Community Development Workers Newsletter

The CDW Team have been involved in a number of projects this

past quarter. We have been working with a range of community

groups including migrant refugee support groups, ACCN African

Caribbean Community Network, Yemeni Young People’s Project

and the LGBTQ community at Summit House.

We have attended an array of events including Merit Vanguard ‘s

Mental Health First Aid Video Launch and a ‘Fight and Flight’

Conflict Resolution Conference, and we were also delighted to

accept an ‘Outstanding Team’ award at this year’s Black History

Month Conference.

We have also supported a number of health and wellbeing events

including Dudley College, Brierley Hill Library and Saltbrook

Place and delivered Mental Health Awareness and Five Ways to

Wellbeing presentations to groups across the Dudley Borough.

We also continue to engage in one to one client work signposting

appropriate community services and initiatives.

Working under the E&D (Equality and Diversity) umbrella the

CDW’s also support the Trust’s E&D Lead Paul Singh, to ensure

that patient and staff needs are met with accordance to the

Equality Act 2010. This involves regularly monitoring religious

and cultural resources across sites, supporting staff with

cultural competencies and raising awareness of the equality and

diversity agenda.

The CDW Team worked in

partnership with Dudley Talking

Therapies and the Sexual Health

Team at Summit house to deliver

mental health support to the

LGBTQ community in Dudley. The

collective team delivered a Coffee

and Cake Mental Health Drop-in

on Wednesday 5th July where the

team engaged with service users

and members of the public who

specifically travelled to the drop-

in to talk about their mental

health concerns. On the day the

team engaged with a number of

individuals and provided wellbeing

resources. The team are looking

forward to organising an event to

raise awareness of mental health

within the LGBTQ community

next year.

The CDW Team and

Tandrusti Project have been working in partnership with

ACCN (African Caribbean Community Network) to set up a

wellbeing garden project for the African Caribbean Carers

& Disability Support Group and service users who meet

weekly at the Community Centre on Abberley Street. The

aim of the garden project is to help improve overall

wellbeing through the renovation of the centre’s outdoor

space by creating a therapeutic area for relaxation,

engagement and activity. Creating raised beds for ease of

access we plan to plant vegetables, herbs and fruit in

preparation for spring through the guidance of garden

professional Janet Armstrong (Sourced in by the Tandrusti

Project). The project is particularly timely as group

members have been feeling especially low in mood due to

the loss of loved ones who were previous members of the

centre’s well established Carer’s group. In view of this we

have also planned to create a special garden memorial. This

will include the planting of a seasonal tree, a pebble making

activity and honouree plaques.

The Brierley Hill project is a local charity

which provides targeted life support and

coaching for individuals experiencing

difficult periods in their life. The much needed project

facilitates weekly information drop-ins where members of the

local and wider community within Dudley come along to receive

advice and support and retrieve food bank supplies. The

project also runs a Recovery Café during the week which

provides free hot breakfasts for the most vulnerable. The

CDW Team are working in partnership with the Brierley Hill

Project to help support the mental health needs of service

users. So far we have linked in with Dudley Talking Therapies

and worked with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner to

assess support needs and have since sourced in a Community

Mental Health Nurse who will be undertaking regular drop-ins

at the centre. We are also working with Tandrusti Project to

utilise the space on site to develop activities such as football

and martial arts to encourage group engagement.

The Yemini Young People’s Project was set up in

response to key recommendations that came out

of the “Thank You for Asking” report which was

carried out by Women in Theatre and

commissioned by the Office of Public Health to

develop an insight into the emotion health &

wellbeing of young people from

minority ethnic communities in Dudley. As the

findings highlighted that young people wanted to

be given the opportunity to talk about mental

health and how it affected them, in partnership

with The Women’s Awareness Association, Near

Neighbours and The Phase Trust, the CDW team

embarked on a project to raise awareness of

mental health and improve wellbeing within young

people in the Yemeni community. The project

entailed a series of activities based on the Five

Ways to Wellbeing. This included:

Connecting – Getting to know each other and

sharing experiences through dialogue

Being active – Zumba or fitness sessions

Keep learning – Canvass art activities

Take notice – A trip out into the countryside.

Give - Art work to be displayed at local leisure

centre once complete

To encourage community cohesion the bid also included an Eid

Celebration for the young people to organise themselves. We have

also developed a youth club where young Asian and Yemeni girl’s aged

10–16 can meet on a weekly basis in Halesowen.

The Young people involved

in the project helped

organise the event, and

helped out on the day with

face painting and henna.

The event took place at

Halesowen Leisure centre

and was very well attended

with over 50 eventgoers.

The Mayor of Dudley,

Councillor Dave Tyler and

his wife, Mayoress of

Dudley, Barbara Tyler were

also present at the event.

Information stands from a

number of organisations

were also well received by

the public. Evaluation of the

event was very positive as

many event goers

commented on how

enjoyable and informative

they found it. The young

people involved did an

excellent job in organising

and promoting the event.

As part of the “Keep Learning” element of the

Five Ways to Wellbeing members took part in

a canvass art course. Sessions took place

weekly over a four week period at Halesowen

Leisure centre. The course included a brief introduction about the

Five Ways to Wellbeing and looked at the evidence based around

“Keep Learning” to improve overall wellbeing. Information on the Five

Ways to Wellbeing was also provided. Evaluations showed that the

girls thoroughly enjoyed attending the course and that they would

have liked the course to have been longer.

“I found the painting really fun and relaxing, I wish I could have done more”.

Young people’s trip to Barry Island in

Wales

As part of the Near Neighbours bid the

young people and some of their families

also went on a trip to Barry Island in

wales. The trip took place on Monday 21st

August and approximately 70 young

people and their families took part.

The trip was a success as everyone

thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it turned

out to be a lovely sunny day!

Girls Afterschool Club

Members identified that as girls

they don’t actually have a place

to go and socialise outside of

their home and school

environment. Due to potential

isolation this could lead to poor

mental health and low self-

esteem. In partnership with The

Phase Trust in Halesowen and

the Women’s Awareness

Association, the CDW team have

set up a weekly afterschool Club

catering to the specific needs

of Muslim girls to help improve

their overall wellbeing.

New Horizons - A migrant mental health project in Dudley

Research shows that there is an overall increase in psychological ill-

health within refugees and migrant populations. Individuals who

migrate due to severe hardships within their country of origin are

vulnerable to a host of potential mental health problems. Such

challenges arise from oppressions that drive their decision to

migrate; also separation from family, friends and cultural networks

can also feed into poor mental health..

With the view to help combat health inequalities within migrant

communities, the CDW Team have been working in partnership with

specialist health visitor Justine Morris and nursery nurse Claire

Poole. We have set up a project with the aim to help promote

wellbeing and reduce isolation amongst the new migrant communities

in Dudley. Based on the Five Ways to Wellbeing Justine and Claire

had been working with new migrant families in the borough and had

established relationships with many migrant families.

Through their work they have identified that many of the families

were isolated and felt that a support group would be beneficial. We

decided to run the project weekly for 3 months and then review the

needs of the group.

As a central location Netherton Healthy Hub in Netherton Park was

chosen as a place to meet up. The first meeting took place in early

May. The CDW team was instrumental in the promotion of the

project and in securing a small amount of funding that would enable

the group to take part in activities.

The CDW team also approached external agencies about facilitating

engaging sessions with the group. The Adult and Community Learning

team provided taster sessions as well as the CDW Team who

delivered sessions on the Five Ways to Wellbeing. Claire was on hand

each week to help look after the smaller children within a small play

area which was set up in the corner of the room.

As the most common language

spoken within the group was

Arabic we sourced in an

Arabic speaking interpreter

on a number of occasions. We

also translated posters into

Arabic.

The CDW team also put up

welcome and Hello signs

around the room in different

languages.

To mark World Mental Health Day,

the CDW Team worked in

partnership with Dudley Council

Library Services to deliver a “Five

Ways to Wellbeing” workshop at

Dudley library on the 11th October.

Developed by the New Economic

Foundation, the Five Ways to Wellbeing;

Connect, Be active, Keep learning, Take notice, and Give, were explored as

participants took part in small exercises to strengthen their understanding

of each concept. This included using the library resources to find inspiring

recipes in cook books to learn about each other. A number of resources were

also available for participants to take on the day which included self-help

guides and ‘The Road to Wellbeing’ guidebook.

“Perfect, short accessible session.”

“Reminded me of how to aim to achieve wellbeing”

The CDW team delivered a Five Ways to Wellbeing

presentation to the Migrant Women’s Coffee Morning

group which is run by Annie from CFED (Centre for

Equality & Diversity). Members meet monthly to find out

about services across the borough. All of the women

attending were from a Middle Eastern or African

background. Twelve women attended on the day, all of

whom participated in the workshop. As well as finding out

about the Five Ways to Wellbeing, members also carried

out an evaluation of their own wellbeing. The session was

well received and evaluated by those attended. All of the

women fed back that they enjoyed the session and learned

something new and useful.

The CDW Team delivered a duo of training sessions

at the Beacon Centre in Stourbridge. The first

session explored the Five Ways to Wellbeing with a

group of service users with varied visual impairments.

We used colours as a theme to engage through activity and talked

about acts of kindness. The second session was delivered to a group of

staff and volunteers and focused on mental health awareness. The

session encouraged discussion around stigma and challenged perception.

Feedback was positive as attendees felt valued in being able to openly

share their own experiences whilst asking questions and exploring

answers as a group.

SIG (Special

Interest Group)

For this quarter’s

SIG meeting the

CDW team arranged a

speed dating style

networking event to

enable eventgoers the

opportunity to find out about each other and the work they do

on a one to one basis. The event was held on Tuesday 18th July at

DY1 on Stafford Street. We had approximately 20 attendees

who fed back that they enjoyed the format of the day which

enabled participants to speak to each other intensively for 5-10

minutes each. Eventgoers included representatives from:

Healthwatch

Dudley Carer’s Service

Adult Learning

ACCN (African Caribbean Community Network)

Merrie Maggie Laughter Yoga

Solutions for Health

Public Health

Tandrusti Trust

Dudley Canal Trust

CDW Team attend Fresher’s Fayre at Dudley

College On Thursday 21st September the CDW Team

attended Dudley College’s Fresher’s Fayre. The team

were supported by EBE’s (Expert by Experience Trust

representatives) Kerrie and Andy who were on hand to

support the team with distributing information on

mental health and talking to the students and staff.

As well as having a range of resources and leaflets to

hand out we also provided a short ‘fill in the blanks’

quiz on mental health that students could take part in.

The CDW’s attended a Health and

Wellbeing day at Saltbrook Place in

July. Saltbrook Place provides a

welcoming and friendly home

environment which provides support

for homeless people who have a

connection within the Dudley area.

The CDW’s were on hand to provide

information and support on mental

health and wellbeing services in

Dudley and many residents came and

spoke openly about their mental

health needs.

CDW’s attended a Health

Information Week at Brierley Hill

Library Health Information Week

is a multi-sector campaign to

promote good quality health

resources that are available to the

public. The CDW’s joined a team of

professionals from a number of

local organisations to raise an

awareness of resources and health

initiatives available within the

Dudley Borough. As well as

accessing information and support

on mental health and wellbeing,

eventgoers were also able to have a

full health check on the day which

proved to be quite popular.

Representatives from library

services also took the opportunity

to launch their ‘Reading well for

people with long term conditions’

scheme, which is a series of books

available for people with long term

conditions to help better

understand their illness. Overall a

very informative event, in the heart

of the community!

CDW Team are awarded with ‘Outstanding Team’ Trophy at Merit

Vanguard Black History Month Event Merit Vanguard teamed up with the Royal College of Nursing and

Health Education West Midlands to co-host a special conference for health professionals across the region

to celebrate Black History Month in October. Entitled ‘Your Story - Your Legacy’ the event encouraged

delegates to think differently about how they tell their personal stories to help shape change and create

their own legacies. Key note speakers on the day included Clare Patey, Director of the Empathy Museum

who talked about her experiences leading worldwide empathy themed projects which included a Human

Library, where instead of borrowing a book, participants borrowed humans who shared their stories.

Nicholas Haines, co-founder of the Five Institute also delivered an inspirational workshop exploring ideas

in which delegates could learn how to treat themselves with kindness, as well as each other. Introduced by

Paul Singh, Equality and Diversity Lead, the CDW Team were delighted to accept an ‘Outstanding Team’

award on the day.

The Trust launched a brand new initiative to help ensure

fairness for staff from black and minority ethnic (BME)

backgrounds. The new Cultural Ambassadors provide support

during formal processes such as investigations, grievances or

disciplinaries by ensuring investigation teams uphold equality

and avoid any cultural bias issues.

Merit Vanguard celebrated its

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)

Resource Video Launch on World

Mental Health Day in October.

MHFA England is an accredited

evidence based programme which

focuses on increasing the mental

health literacy of the population.

The Merit Vanguard produced a video resource to

reflect the demographic within the West Midlands

region. The video included talks by volunteers that

represented a range of equality and diversity

protected characteristics including gender, race,

sexuality, religion or no belief and disability. The

videos were showcased at Vue Cinemas at Star City in

Birmingham. The CDW’s were particularly proud to

support an original CDW project, Pyari Sangat (Asian

Women’s Mental Health Support group) member

through the volunteer process and to also watch the

experiences of our very own EBE’s (Expert by

Experience) on the big screen.

Gypsy Roma

Traveller

History

Month

Celebration

In celebration of Gypsy Roma Traveller

History month, the MERIT Vanguard

Equality & Diversity Workstream

organised a theatre performance and

interactive workshop on the 28th June.

CDW’s attended on the day and watched

a play called ‘Crystal’s Vardo’ which

examined the impact of bullying looking

into the story of a young Gypsy girls

experience at school. It also explored

the rich history and culture of Gypsies

and Travelers to raise awareness and to

improve the understanding of the

Travelling community.

Diversity and Inclusion Workstream In May, MERIT was successful

in becoming a NHS Employers Equality, Diversity, & Inclusion Partner

on their 2017/18 Programme. The Equality and Diversity Partners

programme supports participating Trusts to progress and develop

their equality performance and to build capacity in this area. At the

same time the programme provides an opportunity for partners to

offer advice, guidance and demonstrations of good practice in equality

and diversity management to the wider NHS.

To date, key topics such as the Workforce Race Equality Standard

(WRES), and the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)

have been explored with good practice shared. Presentations

highlighted the work of MERIT demonstrating Inclusive Leadership,

Inclusive planning/communication and working in collaboration with

Service users.

In partnership with NHS Employers, we held

a Bullying, Harassment and managing conflict

workshop (Fight, Flight or Resolution) in

September. The conference looked at

various research projects across the NHS

addressing bullying and harassment and

shared case studies on conflict

resolution/meditation. Over 80 participants

in attendance and positive feedback received

from delegates.

We also held an Inclusion master class (Going

beyond the Inclusion Conversation) aimed for

Chief Executives, Boards and Executive

Leaders, in partnership with HEE (Health

Education England) and the RCN (Royal

College of Nursing). The event was a great

success involving round table discussions,

leading to high level commitments being

agreed by the leadership team across the

West Midlands, to progress an inclusive

leadership culture to meet the developing of

people, improving care (Compassionate,

inclusive and effective leaders at all levels).

In addition the event explored best practice,

supporting Trusts with culture change.

We are currently working in partnership

with Exeter University on the Gender Pay

Gap Duty requirement. This partnership

will look at each Trusts practice in

understanding and reducing pay gaps. This

project will look at diagnosing patterns in

pay data between men and women and

further at the level of single (male to

female for example), dual (with the

addition of ethnicity for example) and

even multiple combined characteristics.

Coming Soon

Christmas SIG (Special Interest Group)

Networking Event on Tuesday 12th Dec – book

on now!

If you would like to talk to a CDW please

see the details below:

Office: 013814 366517

Senior CDW - Anita Chumber

07766 368373

CDW – Iram Maan

07917 559683

Email: cdw@dwmh.nhs.uk

Get in touch!