures can be more expressive which may be perceived as nosy, overconfident, or disruptive by more conversative personalities. We need the space to learn about our differences. 

Other ways to counter microaggression is to encourage microaffirmation in the workplace. Microaffirmations are tiny acts of opening doors to opportunity, gestures of inclusion and caring, and graceful acts of listening. 

World Mental Health Day 2022: Tameside Lakes Challenge – supported by the National Lottery

To mark World Mental Health Day 2022 on 10 October, we’re sharing stories from across our services where local fundraising and donations is supporting our work to make recovery reality.

Our local services are at the heart of everything we do in Making Recovery Reality.

We know our staff, people we’ve supported, people with lived experience of mental ill health and businesses often want to give something back to the charity and the service that supported them. As one of the largest mental health charities in England, we’re grateful for anyone who donates or raises money for Richmond Fellowship. But where do your donations to the services we run go?

Our services will often organise fundraising activities themselves, but often, we receive donations and grants from organisations.

For example, a group of individuals from Richmond Fellowship’s Tameside Supported Housing service enjoyed a fantastic 5-day outdoor challenge holiday in the Lake District, thanks to a grant provided by the National Lottery.

People using the service had the chance to participate in an array of different challenges including caving, scrambling, zip-wiring as well as piloting a boat.

After exploring the outdoors, the group enjoyed cooking together and showing off their talent in an impromptu song and dance.

They ended each day relaxing by Lake Windermere and a wonderful starlit sky.

All those who attended received support from the service in Tameside to manage their own mental ill health.

Garry, a person who went on the experience, said:

“It was great to be in a team encouraging each other and relying on each other. It was hard pushing myself but very worthwhile. I know I can do more now.”

Inspired?

Our fundraising portal, managed by Enthuse, makes fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship and our services easy, meaning you can enjoy your fundraising without having to worry.

To find out more information about fundraising for our services click here or to visit our portal to get fundraising, click here.

Thank you for your support.

Fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship is easy!

This World Mental Health Day we’ve been sharing stories from around our services where grassroots fundraising and donations support our mission of Making Mental Health Recovery a Reality and priority.

As one of the leading mental health charities in England, we are grateful to everyone who fundraises for us, both past and present, and your donations really help our work with people we support both locally and regionally.

For example:

A £30 donation can help towards buying art materials for a wellbeing activity

A £200 donation can support a service to buy flowers, bulbs, or other gardening materials to help people we support update a communal garden area

A £1,000 donation can help towards paying for a holiday or adventure activity for the people we support

How can you fundraise for us?

We’ve made fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship as easy as possible, so you can fully enjoy the experience of raising money for us.

Our online fundraising and donations portal, managed by Enthuse, is our dedicated site for setting up your own fundraising page for raising money, or giving a simple donation to support our work.

You can share your fundraising page on social media, allowing people to donate to your activity or challenge – ensuring it reaches as bigger audience as possible.

Our Communications and Marketing Team would love to hear about your fundraising experiences so do opt into our email request to contact you when you sign up, if you wish.

Our portal also allows you to make a one off donation, or you can set up a direct debit to allow you to give monthly, with the ability for you can cancel the direct debit at any time. There’s also an option to state which service you’d like your donation to go to.

Gift Aid

Gift Aid can increase the value of your donation at no extra cost to you. Tick the Gift Aid declaration box when making your donation online.

The Government will then contribute an extra 25% on top of your donation. This means for every £1 you donate, we receive £1.25.

What can I do to fundraise?

Our Communications and Marketing Team have compiled some ideas of how you can fundraise for us and what’s worked well for previous fundraisers!

> Signing up for a local charity run, such as a Marathon or 5K
> Organising a sponsored walk with friends and family
> Hosting a bake sale at a community event
> Organising afternoon tea with a competition
> A charity quiz night
> Sponsored to give up a habit for a month – Sober October and No Shave November
> Sweepstake – guess the number in the sweet jar. Everyone that comes along gets to have a go and pay to enter
> Sponsored step count – as a team be sponsored to reach a certain number of steps in a month
> A Halloween themed event – pay £2 to enter. You might already be hosting a Halloween event this year, why not try to raise some money too? You could host a quiz? Everyone can come along dressed in their best Halloween costume!

Fundraising success stories!

Here are some examples of how your fundraising has helped our services:

> Tameside Lakes Challenge – supported by the National Lottery
> Sudbury Supported Housing service in Suffolk – fundraising at the Sudbury Fun Run
> Castle Young People Supported Housing service in Cambridge – fundraising at the Northstowe Running Festival

To fundraise or donate to Richmond Fellowship, click here.

World Mental Health Day 2022: Sudbury Supported Housing service – fundraising at the Sudbury Fun Run

To mark World Mental Health Day 2022, we’re joining in the conversation around making mental health a global priority.

Richmond Fellowship’s local services are vital in reaching that aim. For over 60 years our services have embedded themselves in communities across England, ensuring mental health support is available to everyone. From Tameside to Bristol, Chichester to Cumbria, our services aren’t just here today – they’re here for you across the year.

Fundraising and donations helps us to Work Together to raise awareness of mental health, and also to help raise funds for our services to provide even more support.

For example, Richmond Fellowship’s Sudbury Supported Housing service has been actively involved in fundraising within the Suffolk town for many years, this includes at the annual Sudbury Fun Run and Sponsored Walk.

Over the years, staff, people we support and volunteers have come together and taken part in the annual event.

In 2016, the service was selected as one of the beneficiaries on the Fun Run and sponsored walk, which meant a cut of all entry fees went to the service as well as people fundraising individually.

In total, £2,000 was raised and was used to provide art activities, film nights, an outing to the coast and workshops for people using the service.

Staff, along with people we support also used some of the money to transform the communal garden at the rear of the Queens Road building. The garden was entered into Sudbury Town Council’s annual Pride of Sudbury awards and won 2 awards in consecutive years.

Those accessing support were also involved in deciding how the money was spent.

Inspired?

If you organise a wellbeing activity in your local area, and you’d like to support Richmond Fellowship by selecting it as a charity beneficiary please contact us today for more information.

If you’re taking part in a local fun and would like to support your local Richmond Fellowship service by fundraising for us, find out more information here.

To make a donation to Richmond Fellowship, you can do so using our online donations portal, managed by Enthuse, here.

Thank you for your support.

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