Platfform

We’re glad to see revisions to the Mental Health Bill be introduced in Parliament yesterday. In particular, we welcome the focus on reducing restrictive practice and detainment: https://lnkd.in/e26ZKrmv   However, ensuring sustainable, long-term changes improvements to our collective mental health will require greater links between mental health policy and the things that impact our wellbeing: poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of community connection.   We have previously responded to the Welsh Government’s Draft Mental Health Strategy, noting a shift towards prevention and harm reduction, and calling for this shift to run deeper throughout policy:  https://lnkd.in/esFTsA78 You can find out more about laying the groundworks for the future of mental health in our manifesto: platfform.org/manifesto

Today, the world can feel very divided, and like it’s easy to see the lines that we may stand either side of. But if we’re curious about what’s beyond badges we wear and the labels we give, we may find more to connect with. Look for the helpers.

We're looking forward to the 'A Disorder For Everyone' online festival this Friday; challenging the labelling of distress, and making the case for change. A huge number of contributors - and hopefully an equally impressive number of attendees! Will you be there? https://lnkd.in/eZhdsyDu

Join Our Next Wellbeing Webinar: Dementia and the Workplace with Rhian Pitt With rising retirement ages and younger people affected by dementia (over 71,000 under aged 65), it’s important to increase our understanding and awareness, how it can affect people differently and ways we can offer support at work. This free taster session offers a sneak peek into our Dementia and the Workplace training. After attending, your organisation can access complimentary training to deepen your team’s understanding to support employees living with dementia. Topics we’ll cover: 🔹 Strengths-based working 🔹 Person-centred policies 🔹 Empathy in the workplace 🔹 Building a supportive culture 📅 Date: 26th November, 11am 📍 Location: Online 🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/exXGd8za

“It’s not for us to have shame. It’s for them.” This statement made by Gisèle Pelicot at the trial of her former husband and the men who raped her speaks volumes for how we understand shame in cases of abuse. Where that shame sits has a huge impact on mental health and trauma. Within trauma, those who have lived through abuse often feel intense shame, sometimes encouraged by abusers. This is because shame mutes us; it prevents us from sharing our experiences and our stories. And it is used as a means of hiding abuse and violence. This is part of why Ms. Pelicot’s decision to request an open trial is so significant – because when we find ways to share our stories in open ways, it helps us brings that shame to the surface, understand it, and place it where it belongs. Ms. Pelicot has encouraged others to do the same, using this trial as an example. Within the mental health system, we know that telling our stories – openly and truthfully – are key parts of reducing cycles of shame, and the stigma that in turn induces further shame. This is why listening to people, and hearing their experiences, is a mental health intervention. We’d also like to reflect and thank all people who, like Ms. Pelicot, have openly spoken of their experiences. Their strength helps others to relate, to process their shame, and to allow that shame to instead sit with the perpetrators of their abuse, and with systems that would silence those who have lived through traumatic experiences.

As Black History Month 2024 draws to a close, here's some thoughts on why celebrating Black history - and the lives and stories within it - is important for our collective mental health, and integral to the social change that Platfform calls for. Good mental health requires a sense of belonging, and within that, the freedom to hold and be proud of your own identity within the spaces where you connect with others. As a charity that supports good mental health – and the social change needed to make that a reality for more people – Black History Month is something we’re keen to see highlighted, not just for these few weeks, but beyond too. The theme for Black History Month this year is ‘Reclaiming narratives’ – understanding the complex histories of Black people and communities within the UK; the contributions, celebrations, hardships and identities that exist within those stories. For us, as we work to understand perceptions of mental health, these narratives are essential – the threads of Black history are woven throughout our national story. The idea of ‘community’, as the space where we feel accepted and whole, cannot fully be told without Black voices. But that sense of community requires inclusion. At Platfform, we’ve worked to become an anti-racist organisation, a Platfform for all, but that work is still ongoing. Representation within our organisation needs to improve – not just for its own sake, but because understanding mental health fundamentally requires as many different identities and perspectives as possible. Mental health is a universal human concern. We’ll keep that work going. In the meantime, we’re excited to see narratives being reclaimed, identities formed, and voices heard. Community is where we assemble, as our individual selves within a greater shared whole. It’s where change begins. Find out more: blackhistorymonth.org.uk

Not subscribed to our e-mail newsletter? 📧 👀 The latest issue looks at A Disorder 4 Everyone's online festival next Friday, International Mental Health Collaborating Network's Call for Transformation launch, new dementia in the workplace training, and more. Read here: https://lnkd.in/e2iUtty3

'Labels don't tell truthful stories' is a big theme in Drop the Disorder's work - and we've seen the wisdom of it in our own work, too, through our support, or through the Truth Project (platfform.org/truthproject) We're looking ahead to A Disorder for Everyone 2024, an online festival of changemaking. 8th Nov - book here: https://lnkd.in/ev9GfD-E

Mental health will always require more than just one day – it’s at the root of our lives, our communities and our world. But today is a good chance to highlight workplace wellbeing – we spend much of our time at work, so what happens there matters. Wellbeing needs healthy connections to ourselves and the people around us. But the pressures of work can mean that these human connections get left behind in favour of productivity. This lack of connection impacts our health, and contributes to things like stress or burnout. Leaders play a big role in thriving workplaces by showing what is valued, and allowing greater “human-ness” at work by leaning into their own vulnerabilities – by being open. That helps colleagues be open about the human needs we all bring into our workplaces – without exception. The most important start is this: find time to stop and think about what we need as individuals – what keeps us well and happy at work – and extend that to others as well. Workplaces that create this environment see happier staff, greater capacity, and more unified teams. Workplaces are communities, and like the communities in which we live, they can be a starting point for positive change and a brighter future for mental health. We’ve laid out the foundations for this, and how it can be achieved, in our manifesto: https://lnkd.in/dBf8qQcs Platfform Wellbeing provides workplace training and wellbeing planning built with you, for your organisation. Find out more at platfformwellbeing.com

Tomorrow, for #WorldMentalHealthDay some of the team will be at #Swansea National Waterfront Museum. Pete and Sian will be talking about compassionate Leadership and organisation wellbeing 11.30am – 12.20pm. Building environments and nurturing relationships where staff feel valued and listened to contributes to well-supported and connected teams, enhancing wellbeing across the whole organisation. They’ll explore: 💡The connection between work and mental health 💡Creating the conditions for psychological safety 💡What compassionate leadership truly means We hope to see you there! 📅Book your free place here: https://lnkd.in/eyxKZche #WMHD24