LAMH values the wealth of knowledge, skills and experience of people that use our services to strengthen the organisation.
We will, with your help, continue to develop ways for people using the service to get involved in what we do and how we do it.
Your Own Support: personal involvement gives you the ability to decide on your support plan, feedback into your support through regular reviews, feedback and suggestions.”This lets me give regular updates on how I feel – I’m moving towards my own goals.”
Membership: anyone with an interest in mental health can become a member. Membership involves supporting the organisation and includes regular events.”You are part of a group with like-minded people who understand and can empathise.”
Fundraising: we have local fundraising teams who plan and arrange fundraising events that you can help in. You may also be interested in participating at the events themselves.”I have great fun helping with the fundraising and it is good to give something back to L.A.M.H. for the support they have given me.”
Giving Feedback: giving feedback comes in many forms and allows you to make comments and suggestions, design/take part in questionnaires, attend annual consultations or collate feedback.”I’ve attended many consultations and learned a lot from the people who come along.”
Communication: this is where you can look at ways to promote the organisation and Mental Health Awareness through a variety of methods. Opportunities include tweeting, writing newsletter articles, commenting on social media outlets (for instance our Facebook page) as well as helping us in developing other ways to raise awareness.”Communication is the key, the more we talk and discuss, the more knowledge we have to carry on supporting mental health.”
Recruitment: opportunities include being involved in group or individual interviews for potential recruits, reviewing job descriptions or setting interview questions.”I was quite nervous thinking about being involved in the interview process, but was put at ease by the staff member also interviewing. Being involved in this was a great learning experience and I was able to put across the service users’ point of view.”
Training and Development: you may be interested in helping deliver or design training opportunities for staff or general mental health awareness for the community. You might also want to be part of the induction of new staff, or join in with some of the training.”I get ongoing training in the shop.”
Volunteering: opportunities include collecting donations, organising, helping at a fundraising event, volunteering in our shop, giving out mental health information and helping new volunteers.
Advisory Group (in the form of local service forums): members of the advisory group are mainly service users, ex-service users and carers who meet with meet with senior staff to discuss issues in relation to local services.”It gives you a voice on how to mould the service and an insight into what is happening.”
Board of Directors: there are 24 Directors places available which comprise of 10 advisory members, 10 members and 4 co-opted members. The board aims to ensure that the organisation meets the requirements of company and charity law whilst still maintaining the organisations values.”I’m on the board to make sure that service users are heard in all the plans for the organisation.”
All these opportunities can be something that YOU can take part in within our organisation. For more information, feel free to ask your support worker or any member of staff.