Mental Health issues are nothing to feel ashamed about, they can and do affect us all.
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There are many advertisements online and in the media for the 988 Helpline for those feeling suicidal or who are in Mental Health Distress.
PLEASE BE AWARE THIS IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK!
Look at the next panel for help available within the United Kingdom.
Samaritans: Tel: 116 123 Lines open 24/7 Email: jo@samaritans.org
More info: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can.../contact-samaritan/
CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably): Tel: 0800 585 858 Lines open 5pm - Midnight, seven days a week More info: https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/
Papyrus (Young suicide prevention up to 35 years old): Tel: 0800 068 41 41 Text: 07786 209697
Lines open Mon to Fri, 9am - 10pm, Weekends and bank holidays 2pm - 10pm
More info: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
Sane (Available to anyone affected by mental illness, including friends, families and carers)
Tel: 0300 304 7000 Lines open 7 days a week, 4.30pm - 10.30pm)
More info: http://www.sane.org.uk/what_we_do/support/helpline
SHOUT - If you would rather not speak with a counsellor over the phone, you can do it via text message 24/7 by sending ‘SHOUT’ to 85258. More info: https://giveusashout.org
NHS Crisis Services Directory: https://www.nhs.uk/serv.../Crisis-support/LocationSearch/329
Waiting for your referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) can feel like a slow process. Where can you find support while you wait?. Click picture.
Martin Lewis and Jeremy Keefe have produced a downloadable booklet on Mental Health & Debt.
Created through MoneySavingExpert.com
I was sent a link to a list of resources by Kelly which may help. click below to view
PTSD is often thought of as an issue for soldiers returning from a war zone, many do not realise it also affects members past and present who work in the Emergency Services.
The stress of sights seen, the intensity of the work and what they have to deal with whilst keeping up a professional image, slowly accumulate until one day it just suddenly overflows. I know as it happened to me !
PTSD can be crippling, preventing the sufferer from living a normal life, restricting their ability to go out and socialise or even work. It can affect personal relationships, and create other illnesses.
And due to their caring nature and how others see them, many are unable to admit to their suffering, holding it in to themselves, letting it build stronger until one day their world collapses around them.
Now there is someone to turn to. PTSD999 aim to help those from the Emergency Services.
Help for Emergency Service workers past and present sufferring from PTSD
A short video created by the team at PTSD999
Imagine yourself suddenly in a room full of strangers, strangers who are moving you about, making you do things, talking about you, moving and touching your belongings. wouldnt you feel scared?
You may be partners, family and friends, and love the person with all your heart, but Dementia has broken the link in the persons memory, and at that moment to them you are just strangers.
It is also frigtening to the relatives and friends, someone who you have grown up with or known for many years suddenly not recognising you, treating you as if you are an intruder.
It is impoirtant for everyone to fully understand Dementia, how to talk to someone with it and how to best help them, and where to find support and ideas to keep them safe.
Below I will be adding ideas of ways to ensure safety, ideas of how we can help them remember.
Dementia can affect us all, but many of us do not know what to look for, how to know that someone we are dealing with has Dementia, or how to deal with, or how to help people with Dementia.
This section tries to help create awareness.
Those who suffer from Dementia will often venture out trying to maintain their independence, but can suddenly get confused and not know where they are or what they were doing. We need to know what to look for so that we can help ease their stress and ensure they are returned to safety.
This is a great idea for relatives with Dementia who still venture outside with their Dogs. If you come across someone walking a Dog who is confused and anxious, check the Dog's collar. The collar as shown above will have a name and also contact number or address where you can obtain help in returning the person to safety.
The collars can also be fitted with an 'SOS' button which can alert family or agencies and help in locating them.
Small GPS tracking devices are now very cheap and easily obtainable online, ranging from just a few pounds these devices can be fitted onto keyrings, sewn into clothing such as a coat, discreetly fitted into the lining of a handbag or other item that our family member with Dementia wears or carries.
Being able to find them fast to reduce their stress and confusion is important if they go out by themselves, and to reduce the need to overwhelm police resources in locating them, a device like this will show you on your mobile phone exactly where they are. Various models are available, some even have two-way communication so that you can reassure them that hepl is on its way.
East Mids Ambulance Service is the first to try out Dementia friendly Ambulances
Powys County Council can issue Call alams and trackers.
Call the Adul Social Care Information Service (ASSIST)
0345 602 7050
Reminding Dementia sufferers of the past can certainly be comforting and assist in the retention of memory. Photograph albums full of family pictures is just one way to do so, but there are now even better ways using modern technology and craft skills. Digital Photo Frames can have many pictures loaded in to them, frequently changing, some even able to play sounds and music. Why not take pictures of family and have them record a message to go with it, reminding them and helping them to link faces to voices.
Some residential homes have made corridors or rooms specifically decorated to suit those with dementia, aimed at jogging memories by use of posters and pictures, some even replicating the patients own room in almost every detail.
But many are still living at home, or forced to move into a new strange apartment that they do not recognise. Possibly now housebound and unable to get outside. So why not bring the outside in?. Wall size printed hangings can now be obtained, either as wallpaper or a hanging cloth, so why not have a picture of their garden made into one of these canvasses and hang indoors on a wall. Similarly reproductions of places that were very special to them, holiday homes or places, familiar shop fronts, work places, all hung in different areas of their flat or bungalow. Make the hallway their new rememberance garden, the bathroom their favourite holiday scene.
The use of dolls has been a popular method used with Dementia patients helping past memories to break through. So if you are Craft minded then why not make a replica of their old home in the form of a dolls house. The internet has a wealth of dolls house furniture, find that old fireplace, television, sofa or footstool, or wallpaper that matched theirs. Use photographs if you cant find the replica furniture, find pictures of their old belongings on google, resize and stick to the walls.
Did they drive and love their cars?. Why not find models of the cars they owned in the past, repaint in same colours if unable to find a matching one, then mount them on a length of wood in chronological order making a timeline of the vehicles they owned, add their number plates if you can find them from old photographs. It will be a good way for them to recall the past and help start conversations.
How about making a wall size Family Tree?, use photographs linked topgether with lines to remind them whose child belongs to who.
