Radio Sparky: January 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 January 2021’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to John Veir, Employment Advisor at Richmond Fellowship’s Cambridgeshire Employment service about his role, how he came to work for the charity, his passion around highlighting men’s mental health and we also find out more about the Huntingdon service moving to new premises.

“I just see the difference that can be made just talking about mental health because if you go to the gym to look after yourself physically, talking about mental health in whatever capacity is another positive thing – that’s the gym for the mind as I see it.” – John, Employment Advisor.

Richmond Fellowship in The Guardian: Change in the charity sector

Richmond Fellowship was asked to contribute to a recent article in The Guardian around creating a movement of change in the charity and social care sector.

Danny O’Donoghue, Area Manager for our West services was only too happy to take up the task and this is what he had to say:

Do you have relevant personal experience?

People often think in binaries: are you political or altruistic? Are you a person in need or a volunteer? When truthfully, we are all of these things. It’s time to collapse the distinction between the helper and the helped, something addiction and prison services have known for years: there is no more effective support than that which comes from someone who’s been there.

Danny said: “If you ever want to know total isolation, try hearing voices. Nothing is more alienating than something you can’t share. When clinicians ran these groups, they were poorly attended – sometimes the staff outnumbered the people. That never happens with volunteers with experience. I was struck by one saying, ‘The voices have always been the thing I hide, that I find some way to bury. The pleasure in this instance is being able to wear it as a uniquely qualifying asset, to apply it in support of someone else’s recovery.’”

You can read the full article on Guardian Online here.

If you’re a journalist and would like us to comment or contribute to future press or media articles, please contact our Communications and Marketing team here.

Radio Sparky: December 2020 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 December’s edition, Matt Webb, Communications and Marketing Officer speaks to Jessica Fish, Area Manager of Richmond Fellowship’s Lancashire services about her journey through the charity to becoming an Area Manager, how her services have been managing during the coronavirus pandemic and about a new Social Enterprise element to our Central Lancashire Haven.

‘The way in which the Service Managers and the Recovery Workers adapted, the way that they worked was incredible. Going from doing all face to face visits or support sessions to everything being virtual, learning how to use new platforms to delivering those sessions and also supporting people that use our services to access those virtual platforms’. – Jessica Fish, Area Manager.

Recovery Worker Week 2020 round-up

As one of the largest voluntary sector providers of mental health support in England, our frontline staff are critical to our work and the wellbeing of the people we support.

Our frontline staff have gone above and beyond this year during the Covid-19 pandemic and we’ve been shining the spotlight on what they do with a dedicated week on our social media.

During Recovery Worker Week (16-20 November) we shared a blog from Jo, our North Head of Operations about her visits to services during the Covid-19 pandemic and the excellent work she witnessed first-hand during these challenging times.

‘Our frontline workers have continued to go into their workplace and adapted their home life to ensure they are as safe as they can be to continue to support the people that use our services’. – Jo.

Deborah, Service Manager at Willow House in Lancashire wrote a blog about how our Crisis houses have continued to provide care despite the lockdown.

‘I didn’t think I’d face new challenges such as dogs barking over Skype or parrots chirping during a telephone intervention’. – Deborah.

We handed over the reins of our Twitter account to Anna, Crisis Recovery Worker at our Lincolnshire Crisis House. During ‘Recovery Worker Takeover’, Anna tweeted what she was doing across the day to give a flavour of the tasks our frontline staff carry out on a daily basis.

We also shared a range of experiences from our Recovery Workers across the country.

International Men’s Day also fell during Recovery Worker Week (Thursday 19 November), so we used this opportunity to showcase our frontline roles as great careers for men to consider. Rob, Peer Volunteer Co-ordinator at our Wiltshire Recovery and Social Inclusion service explained on video how Richmond Fellowship is a mindful employer for older men in the organisation.

If you’re interested in a career with us, or any of the partners in our Recovery Focus Group of charities, please take a look at our vacancies page by

Radio Sparky – Working Together Week Podcast

Welcome to the latest edition of Radio Sparky, the podcast which shines the spotlight on the excellent work happening at Richmond Fellowship.

To mark Working Together Week across the Recovery Focus group of charities, Communications and Marketing Officer Matt Webb speaks to James Dominiak, Service Manager at Richmond Fellowship’s 24 hour Supported Housing Service in Stowmarket, Suffolk and Matt and Jordan who use the service about how they’ve embedded co-production in their service at local level.

“I’ve been involved with interview processes for staff, discussions around co-production and policy making. I was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with staff”. – Matt, person we support.

On air with Radio Sparky!

We’re always looking for innovative ways to tell stories at Richmond Fellowship – so welcome to Radio Sparky, a new podcast pilot showcasing some of the great things happening at our services across the country.

In this first edition, Matt Webb from the Communications and Marketing team catches up with Olivia Green, Activities and Wellbeing Support Worker at Winston House, Richmond Fellowship’s Residential Care Home in Cambridge and a couple of the people they support to find out more about their play ‘Cleanarella’ which they staged on the run up to Christmas.

“I was good at drama at school, I got an A level in it. It brought back memories. I’m a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. It was an opportunity for me to shine.” – Andy, person we support.

Developing our Tameside Supported Housing service

1 in 4 people in the UK experience mental health issues each year, and incredible work is being done across the country to tackle mental health stigma. Richmond Fellowship supports tens of thousands of people across the country every year, providing tailored support to tie in with each person’s needs, interests and aspirations – and we are proud that 97% of people who use our services feel that Richmond Fellowship has improved their quality of life, and 93% feel safe and secure in our services.  

Supported housing is one of the key models of support we offer. As well as offering a safe, welcoming place for people to live, the support provided helps people along their path of recovery to independent living. We are proud to have run supported housing services in Tameside for many years, and have never had any problems with the local community in that time. We are committed to continually improving the quality of the properties we provide. Our new property would replace ageing accommodation, and will be a modern, self-contained flat complex with support staff on-site 24/7 in order to provide the best recovery environment for the people we support. 

We will be talking to local people in order to hear any concerns and promote understanding of our work and services.

Statement – Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International

A spokesperson from Richmond Fellowship said:

“There is no connection between Richmond Fellowship and Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International (RPFI).

The founder of Richmond Fellowship is associated with Richmond Psychosocial Foundation but has had no involvement in the operations or direction of Richmond Fellowship since 1991.”

Isle of Wight mental health drop-in service media statement

Our Safe Haven on the Isle of Wight, a drop in service for people experiencing a mental health crisis, is currently open for limited hours due to staff shortages.

Sue Lightfoot, Head of Commissioning Mental Health, Learning Disability and Dementia at NHS Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group, said:

This situation is very worrying for anyone using this service, and also difficult for the staff at Richmond Fellowship, who are committed to offering people the best possible support.

We are actively working with Richmond Fellowship now to make sure a service, albeit with reduced hours, continues to operate – safely – over the coming weeks, to ensure that support is still available to those in need. Existing staff from other Richmond Fellowship services have volunteered to work extra hours to offer this support.

There are of course other sources of support available, including the Community Mental Health Team crisis line 01983 522214, or the Samaritans on Freephone 116 123, but the drop-in service plays an important role and we hope it can continue.

Looking further ahead, we are also working with Richmond Fellowship to recruit new members of staff so that the service can quickly be returned to a sustainable footing. This recruitment is under way already and we expect the Safe Haven to be operating a full service in the New Year.

 

Richmond Fellowship Fenland service featured on ITV News Anglia

Richmond Fellowship’s Fenland Wellbeing service in Cambridgeshire has been featured on ITV News Anglia.

The service was asked to take part in a piece on Thursday 27 September about an Office for National Statistics (ONS) report which ranked Fenland as one of the unhappiest places to live in the country.

People completing the ONS survey were asked to rank their happiness, sense of the things they do being worthwhile and life satisfaction out of 10, with 10 being the highest.

The average happiness score for Fenland was 6.7, compared to the UK average of 7.52.

The survey covered the period from March 2017 to March 2018.

According to the report, the happiest place to live in the UK was Rushmoor in Hampshire.

You can see a video of the report here.

Find out more about our Fenland Wellbeing service.

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