The importance of holistic Care and Treatment Plans was one of the major talking points at the “Movin’ On Up!” campaign event in Bridgend today.
Paul Dennis, a service user at Hafal’s Bridgend project, said: “I know from experience that mental health patients require a lot more than just medication to get better. We campaigned for a long time to ensure that service users have a right to a Care and Treatment Plan that covers the eight areas of life and looks at all a patient’s needs (accommodation; education and training; finance and money; medical and other forms of treatment, including psychological interventions; parenting or caring relationships; personal care and physical well-being; social, cultural or spiritual; work and occupation). It’s great that the new plans are about to come into force under the Mental Health (Wales) Measure.”
Hafal will launch a new publication designed to help service users get the most from the Plans, which will be introduced on June 6th, next month. The guide, “Care and Treatment Planning: a step-by-step guide for secondary mental health service users” will be launched along with the Code of Practice for the Mental Health (Wales) Measure by Health and Social Services Minister Lesley Griffiths AM at the Pierhead Building, Cardiff, on June 11th.
Holistic Care and Treatment Plans were not the only topic of discussion at today’s event in Bridgend. Service users and carers also spoke about the new Mental Health Strategy, “Together for Mental Health”, which was published by the Welsh Government recently. The response was positive – service users and carers welcomed the Strategy and its focus on the whole population; but participants agreed that the Strategy needs to focus most on vulnerable people with the highest needs.
The “Movin’ On Up” campaign is run by service users and carers and supported by mental health charities Hafal, Bipolar UK and the Mental Health Foundation. 22 weekly county events are taking place and the campaign will culminate in a climb of Wales’ highest peak, Snowdon, in September. The campaign will also feature an interactive stand at the Royal Welsh Show and on World Mental Health Day at the National Assembly.
• For more pictures from the event go to Hafal’s Facebook page.
• For more information on the campaign please visit: www.hafal.org
• To get the latest updates on Twitter please go to: http://twitter.com/#!/hafal_
• For more information on Time to Change Wales please visit: http://www.timetochangewales.org.uk/home