Network has seen some changes over the last year, like other Projects some of these have been caused by the new Service Level Agreements, but some have been part of a continuing process of change that any long-established activity undergoes in its life.
The three Groups continue; the Swimming Group on a Tuesday morning; the Somebody Cares Club on a Tuesday afternoon at the Friends Hall (the original Maldon Mind Project now 33 years old); and the combined Maldon and Dengie Women’s Group who meet on a Thursday morning at the Methodist Hall .
Much of the success of Network is that it has always been seen as a community scheme – it has never relied on a centre, it is the people who make it work.
Over the years the groups have grown and evolved but the acceptance, friendship and mutual support has remained the cornerstone of the Project. Ken Roberts, Viv Clark and their team of volunteers work very hard to get people to and from the groups as transport is a necessity for some, but the members themselves elect their own activities (as long as they all include a cup of tea!).
Network News continues to be a successful way of sharing information between the groups and helping service-users to communicate. One of the most popular items is the sharing of life stories and together with the poetry, this has helped many people to understand each other and support each other over the years. Network News is distributed and read widely throughout the Mind Projects but also in the local community, and it has been a great weapon in the fight against stigma and for understanding. The cost of producing and distributing the quarterly newsletter is covered by sponsorship by local bodies and businesses and we were lucky enough to be ‘adopted’ for the whole year by Lord (Martin) and Lady (Jannine) Rose who run Asheldham Hall Farm Equestrian and Animal Food Centre. It is great to have this kind of local support and this has enabled Doreen Francis-Ewen to publish the edition that marks the Tenth anniversary of Network News.
The groups have tended to get older together and this has meant that we have lost some well-loved members in the last year. The new Service Level Agreement in common with Weekenders, is funded by the Adult Mental Health budget. This technically means that we cannot accept new referrals for people over the age of 65, and our Commissioners would like us to promote the service much more to a ‘younger’ age range. We know that there is mental health need in all age groups but as our general population gets older we find that more people are suffering from the isolation that life changes can often bring and need the kind of support that Network provides so easily and so cost effectively. It is ironic that in the year that age discrimination becomes law, we have to ask peoples’ age!
Unfortunately coupled with the above, this year Essex County Council Older People’s Mental Health budget, which has made contributions to Network over the years, has been desperately under pressure, so this has meant we have had only the half of our funding that comes from the NHS. The Trustees have agreed that Maldon Mind should use its financial reserves to cover any deficit but this situation will need to be resolved in the longer term.
