‘Moving Forward’: Tiverton Employment Event
DMHA’S Eastern Devon Community Development Lead, Matt Merriam recently attended Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) Moving Forward event. Hosted in the New Hall in Tiverton, DWP brought together a range of statutory and VCSE services who work within wellbeing and employment.
Matt told us about his experience of the day “It was great to be able to support Tiverton DWP Jobcentre with their Moving Forward event. The hall was filled with a variety of services that might be useful for people currently engaging with the Jobcentre around their wellbeing and employment. Representing the Devon Mental Health Alliance, I listened to people’s concerns about the environment, their worries for their children, and the struggles they have had getting support for their mental health. It was great to be able to speak to each of them about the mental health drop-in we run in partnership with CHAT on a Tuesday afternoon, and invite them to come and be a part of that community and support mechanism. I was also able to signpost to a variety of great activities and services being run by other charities, like Step One's Be Well courses, Young Devon's My Way, Exeter Community Initiatives' Transition courses, and local peer support groups like Andy's Man Club.
It is a real privilege to be able to listen to the stories of the challenges people have faced, and many of them left me in awe of their incredible skills of perseverance. Let's never underestimate the impact listening to someone and doing our best to help connect them to the right support can have.”