Spalding campaigner says calls for change to Lincolnshire’s mental health services are falling on deaf ears
A campaigner fears that our mental health services are at crisis point and is worried that things are only going to get worse.
Vanessa Browning, founder of Spalding’s Community Mind Matters, has warned the need for change is ‘falling on deaf ears’.
An NHS staff member recently spoke out about a shortage of workers to keep people safe amid rising levels of mental health problems.
The most severely ill people are treated on acute inpatient wards at the Peter Hodgkinson Centre in Lincoln - run by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for the county’s vulnerable patients- where understaffing means workers are increasingly at risk of assault from patients.
Vanessa, who is also South Holland District Council’s volunteer of the year in Spalding, has praised the worker.
She said: “It is frightening to hear people go through this and well done to the whistleblower for speaking out.
“It is getting to crisis point and I am not surprised that they are understaffed - my worry is that it will get worse.
“I do feel for the NHS but people are waiting too long for mental health support.”
Vanessa founded Community Mind Matters 10 years ago in order to provide more support for people who are undergoing mental health issues.
She was inspired to start up the group after experiencing mental health issues but felt she was offered little support following her hospital discharge.
Vanessa said: “I have been through the hospital system and I was discharged a year before I got my counselling.
“Mental health is the most important thing we can look after and I am not dissing the NHS.
“But this is why I set up Community Mind Matters - so that people do have a place to go.”
Vanessa is active in Spalding to ensure she is on hand for people to discuss mental health issues and signposts them to areas of support.
She attends Wind Back Wednesday at the Ivy Wall pub with other organisations including social prescribers.
On Thursdays between 12pm and 3pm she is available to speak to in Ayscoughfee Hall about many issues - including financial advice from an outside source.
The mental health bench is also open at 4pm in the gardens where people can turn up for a chat.
Last week she marked Children’s Mental Health week and Time to Talk Day by holding an informal session at Castle Sport Complex which saw a good turnout.
It is these community endeavours she feels are vital for prevention of mental health issues, rather than cure.
Vanessa said: “People want somewhere to go where they know it is just a cup of tea and they don't feel judged.
“I have my own mental health experience and because I can identify with it I can empathise.
“We are the prevention in a way - I assess, safeguard and can arrange appointments.
“Unfortunately when people haven’t got the mental strength they do get fobbed off.”
She has provided meals on Christmas Day for the last few years and slept out on the street for the Big Sleep Out raising awareness about homelessness.
Even though Vanessa would welcome additional funding or sponsorship for Community Mind Matters, she wants to avoid her organisation ‘being moulded into something that won’t work.’
Vanessa believes simply being a listening ear is important and prevents people, who are struggling, being added to a long waiting list or entering into a clinical environment.
She added: “People who need to take medication need to take medication.
“But I do think that when people go to the doctor the medication is the easy option - it covers it up and doesn't solve the problems they may have.
“There is so much importance in talking about mental health and supporting each other in the community.”
Visit the Community Mind Matters page on Facebook for further information.
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