Health and Wellbeing

Does your club, one of your volunteers, a young achiever, your school or your project deserve recognition?

Has Covid given you the blues, has lockdown had an effect upon your mental health or do you just need a lift?

ALL FM want to hear from you. ALL FM are hosting a day on their radio station ALL FM 96.9 with all new presenters, are you interested.

ALL FM will train you to make a radio show, you’ll train in small groups and its load of fun. You don’t have to be technical, no experience is needed.

A new Integration in Action ‘quick read’ shows how linking practical housing help to patients being discharged from Manchester hospitals improves the safety and health of older and disabled residents.

‘Living Well with Sight Loss’ is a four week course ran by Joshua who is an enablement officer at Henshaws. The course helps participants to understand what services are available to them both locally and nationally but as Joshua explains, ‘the biggest part of the course is for our participants to be able to connect with other people with sight loss and to learn from each other’. He adds ‘the peer support of the network is invaluable to people. Quite often our participants have never spoken to another person with a visual impairment so connecting them through the group is massive for them.

“Today, we worked with someone to access their GP by helping them with their GP’s online appointment booking system. This was causing them anxiety and we see part of our role at Manchester Mind as enabling communication and relationships that can put people in control of their own health.” Martin, Manchester Mind

Independent Choices Greater Manchester are helping to break down barriers by changing their helpline to a freephone telephone number to increase accessibility. Although they are still keeping their old helpline number too, it is hoped that the new number will allow more people to be able to access the support they need.

The Widows Empowerment Trust befriending service continues to break barriers. One of the beneficiaries, Christine, has been isolated for seven years since becoming a widow. She stopped socialising and became very alone. Since being in touch with Widows Empowerment Trust, she loves the fact that she can talk to someone who can truly understand her pain, her grieving, and her isolation. Christine wants to integrate back into society but needs gentle guidance and help in doing so.

One Manchester are currently inviting applications to their Social Recovery Fund and are looking to offer grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 (from a total fund of £50,000) to rebuild and grow new connections in our communities.

One Manchester want to hear from organisations that help isolated people in our communities to make friends and socialise in their community, to get them the help they need, when they need it.

Music and dementia charity Playlist for Life is inviting community groups and organisations across the UK to join their free Help Point network to share the power of personal music for people living with dementia, their families and carers.  

Greater Manchester leaders in local government, health and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) have signed a new GM VCSE Accord to work together in a collaborative way to tackle entrenched inequalities.