Very good article by the excellent not-for-profit Manchester Mule about The Roby’s current situation. Have a read and feel free to share with friends and colleagues.
http://manchestermule.com/article/mental-health-charity-slammed-by-budget-reduction
Thanks,
Ben
Notes from Campaign Meeting on the 24th January 2011
Attendees: 33 (plus 3 staff in voluntary capacity) = 36 total
Ben Crouch, Director of The Roby welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed gratitude that some many supporters had attended on a rather dreary January evening.
Ben went through a brief presentation (
) to explain the Roby’s current situation, what actions were being taken (Plan A – continued fundraising activity, Plan B – TB & SMT developing plans for worst case scenario) and that this campaign was effectively our Plan C. Roby is community asset and we now need our supporters to make our case to people with influence and resources.
Many questions were asked about the impact of the cuts, and although The Roby is not directly affected, we are more generally affected because the economic and political climate is making grass roots community organisations like ours require resources to sustain service delivery. Grant funders are under extreme pressure from charities that are losing statutory funding, this increase in demand is means grants are more competitive and are taking much longer to process (we have applications from Aug 2010 that will not be considered until May 2011). Our current commissioners are unable to review the level of financial investment they make in The Roby although this amount of £38K will be difficult to sustain “a service” due to the financial constraints that they are operating in.
The Roby Staff and Trustees are doing all they can to avert a destabilising situation, but we need the support from the local community. These are after all your services, not ours. Suggested activities (writing to local MPs, councillors and commissioners) were encouraged to raise the profile of The Roby’s situation. These might allow us to see whether personal stories and the human impact of the current political decisions affecting funding on the ground will encourage those with a duty to protect and serve the residents of Manchester to be more creative and assist us in seeking realistic solutions.
Participants were asked to work in groups and below is suggested activities that they would personally or collectively commit to undertaking:
Have a core group to do the work
Inidividually
• Go to local councillor and talk about how closure will affect them
• Solicitor – will do a letter – explaining impact on her service
• Draft a standard letter that can be used to all partners asking them to write a letter of support
• Ask all organisations that use the Roby to write letters and send them details where to write
Collectively
• Invite councillors to a public meeting include service users to give views
• Have a rally (could be more than 1)
• Press release – local papers
• Granada Reports
• Think about a campaign fund – requests to local businesses
• Drop in facilitators e.g. services that came to womens’ group
• Organisational support
• Produce a leaflet to distribute issues etc
Other ideas
• get 6-10 counsillors to sign a letter which could be published in the Manchester Evening News
• Wrote to the Minister who came to The Roby
• Have a stall on Longsight Market / Asda informing people and asking them to sign a petition
• Inform in local newspapers
• Access support from local mosques and churches
• Exploratory discussions with partners
• Set up a petition that we can all sign. Can be circulated through existing groups, friends and family of clients.
• Groups who use Roby to write a joint letter to local councillors, MP and press etc
• Will support any direct action / protests that are organised
• Celebrity endorsement / involvement
• Lantern protest outside Gerald Kaufman’s office and / or GP surgeries
• Look for opps to share resources across local com/vol orgs
• Local orgs unite to campaign against cuts
• Suggested other local orgs:
o The Anson Cabin
o Trinity House
o Birch Com Assoc
o Levenshulme Inspire
o Pedal Manchester
Because of the demand on staff time to continue delivering services that we are funded to provide, continue to fundraise and to plan for the potential closure of services and loss of staff it was reiterated that this campaign would require support from volunteers and specifically for these suggested roles of:
1. Campaign Organiser
2. Campaign Administrator
3. Social Network Coordinator
No volunteers applied for these roles at the meeting. Anyone interested in leading on these essential roles for the success of this campaign should contact Ben Crouch – Director on ben.crouch@theroby.org.uk or 0161 257 2653.
Staff in a voluntary capacity would work on fleshing out some of the ideas and suggestions above and supporters would be contacted ASAP about a future meeting. Everyone was reminded that it would be really helpful for all letters sent out in support of The Roby to also be copied to us using the saveourservices@theroby.org.uk so that we can keep a central record.
Ben thanked everyone for coming and the meeting was closed.
For further information please contact Ben Crouch (Director) – ben.crouch@theroby.org.uk or 0161 257 2653
Date: 17th January 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Well-being charity is not feeling well
A local community mental health charity based in Longsight with a 25 year history of supporting the mental health needs of Manchester residents is preparing to potentially lose a large number of jobs and closure of vital services due to a reduction in income of 86%.
An announcement today from the Board of Trustees to the staff team has set in place plans for the organisation to seriously look at service closures for unfunded services and manage the impact that this has on the staffing requirements of the organisation.
The Roby (famously based in the Roby United Reformed Church on Dickenson Road) opened its doors to local residents in 1985 as a response to the “Care in the Community” initiative launched by the then Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher’s command. A group of volunteers provided an array of activities and support services to help individuals become more independent and live full and rewarding lives. The Roby’s services over the years has grown to meet the needs of local residents and has subsequently introduced a free professional counselling service, group therapies, social inclusion groups for South Asian Men and Women as well as more recently an array of recovery services and a variety of volunteering activities.
The Roby like many charities within the UK at this present time is facing a huge reduction in its income. Despite large investments from The Big Lottery Fund, Generations Together pilot, Targeted Support Fund and Manchester City Council’s Longsight Ward’s CASH grant, the charity is looking at on the 1st of April 2011 of only having a small contract from Manchester NHS’s & Manchester City Council’s Joint Commissioning Executive.
The Roby has undertaken fundraising activities and has a number of funding applications awaiting review with a number of grant funders. However, we have been told by many funders that their resources are under greater demand than usual with some having to increase the number of Trustee Board meeting they have to meet the level of demand.
Without alternative funding in place we are looking at a variety of scenarios in relation to some key services. Can they be run by volunteers or people who use the services? Can ownership of the service be handed over to partner organisations or individuals that care that these services continue. Can we change the service to help it to meet the contractual obligations that will soon be set by the Joint Commissioning Executive for our small (£38K) grant that has been provided to The Roby for the last 10 years? If we change it, will the people using that service still come?
The Roby works with some of the most socially and economically excluded individuals within Manchester in an attempt to increase their opportunities and enhance their personal sense of wellbeing. We manage to keep a relationship with them despite the many challenges which our staff and volunteer team overcome on a daily basis.
This is a tough economic environment for most of us, but with the political and economic challenges that are being introduced and will start to have a significant impact over the next few months, organisations are a vital component for community cohesion and ensuring that the most vulnerable and the most neglected within society have a place to go to access support and relevant interventions to stop any decline into extreme emotional distress from an organisation that has worked for and subsequently earned the trust from the local community.
The Roby is holding a public meeting on the 24th January 2011 at the Roby URC on Dickenson Road to start a campaign to ‘Save our Services’. Doors open at 5pm and anyone with an interest in supporting an organisation like The Roby.
Ben Crouch, Director of The Roby said “This isn’t just about survival, we want to thrive and ensure our popular and sometimes vital services to vulnerable people continue. In my two years here at The Roby, we have directly supported and intervened when people have turned up on our door because they are on the brink of suicide or have been kicked out of their home and we have given them whatever assistance we can. They come to us because they know we are there because we’ve previously helped a family member of one of their friends. You can’t commission that.”
EDITORS NOTES
For further information contact Ben Crouch on 0161 257 2653, or
This is a quick post to let you know that The Roby will be hosting a
community open day on Saturday 17th July 2010. It will be held at The Roby
Church at 307 Dickenson Road (see www.theroby.org.uk for a map) from 10am
until 1pm.
There will be a jumble sale, cake sale, bbq, raffle, children’s play area
and face painting, among other activities.
We’re hoping it will be a good opportunity for our service users to
introduce their friends and families to The Roby, as well as to raise the
profile of The Roby in the local community. I would also like to take this
opportunity to invite yourself, as a colleague / relevant Manchester
agency, to pop along and have a cup of tea with us and observe The Roby in
action!
I do hope we may see some of you there.
Kind regards,
Ben Crouch
Director
The Roby is extremely pleased to announce the launch of our new online donations and fundraising service provided by Bmycharity.
All charities need to be more proactive about how they fundraise during this difficult economic recession and it is vital that we use the opportunity for our supporters, their friends and people who want to support people experiencing emotional difficulties.
As you can see from our website, The Roby runs a variety of services and groups but we have plans to provide additional volunteering expenses for our new Community Peer Support Volunteers (who will be directly providing practical support and opportunities to socialise and learn to registered Roby clients), we also want to provide more opportuntities for clients to get out of Manchester on fun days out, or therapeutic retreats to the countryside.
We know the impact that these activities can bring, but unfortunately they are extremely hard to fundraise for and your support, energy and enthusiasm to either donate or obtain sponsorship on our behalf is vital.
If you would like to fundraise for The Roby then please use the Bmycharity tool or get in touch.
Kind regards,
Ben Crouch
Director
Government funding provides vital mental health services at The Roby in Manchester
18 February 2010
Charities Minister, Angela Smith, visited The Roby in Manchester today to see first hand how they are using Government funding to help younger and older volunteers address mental health issues in their community.
The Roby, a local community centre, received funding of £35,000 as part of the Government’s £5.5 million Generations Together programme which aims to promote volunteering between younger and older generations to tackle local issues.
On her visit, the Minister witnessed the launch of three new mental health projects which are being provided through the funding. The projects include training courses aimed to equip groups of older and younger people with advocacy skills, understanding of mental well-being and illness and the confidence to support others with mental health issues within their communities.
She met with staff, volunteers and participants in the projects and joined a workshop which was exploring the issues that affect an individual’s mental health.
Angela Smith, said:
“It has been great to see how The Roby Mental Health Project is helping people in Manchester. It is an excellent example of bringing older and younger generations together to tackle issues within their community.
“It’s been truly inspiring to meet the staff, volunteers and participants of the project and witness first hand how the education, training and volunteering opportunities they provide are helping those with mental health problems in their local area.”
Cllr Rosa Battle, Assistant Executive Member and lead for intergenerational work at Manchester City Council, said:
“We are delighted that the Minister is visiting The Roby because it has been a mainstay in the community for 20 years, supporting residents with their mental health and general well-being. Not only is it a therapeutic environment, but it also brings together younger and older people from some of the most excluded communities, allowing for shared experiences alongside practical support including counselling.”
The ‘Generations Together’ programme, aims to break down barriers between young people and older people and help them engage with each other on equal terms through mutually beneficial voluntary projects.
The projects bring together young people and other members of the community to build trust and understanding, develop community solutions to issues which concern both groups, promote health and wellbeing and resolve tensions by helping to address negative perceptions of young and older people alike.
The Roby is very pleased to announce that we have won CAS:H grant funding from Manchester City Council’s Longsight Ward so that we can open our doors each morning from Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 9:30 and will be providing free breakfasts, a space to be social and have fun and also to get support first thing in the morning if things are getting you down.
The funding allows us to provide basic breakfast food and drinks (with a healthy focus, but with the odd Bacon Butty available as a treat) but we will be relying on volunteers to staff the kitchen, help with preparing breakfast, cooking, serving and providing hot and cold drinks and smoothies.
The Roby is a mental health and well-being charity based in Longsight with our community centre in the Roby United Reform Church on Dickenson Road and we provide essential services to individuals living with mental health conditions, rough sleepers and people living in sheltered / supported housing, people with drug and alcohol issues, refugee and asylum seekers and many others. We are a welcoming organisation that takes an active stance in tackling social exclusion.
If you are interested in volunteering your time for this project, please complete the online survey (link attached) to provide us with your contact details, indicate what areas you are interested in contributing too and we will get in touch to meet with you.
THE SURVEY LINK IS:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DC9JWHX
The planned launch of the Breakfast Club is 1st March 2010.
If you could promote this opportunity through your friends, family, colleagues and other networks we would be extremely grateful. A poster for volunteer recruitment is attached.
Happy New Year!
Dear All,
Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our service users, volunteers, staff, partners and trustees all the best for 2010.
As we enter a new decade The Roby has arrived at a milestone in its significant and impressive history. From here on there are a myriad of potential paths to lead us forward into the future.
The Roby has, for the last twenty years, provided essential services to people living in Longsight and the surrounding area, to those with severe and enduring mental health conditions, to refugee and asylum seekers, to members of the South Asian community and Parents (guardians) and their children.
It has achieved this through engaging with the local community, listening to its service users, supporting the creativity of its staff and volunteers and through building exceptional relationships with funders. It is this history and continued success that led the organisation to win a highly competitive Big Lottery Grant from its “Reaching Communities” funding programme. This new significant increase provided the funding for my post, a BME Men’s Development / Group Worker and a French Speaking Counsellor, with a significant contribution to our running costs. The main outcomes that the grant and the 2008 business plan set out to achieve were to position the organisation to effectively respond to the threats and opportunities of Public Sector commissioning. The Roby was under notice that its long standing grant from Manchester’s Joint Commissioning Executive was to be decommissioned under the plan to revolutionise Manchester’s Mental Health Primary Care Services.
During the last year, The Roby, like many small charities has been under considerable stress and strain brought about by the current economic climate and fears of operating in a commissioned / contractual environment. However, we have extremely strong products and services, operate under excellent ethics and codes of practices and will continue to strive to provide the best level of service to support the personal growth and continued development of our service users and be the safety net for many who come to us in extreme need. We do this daily through our counselling service, group therapies, South Asian Women and Men’s Groups, our open door Drop In and our Parent and Toddlers Group. We will continue to do this and have attracted funding from the Targeted Support Fund to invest in our Counselling Service through additional counselling hours and support for volunteer counsellors and will have invested in 8 members of staff and volunteers from throughout the organisation to learn new skills and techniques using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
We have also attracted funding from the national Generations Together programme through Manchester City Council making The Roby an important pilot site for cross generational projects specifically focussing on well-being. We have used this funding to invest in a new Recovery Services Manager, alongside which we will create a pool of Community Peer Support Volunteers (who have personal experience of mental health conditions) who will be trained to be effective advocates and will provide practical and social support to Roby’s service users. We will also be matching up younger and older people and researching the differences, similarities and gained understanding that these pairings can bring between generations. Our new Recovery Services Manager, Phil Girling, will be creating a workshop specifically focussed on personal development, growth and supporting individuals to improve confidence and gain or retain control over their well-being. Our new Recovery Service will be aligned with our BME / Social Inclusion Services and Counselling Services, providing an internal stepped care model for anyone that comes to The Roby.
Over the last year we lost some great assets whom have been with The Roby for a number of years. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank them on behalf of the charity: Cath Fitchett (Volunteer and Staff Counsellor), Vicky Gilibrand (Trustee), Ivona Skrkankova (Volunteer Counsellor), Shabana Baig (Volunteer Counsellor but still active in the South Asian Women’s Group), Mobeen Zahoor (BME Men’s Group Volunteer who has left us for employment and study), Akbar Jamil (BME Men’s Group Volunteer). The Roby has also gained new staff members and I’d like to personally wish them well in their new endeavours on behalf of The Roby: Philip Girling (Transition and Recovery Services Manager), Nabil Ahmed (BME Men’s Development / Group Worker), Jawad Mahboob (Trustee), Olivia (Drop In & Parent and Toddlers Kitchen Volunteer) alongside the four volunteer counsellors who have moved into paid counselling positions. I would also like to wish our 4 new volunteer counsellors and 6 new student counsellors a warm welcome to The Roby.
We can only provide our services through the commitment and dedication of our team of staff and volunteers and I thank everyone who has put a little bit of their heart into The Roby.
The next year continues to offer us and many small charities a number of challenges that we must be ready to respond to. Details have still not been agreed regarding the commissioning of Primary Care Mental Health Services, but the ‘writing on the wall’ is that for any funding given, more extensive reporting and accountability will be required. Grant funders are reporting a significant increase in demand from charities and only have finite resources to respond. We need to ensure that our own services are meeting and will meet the needs of our current service users and those people in our local community that might not be accessing our services yet but could benefit from our support. We also need to ensure that our new premises are fit for purpose and meet the needs of service users, staff and volunteers.
However the next year is also full of opportunities. We have just been awarded a small grant from Manchester City Council’s Longsight Ward to open up the doors of the Roby URC from Monday to Friday between 8:30am till 9:30am for a Breakfast Club, providing a free breakfast, opportunity to socialise and also access support if needed. We will be launching this in late Spring and will be providing volunteering opportunities in the Kitchen to people from the local community and service users. There are a number of partnerships (existing and being developed) that could significantly enhance our offer of services to those in need including a Social Media Centre in the Levenshulme Inspire Centre, launcing of a recovery model and continued delivery of Mental Health First Aid throughout Manchester with our strategic partners HARP and Mind in Manchester. We will continue to make links with other BME organisations and continue investing in our successful relationship with the Black Health Agency to be creative in tackling issues of social exclusion and its impact on health and well-being.
Throughout the year it is also vital to ensure the sustained and continued investment in all of our current services and to ensure that we continue to provide a relevant quality service. We are currently devising plans for Trustee Board approval to set up a Services Management And Resources Team (SMART) which will include representatives from Service Users, Volunteers, Staff and Trustee Board to discuss operational and management issues and ideas for the Roby as a whole.
There will also be extensive fundraising over this period. I am about to enter my name to take part in the Greater Manchester 10K run in May 2010 to raise funds for The Roby. If I complete it in less than 60 minutes (my previous attempts have been 74 and 71 minutes) I’ll also donate an extra £100! If anyone would like to do the 10K run with me and raise funds for The Roby, then please let me know.
So all in all, it sounds like another busy year with many challenges with a real sense that we will continue to do great things and meet the growing needs of our neighbours and friends.
Happy New Year and all best wishes for 2010!
Ben Crouch
Director
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) for The Roby was held and firstly I’d like to thank all the volunteers and staff who helped to make the event a success.
Bob Day, the Chair of the Roby gave a talk on how to manage change then I gave a quick presentation on The Roby’s activities over the last 6 months and our future plans.
The AGM was very well attended and our new look Annual Report and Annual Accounts were presented and approved. Aferwards we had a fantastic lunch with food contributed by The Roby staff, volunteers and service users where everyone had the opportunity to relax, chat and in many cases network!
A few simple things can make such a difference. We all know this but it can be easily forgotten.
As some of you know, I’ve recently been trained as an instructor in Mental Health First Aid to deliver training courses. With my colleague Debbie from YASP, we have recently completed our first four half-day training sessions and have let loose six Mental Health First Aiders to intervene and support individuals experiencing mental health problems in Manchester.
Feedback from the group, made up of staff and volunteers from The Roby and HARP ,was excellent and all found the materials hugely useful, providing them with background information into mental health, well-being and recovery. The course enhanced group confidence in discerning some of the symptoms of different types of mental illness, what the most effective ways to provide support to someone in distress are, whilst looking after oneself and remaining calm and confident.
The day after the participants were recognised as accredited Mental Health First Aiders, one of the participants, a volunteer at the HARP Café, had to put his new found knowledge and skills into practice when a woman arrived at the café upset and extremely distressed. He handled the situation completely differently post-training; with new found confidence he ensured she was safe and listened to, giving her the opportunity to calm down and feel relaxed so that she was able to take the next step forward. WELL DONE EDDIE! You made a real difference to that woman and I’m sure she is extremely grateful. I’m also sure our other MHFAs will be doing an excellent job too.
This is a stark difference to the treatment of one of our service users at our local Job Centre Plus. He’s been suffering from depression for the last eight weeks which has been so severe that he’s not been bothering to eat for days, has stayed in bed for up to four days at a time and recently came to our Drop-In in severe distress. Due to his depression he’s not managed to sign on, yet is also too proud to visit his GP and discuss his current inability to cope with his life as he thinks his GP will see him as a failure. He tried to explain his illness and its impact on his ability to sign on to the floor staff at the JCP, but they wouldn’t listen to him. Agitated and anxious he lost his temper and kicked a door in frustration; he was promptly escorted off the premises and barred from entering.
His self-care is obviously being affected and, because he hasn’t signed on, his benefits have been stopped so he is currently under threat of an eviction order and has no money for food.
So what could happen now after a failed attempt at accessing support from the Job Centre? His depression could worsen and he could be evicted and end up sleeping rough on the streets; the stress of this may escalate his depression into a psychotic episode, he may end up being sectioned and put on a ward (at a huge expense I might add), or it may all get too much for him.
Since accessing the Roby, we have listened to him. We’ve encouraged him to see an Advice Worker at HARP’s Advice Service held every Wednesday (which he did and found very helpful) and he’s been encouraged to see his GP (huge sense of pride and fear of a potential medical diagnosis leave him extremely resistant). I’m still extremely worried about his eviction order but am hopeful our interventions will be timely enough to ensure that this is prevented.
I wish all our public services would tackle the barriers that exclude the essential support that we all can need from time to time in our lives. If people feel listened to, encouraged and in moments of real human need, treated like HUMANS, would we still be facing the myriad of problems that currently affect our daily lives?
If we strived to create opportunities for those that need them, and recognised that life when you’re down is extremely difficult (even the simplest act of getting out of bed or making a phone call) what would this look like? If we invested in positive interventions and reflected upon the consequences of our actions rather than closing doors, what could this mean? Would you expect someone with a debilitating physical illness to keep their life in order with no additional support? We frequently do for those experiencing mental health problems even though they are less likely to obtain a medical diagnosis and may have less support from friends and family.
As Manchester and the country continue to deal with the recession on a daily basis, the need of our neighbours will continue to grow. This won’t change in the near future. What needs to change is the way we all respond.
Listen, don’t judge and encourage. It is a simple message but the benefits for us all will, unmistakably, be so much better.
Ben Crouch
Director
The Roby
