Radio Sparky: February 2022 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In this edition we’re focussing on our Employment services as part of our Employment services week on social media. Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Becky Ballentyne from our Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BANeS) Employment service about what her role as an Employment Advisor involves, her journey to becoming an Employment Advisor and how she finds working for a national mental health charity.

“Honestly, every day is completely different. On a Monday morning it’s admin, checking emails. We have a group meeting every Monday morning to catch up on our case loads, discuss any clients that are potentially in crisis, employer engagement which is going round to chat to various employers discussing any potential job vacancies, meeting clients face-to-face in the community, discussing their needs and expectations of the service, what kind of roles they’re looking for.” – Becky, Employment Advisor, BANeS Employment service.

 

Inspired by Becky? You can also make a difference by joining us at a leading mental health charity. Check out our latest vacancies on our online jobs portal at richmondfellowship.org.uk/jobs.

Radio Sparky: January 2022 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In January’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Antonia Minkova from our Health and Wellbeing community about Winter Wellbeing and ways you can look after your mental health, post the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“For me, trying to be mindful and clearing my head from the clutter is a really useful way, because we really can get lost in our thoughts and maybe even our schedules and that encourages stress. So, finding a way to declutter is really great and if you use some meditation techniques, I think they really do help”. – Antonia, Leecroft House.

Radio Sparky: October 2021 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In this edition to mark World Mental Health Day 2021; Matt Webb Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Richmond Fellowship’s Director of Operations Robert Templeton about this year’s theme ‘mental health in an unequal world’ and what the charity is doing to ensure mental health provision is available for all.

“Our crisis beds cost as little as £171 per night and that’s compared to an average cost of at least £400 to a hospital bed, or even £500 a night for an out of area placement. We believe that these Crisis Houses and this type of provision really is something that has a real future in terms of meeting those increasing demands from people who are needing the types of services we provide”. – Robert Templeton, Director of Operations.

Radio Sparky: September 2021 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In September’s edition to coincide with Recovery Focus Week, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Vicki Pritchard, Service Manager of Richmond Fellowship’s Our Time service in Liverpool and Marshall, a person we support about a podcast series they’ve been producing in collaboration with the BBC.

Listen to the full series of ‘It’s About Time’ podcasts by clicking here.

“I was diagnosed very late in life in my 40s with Asperger’s and it really changed my life completely. It made me understand a lot of things in my life that had happened previously and why I couldn’t do the things I should’ve been able to do. Since then I’ve gone on to learn that Asperger’s is this wonderful gift that I’ve been given. I’ve always been creative and I’ve always been involved in performing and creative arts and through Richmond Fellowship, this podcasting and other courses with them, I’ve been able to do so many things that I’ve never done before”. – Marshall, person we support.

Mental Health Awareness Week – BBC News presenter Julian Worricker blog

For Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, journalist Julian Worricker has penned a personal blog exclusively for Richmond Fellowship about his experience of a friend’s battle with mental ill health.

Julian is a presenter on the BBC News channel, Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.

“I have a photo on the window ledge of my study, and each time I look up from my computer keyboard it catches my eye. It’s a close-up of a dear friend of mine…she’s leaning forward, chin resting on her hands, smiling broadly, as she so often did. I look at her sometimes when I’m in need of a bit of wise advice – she was always very good at wise advice – and occasionally I look at her with a hint of envy because she remains ever youthful while I’ve added lots of grey hairs and a few kilos since we were last able to meet in person. You can probably guess where this story is going.

This dear friend – Sue – took her own life in 1998; a shattering blow to her partner, her family, and to all those of us who knew her. It was a horrible culmination of acute mental health issues that she wrestled with over a number of years, and it’s why shining a brighter spotlight on mental health has always been important to me.

I’ve been very fortunate, in that my experience of fragile mental health has been mostly seen through the travails of others. Like everyone I’ve had my ups and downs, my good days and bad, but none of those come close to the challenges faced by people like Sue. Her normally bright and bubbly personality could be transformed in a matter of hours by her illness. The shutters would come down, there’d be a blankness to her facial expression, and whatever you tried by way of casual conversation was met with a look of tiredness, indifference and confusion. I didn’t understand why, but you could tell she didn’t either.

I feel sure that if she were alive today, she’d be able to look back with pride at an increasingly successful broadcasting career…and still forwards, too, to more of the same. She’d still love a bit of gossip about the workplace, she’d never lose sight of some of the dafter aspects of what we do for a living, and she’d still be thinking of others before she thought of herself.

So I hope Mental Health Awareness Week can reduce the numbers of stories like hers.

The global pandemic has tested all of us, and it’s probably raised the issue of mental health in the minds of people who’ve not had to think about it a great deal before. The timing, therefore, could be serendipitous. Let’s make the push for greater awareness count, and ensure that our decision makers live up to their promises on this crucial issue”. – Julian Worricker.

You can watch Julian’s introductory video to Mental Health Awareness Week at Richmond Fellowship here and follow our social media channels across the week for more Mental Health Awareness Week stories.

Radio Sparky: May Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 video special

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, we’ve a special video episode of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In May’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to John from our Cambridgeshire Employment Service and Leah from Leicestershire Life Links about how they’ve been Connecting with Nature as coronavirus lockdown restrictions begin to ease.

Radio Sparky: April 2021 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In April 2021’s edition Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Stephen Purcell, Service Manager at our Beeches 24 hour Supported Housing service in Liverpool about what it’s like working on the frontline in a service, how they’ve adapted during the coronavirus pandemic and their service’s involvement in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.

“We’ve done activities within the service. We’ve done the Big Garden Birdwatch for the RSPB whereby that was observing birds in your garden and recording them which the residents really enjoyed, so it was an activity that we could do within the confines of our beautiful garden here in The Beeches” – Stephen, Service Manager.

Radio Sparky: March 2021 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In March 2021’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Joy Ridley for our Old Moat Garden Centre in Surrey about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected them and also finds out about their latest award. Matt also speaks to Deborah Low from Sparky’s Cafe in Blackpool about how they’ve adapted their social enterprise during the lockdowns and how they are preparing for their reopening to the public.

“The award reflects on everybody involved with the Old Moat, the whole Old Moat family. So the staff, the volunteers, the people we support and our customers. Everybody could take a bow.” – Joy, Fundraising and Events Officer, The Old Moat.

 

Richmond Fellowship takes part in local radio ‘companions’ campaign

Richmond Fellowship is taking part in a radio campaign to highlight the work of its services during the coronavirus pandemic.

‘Cambridge Companions’ is supported by the government-backed Audio Content Fund and is designed to draw attention to loneliness and offer help and advice to listeners who may be suffering or who are able to reach out to support others.

The week-long campaign, which runs from 22 to 28 March, has been organised by Cambridge 105 Radio and will air on the community radio station as well as partners Cam FM and Star Radio in Cambridgeshire. It will also run on several other stations in East Anglia.

Laura Whitehouse from Richmond Fellowship’s Cambridgeshire Employment service has been taking part in an interview to talk about the work they do, and promo spots will also air across the week to signpost listeners to Richmond Fellowship’s local mental health services.

Kerry Stiles, East Anglia Area Manager at Richmond Fellowship said:

‘I’m so thrilled that our services in Cambridgeshire have been invited to be involved in this amazing initiative. Our teams have been working tirelessly during the pandemic to deliver support to those suffering from mental ill health and most isolated, often utilising technology to deliver face to face support digitally where appropriate’.

Trevor Dann, executive producer of the Companions campaign and a board member at Cambridge 105 Radio said:

‘We’ve really enjoyed working with Richmond Fellowship and the other charities to promote the work they do. The pandemic has really shone a light on how vital these services and organisations are to our local communities’.

To find out more information about the Companions campaign and to listen to Laura’s interview, visit www.radiocompanions.co.uk.

The campaign launch coincides with the start of our #CommunityServicesWeek where we’re shining the spotlight on the work of our Community support services on our social media channels.

Radio Sparky: February 2021 podcast

Listen to our latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship services across the country.

In February 2021’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Demi Halstead, Crisis Recovery Worker at our Oak House Crisis service in East Lancashire about her role, journey from being a person we support to working for us and how she uses her lived experience to support others with their mental health recovery.

“I was a guest at Oak House about 3 years ago and the support I received as a guest personally myself was unbelievable. I was rejected from quite a few other services due to my diagnosis, where at Oak House I felt welcomed and heard.” – Demi, person we supported and Crisis Recovery Worker.
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