Choose well, your mental health matters
Local NHS Trust debuts mental health guide to help you to ‘choose well.’ Your mental health matters and this guide can help you know where and who to turn to in all stages of your mental health care.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has launched a new guide to help people in Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield to ‘choose well’ when looking after their mental health and wellbeing.
Based on the national NHS ‘choose well’ campaign – which historically focuses on physical health only – the new guide showcases examples of how a person may be feeling alongside some of the support available in these different circumstances.
The Trust is one of the first NHS Trusts nationally to develop a ‘choose well’ guide which focuses solely on mental health and wellbeing. It’s hoped that the guide will help local people to know:
How they can look after their own mental health and wellbeing
Who else can help and provide mental health and wellbeing support
Where to go for help and support.
The guide has been developed with clinicians at the Trust, alongside people with lived experience of mental health difficulties and their families and carers.
Rob Webster, chief executive at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s important that we all look after our mental health the same way we do with our physical health.
“Information and support around mental health and wellbeing can sometimes be difficult to find, conflicting, or even out of date; often leading to people being unsure about where to go for help, or what information they can trust.
“We created the ‘choose well for mental health’ guide to pull key information together into one trusted place to help with these challenges.
“The guide is for adults (aged 18 and over) in Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield. From self-care to emergencies, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the guide so you know what to do in different situations. Carers, friends, and families can also use this guide to look out for those close to them and direct them to the right support.
“The earlier we all recognise changes to how we’re feeling or behaving, and begin to take steps to improve things, the less likely these will get worse.”
The Trust is also using the guide as a reminder that mental health and wellbeing services are still here to help; in what has been a challenging year for everyone.
John Laville, lead governor at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Quite often changes in our mental health happen gradually and over time. This means we don’t always notice changes or realise that how we’re feeling, or behaving, isn’t healthy or ‘normal’.
“If you’d sprained your ankle, you would take your weight off it and rest it due to the pain. However, mental health doesn’t show the same warning signs as physical health. This makes it difficult to know when support is needed, or if we are unwell.
“This easy-to-follow guide can therefore help you to know where you are at with your mental health and wellbeing. It can give you a chance to check in with yourself and to notice early warning signs.”
A separate ‘choose well for mental health’ guide for children and young people is in production and will launch soon.
Download the guide (including Easy Read and Urdu versions) at www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/choosewell or keep up to date on the #ChooseWellForMentalHealth campaign on the Trust’s Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (@allofusinmind).
At Healthwatch Kirklees we can signpost you to relevant mental health services and support groups. Please do get in touch via our contact page or call our friendly team on 01924 450 379
Your mental health matters to us and we’re here to listen and help.