Health and Wellbeing News, Events and Opportunities – November 2023
November 3, 2023
Welcome to Cumbria CVS’s Health and Wellbeing News, Events and Opportunities for November 23. This page will be updated regularly, so we are delighted you have landed here today and hope that you will keep coming back for updates during the month.
To catch up on our News, Events & Opportunities from October 2023, click here
Lots of the News, Events and Opportunities information will also be appearing in our regular Health and Wellbeing Bulletin. This Bulletin is sent out to all current members of our two Networks: Action for Health and the Mental Health Provider Forum. If you have found this page useful why not join either or both Networks by following these links:
News – we will be using this as an opportunity to pick out particularly important/interesting articles from our most recent Bulletin and/or highlighting information that might be time sensitive.
Events – we will be using this as an opportunity to highlight events of interest to organisations interested in health and care issues including Network events. Most of these will be local Cumbria events but some maybe regional.
Opportunities – we will be using this to highlight health and care focused funding and project opportunities, representative roles and working groups you might want to get involved in and much more. These will focus on Cumbria but may also include regional opportunities.
If you’ve seen something you think we should be sharing, let us know! Email us:
Clare Edwards claree@cumbriacvs.org.uk Holly Ferguson hollyf@cumbriacvs.org.uk
COUNTYWIDE – a great new resource Step Forward Better Mental Health Tool Kit!
We are excited to announce the launch of the Step Forward Better Mental Health Tool Kit!
Whether you are an employer supporting someone living alongside mental health experiences or an employee looking for support, advice and resources take a look at our toolkit!
The toolkit is normally accessed via our mailing list which we will use ever quarter to update people on the changes in the tool kit. It’s a resource that we want to update with the latest resources and information to keep it relevant.
However, you can view the newsletter from the link below and access the tool kit.
https://mailchi.mp/a29e79eadec5/step-forward-better-mental-health-tool-kit-now-live-6058905
You can also Join our mailing list here to hear about the latest update.
COUNTYWIDE – National mental health charity Rethink’s report about the importance of urgent investment by Integrated Care Systems in community mental health
Rethink’s experience of working in and supporting local systems tells us that it is more important than ever that Integrated Care Systems invest urgently in community mental health. The introduction of the Community Mental Health Framework in 2019 presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity for mental health systems.
With ringfenced transformation funding coming to an end in April 2024 and in a climate of crisis and uncertainty, we need to ensure these changes are embedded.
Four years on from our publication ‘Building communities that care’, we are launching our new report, ‘Building community into the Integrated Care System; A practical guide to developing robust community mental health’, where we:
- Summarise the significant challenges facing mental health care.
- Provide a toolkit of practical, workable solutions to common barriers to transformation.
- Explore the role that the VCSE sector can have in pursuing the four core aims and future goals of ICSs.
Follow this link to download a copy of the report:
NORTH CUMBRIA NHS area – Update on what is happening across Integrated Care Communities in North Cumbria
As many of you are aware here in North Cumbria we operate 8 local Integrated Care Communities (ICCs). ICCs bring together individuals from key organisations and bodies to work on a Neighbourhood footprint (30 to 50,000 people) to improve the heath and wellbeing of their local community.
Since 2019 our third sector have had 2 representatives at each ICC representing our sector and getting involved in delivering improved services.
Since early 2023 all ICCs across North Cumbria have been undergoing a refresh and refocus exercise. Click here to read the document to find out how all this work is going.
NORTH CUMBRIA NHS area – Workshop to co-create resources to promote maternal wellbeing 13 & 14th November Carlisle
An opportunity to get involved in co-creating resources to promote and understand maternal wellbeing, to empower and improve access to support.
Click here for further information
COUNTYWIDE – GREAT FREE Let’s Talk Bereavement Train the Trainer opportunity
As many of you are aware the Let’s Talk Bereavement Project will be finishing at the end of January 2024 together with the free training currently on offer. The feedback on the impact of the training from some of those who have attended has shown how important this training is to people and is helping to provide more low-level bereavement support in our communities and workplaces.
We are keen to enable others to continue with this training in their own groups and organisations if they feel it would be beneficial. Several groups have used the training for their volunteers and may wish to deliver it themselves as part of volunteer inductions.
The Train the Trainer package would include:-
- Facilitation skills training and particularly the delivery of the Core Skills & Anticipatory Grief in Adults sessions
- Criteria to guide selection of those hoping to deliver these sessions & the supervision/debrief that may be needed for these individuals.
- Crib sheet of advice, guidance, and tips to support delivery of the sessions whether online or in person.
This will all be delivered free of charge as part of the LTB Project.
If you are interested in this option, please do not hesitate to contact me so that I can start to develop what is needed and add Train the Trainer dates to the programme:
Karen DUTTON karen.dutton12@nhs.net
COUNTYWIDE – HOLD THE DATE Right Care Right Person event for organisations supporting unpaid carers 14th November 2pm to 3pm online
What is Right Care Right Person?
Police involvement in supporting people with mental health needs is changing from January 2023
This event will give you an opportunity to find out more so that you can support carers and help them understand the changes.
The session will focus on explaining the situations where carers will still expect support from the police including:
- Missing person incidences
- Situations where a carer is in physical danger as a result of challenging behaviour perpetrated by the person for whom they care
More information & useful links
Right Care, Right Person is a way of operating that recognises that when people are in mental health crisis, they need timely access to support that is compassionate and meets their needs.
In recent years there has been a national recognition that the police are involved in many more cases than are appropriate. While there will always be cases where the police need to be involved in responding to someone in mental health crisis (for example, where there is a real and immediate risk to life or serious harm, or where a crime or potential crime is involved), police are increasingly involved when they are not the most appropriate agency to respond, and they are not able to handover care to a more appropriate professional in a timely manner. This impacts on the ability of the police to carry out their other duties effectively, and importantly, can result in people with mental health needs experiencing greater distress and having poorer experiences of the mental health care pathway.
Information taken from
While some mental health incidents do require police attendance, there are a significant number that involve no safety risk or crime. The new approach will mean police can focus on attending health incidents where there’s a significant safety risk or crime being committed, and refer others to the appropriate partner agency. Estimates show that implementing the principles of RCRP could save around one million police officer hours each year.
The RCRP approach is based on a model developed by Humberside Police in 2021. It has also been implemented by other forces, including Lancashire Police, South Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police.
https://www.college.police.uk/article/rcrp-national-guidance-launched
