Joining the active mental health conversation in Okehampton
On Tuesday 9 May 2023, our two Eastern Community Mental Health Development Leads, Matt Merriam and Tascha Windheuser, ran a Creative Solutions event in Okehampton for mental health stakeholders.
Over 25 people from different organisations gathered together to discuss local mental health services, each of them from local organisations that provide support in some way to individuals with severe mental health needs.
After listening to one another’s experiences providing mental health support, we split into three groups to explore what actions we could take to make things better.
One group spent the time exploring how they can empower Okehampton as a community to more effectively hold and support people with complex needs.
Another group thought about those unable to access digital support or lists of services because of demographic or geographic exclusion.
The last group thought about how they can help the spaces people in the community use to access services (everything from Universal Credit to social spaces like pubs) become more safe and trauma-informed.
Matt from the Alliance commented: “Okehampton is an incredible town with some inspiring collaborative working that the rest of Devon should really take notice of. Hopefully, the space we have created to have these conversations will be the next step towards Okehampton being the mental health friendly town it aspires to be.”