15th February 07 - Young Carers Poster Design Competition

As part of an on-going initiative to inform and support Young Carers the EAST DORSET MENTAL HEALTH CARERS’ FORUM has been organising a poster competition working with Year 6 pupils in The Epiphany School, Bournemouth, Somerford Community School, Christchurch and Branksome Heath Middle School, Poole. A Forum committee member visited each school and spent a short time discussing the problems encountered by Young Carers, and the support services available to them. He then started the pupils on designing and drawing a poster that would catch the attention of Young Carers and advise them of the available support services. The finished posters were judged by Forum members and Sarah Moore from Barnado’s in Bournemouth and Poole. The winners will be given prizes courtesy of Christchurch Rotaract Club, who held a Quiz Night and raised £300, which they kindly donated to the Forum.

The overall competition winners were:

1st : The Epiphany School (Bournemouth), Year 6
2nd : Somerford Community School (Dorset), Year 6
3rd : Branksome Heath Middle School (Poole), Year 6

Overall 1st Prize Epipihany School Bournemouth

The overall winner is The Epiphany School and they will receive £160. The winning pupils will receive Woolworth vouchers worth £20 for the winners and £10 for the runners-up. The winning posters will be displayed on our Web Site and we hope also to display the actual posters in local libraries.

The Forum is very grateful for the support given by the schools and the Rotoract Club in this venture. We are now considering ways of extending this work to other schools and organisations and to older age groups.

17th September 06 - Joint working in Dorset county-wide : Kingston Maurward - An alternative way of consulting with Mental Health Service Users and Carers.

View Evaluation Report (PDF 114 kb)

31st August 06 - Support for Mental Health Carers

Mental health Carers in Bournemouth, Poole and South and East Dorset are set to benefit from £10,000 grant from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales. The grant was awarded to the East Dorset Mental Health Carers’ Forum to use for training and information events on subjects such as direct payments, benefits advice and Carer assessments. Internet access training is another area of development, especially as the Forum has already worked with other Networks to provide broadband access across Dorset Carer and Service User Forums.

Lloyds TSB Foundation is one of the UK’s largest grant-making trusts supporting and working in partnership with charitable organisations, which help those who are disadvantaged or disabled to play a fuller role in the community. They are particularly keen to support small community-based charities where small amounts of money can make a significant difference to local people’s lives.

Pictured above is Jane Raimes, the South West Trustee for the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales congratulating Keith Hogg, a newly appointed Trustee of the East Dorset Mental Health Forum, which currently has 238 members.

9th May 06 - Successful bid helps us to reach out into the community

We have pleasure in announcing that we have successfully secured funding of £527 from Awards for All for display equipment. A portable display board and its accessories will enable us to go into the community, to share information and advice to Carers of those suffering severe mental illness.

Pictured above is Glen Gocoul, Head of Community Care, who supported us in our bid, congratulating Peter Atkins, the Forum’s Project Development Officer.

As a Forum, we are often out at events and meetings, bringing Carers’ perspectives to the forefront of policy making and procedures, offering advice and more importantly listening to the views of Mental Health Carers from Bournemouth, Poole, South and East Dorset.

24th March 06 - "And the ‘Healthy Community Award’ goes to…….The East Dorset Mental Health Carers’ Forum!"

Allan Edmonds, our Chairperson was on hand to receive this prestigious Christchurch Good Citizen Award on Friday 24 th March 2006 when he attended the Award ceremony with the Forum’s Project Development Officer, Peter Atkins.

The Oscar-style ceremony at the Avonmouth Hotel was led by Mayor Cllr Josephine Spencer and Christchurch Borough Council’s Chief Executive Michael Turvey.

We were nominated alongside two individuals, but it was the Forum that took the award on the night for its work in developing a healthy community. It is the first time that an organisation has received this award. It is good to see that with increasing awareness mental health is being recognised alongside its counterpart physical health.

Other awards being celebrated on the night include Community Safety Action Organisation of the Year Award, The Avonmouth Hotel and Restaurant Project of the Year Award, Creativity and Culture Award, The English Nature Contribution to the Environment Award, Design Champion Award, Twynham Housing Association Pride of Place Award, Christchurch Community Partnership Volunteer of the Year Award and the Mayor of Christchurch Young Citizen of the Year Award.

After congratulating all the winners and nominees, Cllr Spencer thanked everyone’s hard work by saying, “Thank you to all of you Good Citizens for the hugely valuable contribution you have made to our community”.