Welcome to the HUBBlog!

The 'HUBBlog' is the online 'newspaper' for HUBB Mental Health. We want to keep you updated with what we 'Hubbites' are up to as well as any information that we believe will be of use to anyone involved in Mental Health, Wellbeing, Recovery and related services.

HUBB is not just about 'recovery' and support for those dealing with mental ill health. We are passionate about prevention. Programmes like Mental Health First Aid are particularly appropriate for business - especially in the current economic and social cliamte. Helping spot the signs and symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression and implementing strategies to promote a mentally and emotionally resiliant workforce and society will be vital for all our futures.

Further information can be found on the
HUBB Website.

Please comment and contribute! We look forward to hearing from you.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Myrder Mystery Success!

Our first foray into fundraising events was a great success!
We had hired the Brentwood Community Theatre and a group of actors to perform on Thursday 13 October.
Advance ticket sales went very well and we had over 60 people - at £20 per seat! 
Raffle tickets sold well - thanks to everyone who donated prizes and everyone who bought tickets
The performance was very interactive - fortunately we had two budding thespians in our audience who were only too willing to upstage the professional actors! There was a lot of noise and much laughter as we cheered and booed in equal measure.

The really good news is that we raised £908.





 

Monday, 19 September 2011

Murder Mystery Night


To mark 
World Mental Health Day

HUBB Mental Health User Group
Presents a

 
At the

Brentwood Theatre
15 Shenfield Road, Brentwood CM15 8AG
01277 200 305

Thursday 13 October at 8pm


£20 ticket includes supper, during which a terrible deed takes place. 
Were you watching your fellow theatre goers – did you spot the clues? 
Can you solve the mystery?
Tickets from HUBB 0208 590 2666 or the box office

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

HUBB Annual General Meeting

Our AGM will be held at the Baptist Church in Romford on Thursday 1st September 5pm to 7pm.
Our guest speaker will be Bernie Graham who has written a book about his own personal experiences, 'Creature Comforts Animal That Heal' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creature-Comfort-Animals-That-Heal/dp/0684851636

20th Anniversary - book launch

On 4 August we filled the hall at the Baptist Church to celebrate 20 years since our very first meeting. It was a fitting occassion to launch our book 'Recovery is......'


Dinah was able to remind us of our early days of advocacy, when we were seen on the wards at Warley Hospital as 'the complaints ladies'. This is how the consultants used to greet us!



It was wonderful to welocme so many of the contributors of the book, which is availble from the HUBB office for £15 (plus £2 p&p).






Friday, 12 August 2011

Goodbye to Rob

Well readers, your previous blogger has left us and we are (just about) managing to sustain the website and blog which he created. Rob was delighted with his farewell gift, which was a lightweight shiny thing which (apparently) enhances the flash on his camera. Here he shows how NOT to use it....






Friday, 20 May 2011

HUBB & Right Here Newham - YMHFA


HUBB is working with  'Right Here - Newham' to deliver a series of Youth Mental Health First Aid programmes before March 2012. Coordinating this project for Right Here - Newham is Karen Douglas, Young People's Community Development Officer, Newham Right Here Project
'Right Here is a £6m programme to radically change how we look after the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 16 to 25 across the UK. By intervening early before mental health problems become entrenched we want to reduce the risk of young people's lives being damaged in the long term.


We are working with young people, frontline youth charities and mental health services in four local areas to develop new ways of providing support to those aged 16 to 25.We will find what works and seek to replicate this nationally to bring about change on a huge scale.' (From the Right Here website)

Rob Thomas, Training Coordinator for HUBB and National Training Team Member for MHFA England's YMHFA Programme, met Susan Blishen, Right Here Project Manager, at the Comunity Care Live 2011 Exhibition on 18th May.

It was particulalrly gratifying to understand more about Right Here and recognise they put young people at the heart of their decision making process - much like HUBB's ethos with mental health Service Users. HUBB is really excited to be involved with Right Here in Newham.

HUBB will be delivering 2 YMHFA programmes to an open selection of young people between the ages of 16 and 25 and 1 YMHFA programme as part of working with a school or college in Newham to attain MHFA England's 'YMHFA Quality Mark of Excellence'. HUBB will also be sponsoring one person to complete the 7 day YMHFA Instructor Training Programme with MHFA England.

In total this will provide Newham with 36 Youth Mental Health First Aiders and one YMHFA Instuctor. This will give a superb foundation for mental health provision at grass roots in the borough. Not only will it enable young people to gain awareness of mental health issues and help reduce stigma and discrimination, it will provide pragmatic applications for early intervention thus reducing a long term impact of mental ill health. The training of a YMHFA Instructor will mean they have a local person able to deliver the programme even more people making the programme deliverable and sustainable in the long term.

A further benefit will be that these young people will influence their peers and, of course, will become adults taking this awareness into their work and social lives in years to come.

Thursday, 19 May 2011

Recovery Star Training for Staffordshire Mind

A very succseful Recovery Star training programme was delivered to the staff and volunteers of Mid Staffordshire Mind on the 12th May 2011.
The group were really engaging and apprecited the style and content oif the course. The key learning appeared to be developing their confidence in working with clients and their Star, whilst understanding the pressures on themselves and their organisation to collect data required by theiur commissioners and funding agencies. Keeping the Star with the client is vital and this was a key point to the group undertadning and working with the Star.

As with all organisations working with and promoting the Recovery Star they are caught in the middle. How do we keep the Star client centred but also enable the date created to help us and our funders?
The key is education and confidence. If a client moves back down their 'Ladder of Change' this could appear a negative to the organisation or their funders. It could be the opposite! The client has recognised the reality of their situation and is now able to make strong proactive changes to move forwards effectively and generate long term changes.

Many thanks to Staffordshire Mind for making me so welcome, and being so appreciative of the training.




Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Recovering Jane - Accredited

 HUBB’s ‘Recovering Jane’ training programme has been registered as an Accredited Programme by Advantage Accreditation. It has been designed specifically to help those who care for people with mental ill health what Recovery is and where the responsibility lies.

Lynn Burling with the Certificate of Accreditation from Advantage Accreditation

‘Recovering Jane’ has been designed and developed by Lynn Burling, who is an acknowledged expert on the Recovery Approach.

‘Carer’ can cover many aspects where someone is looking after someone else. This can be by relation, a professional carer or someone who has the care for another for short to medium periods of time to cover for others.

If you would like to know more about the programme contact our training department.

Friday, 8 April 2011

Youth Mental Health First Aid - Havering Success!

 Back:  Christine Jackson, , Susan Kite,, Laura Conquest, Donna Dorrell, David Parry, James Balcombe, Samantha King
Front: Lynn Burling, Poppy Jaman, Nancy Gilfillan, Jacqueline Eades, Margo Lindsay, Susan Francis, Lee Clegg

7th April saw 12 delegates complete the Youth Mental Health First Aid programme. A true collaboration between Jenny Gray and Rob Thomas of HUBB, Sam King and David Parry of The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School, Lee Clegg of 14-19 Commissioning for Havering Local Authority and Mental Health First Aid England.




Poppy Jaman, CEO MHFA England presnting YMHFA Certificates to
Sam King and David Parry of Coopers Coborn School and Lee Clegg of 14-19 Commissioning for Havering.
Jenny Gray, Director of HUBB and Jacey Graham Director of Brook Graham Diversity & Inclusion Consultants and Coopers Coborn School Governor

HUBB YMHFA Instructors, Lynn Burling & Rob Thomas provided the training. This was delivered in 8 sessions over 6 weeks to fit in with the school half term. Coopers Coborn provided the venue and six members of staff to take part. They are also part of a pilot programme to achieve Mental Health First Aid England’s Quality Mark, demonstrating they are working towards the continuous improvement of the wellbeing of young people, not just in the school but also in the wider community. The six members of staff chosen to take part were selected partly on their interest and enthusiasm but also because of their strategic contact with as many pupils at the school as possible to ensure the breadth of coverage.

The other six delegates came from Havering College of Further and Higher Education, In School Counselling at Bower Park School, Havering Connexions, ARC (Pupil Referral Unit), 14-19 Commissioning (Havering) and the Havering Business Education Partnership.

To celebrate the participant’s success and their achievement a cheese and wine event was held after the final session. Jenny Gray, Director of HUBB, Jacey Graham, Governor at Coopers Coborn and Poppy Jaman, CEO of MHFA England also attended and presented the certificates.

As well as having 12 new Youth Mental Health First Aid instructors in Havering another major benefit of this programme is the drive and enthusiasm of all involved, delegates, facilitators and all the organisations involved is expanding the network and good practise in all areas of young people’s mental wellbeing and development.

We are already in the process of developing the skills within this group to look at how we expand YMHFA throughout the borough.


       Christine Jackson ARC (Pupil Referral Unit)

  Donna Dorrell - Coopers Coborn School


 James Balcombe - Coopers Coborn School

 Jacqueline Eades - Coopers Coborn School

 Laura Conquest - In School Counsellor, Bower Park School

 Margo Lindsay - Havering College of Further & Higher Education

 Nancy Gilfillan - Havering Connexions

 Susan Francis - Havering Business Education Partnership

 Sue Kite - Coopers Coborn

Friday, 25 March 2011

HUBB - Changes to Advocacy Provision

At the March meeting Jenny explained the changes to our advocacy service from April 1 2011.

Everyone is aware that the NHS and local authorities are having to review their budgets and inevitably this means some services being reduced.

NHS Havering (formerly known as PCT), along with NHS Barking & Dagenham have, for the past 20 years, paid for anyone who accesses metal health services to self refer to HUBB for advocacy support.

Unfortunately NHS Havering are no longer able to fund the same level of advocacy and have asked us to review our criteria.

Our IMHA’s (Independent Mental Health Advocacy), Kay, Ian and Suzana will see every patient in Sunflowers Court (Goodmayes Hospital) who is detained under the mental health act (Sectioned). This is a statutory requirement which means patients have a legal right to IMHA.

Clients living in the community under CTO (Community Treatment Orders) will also take priority, as they too have a legal right to IMHA advocacy

IMHAs will then advocate for voluntary inpatients and those under the Home Treatment Team.

If a client lives in Havering and does not meet any of the above criteria, they will be ‘signposted’ to other organisations who may be able to help, such as CAB (Citizens Advice Bureaux) and Family Mosaic.

Family Mosaic is based in Romford and residents of Havering can self-refer for support with debt, housing, and benefits. They have a team of support workers, including three with mental health expertise, who can offer short term intervention.  Family Mosaic will be our guest speakers at the HUBB meeting on April 7th.

In Barking and Dagenham our commissioners have not made any changes to advocacy provision, but they have elected not to pay for development work in Barking and Dagenham. Some of you may recall this being the Self-Advocacy Development Worker.

The Recovery Group at Porters Avenue in Barking will cease, but all clients are welcome to attend the Petersfield Centre group in Harold Hill. 10am -12pm first Friday of every month.

Along with changes to IMCA (Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy) so we find ourselves saying ‘Au revoir’ to Lynn and Alistair.

Lynn has been with HUBB 13 years and at the meeting she said “I have grown so much during my time with HUBB. As a person I am more confident and
capable than ever. I have developed skills and experience that I will take with me as my career moves forward. I have always embraced the idea of recovery and would like you to see my move as endorsing the fact that it can happen. I will miss you all, clients and colleagues, but the time is right for me to go”

Alistair will also be moving on, and he too said that he is leaving HUBB with regret, but excited for the new challenges ahead.

Both Lynn and Alistair are staying with mental health and will continue to raise the standards of care through other routes, such as training of mental health nurses and CPN’s at South bank University.

Monday, 21 February 2011

HUBB - More Training!

February has proved a busy and succesful month for HUBB's training.

Rob Thomas & Lynn Burling spent a day in Coventry training members of the 'Social Care - Communitiy and Children's Services' in the Recovery Star. The group was made up of a great range of people - from CDW's to Admin Support to Managers. The programme was received well and it was fantastic to have such a variety of levels represented. This demonstrated that the organisation was looking carefully at how the Recovery Star could be used and engaged with from all persectives - the Client, the workers and the organisation.

Lynn Burling of HUBB (far left) with members of Coventry's
Social Care Communities and Children's Services

From HUBB's perspective it was great to receive such a warm response. IT was also very pleasing to see such creativity present within the group and evedence from the accross the organisation. The artwork and environment was exceptional! The background artwork in the photograph above is their version of a 'Recovery Star'.
_____________________________________________

Youth Mental HEalth First Aid is gaining in popularity. Coopers Coborn School, Upminster, is to be one of the first schools in the country to working towards MHFA England's 'Kite Mark'. This pilot programme will be delivering the YMHFA programme in 8 sessions over 6 weeks. This programme is the result of a partneship collaboration between HUBB, Coopers Coborn and MHFA England and the local Employment Eligibility Forum.

Coopers Coborn are providing the venue for a YMHFA programme which will include 6 members of their staff, carefuly selected as people who are likely to have the most contact with most pupils, together with 6 members of other organisations within the borough. Other delegates include representatives from the Pupil Referral Unit, Bower Park School, the Employment Eligibility Forum, Connexions, Havering College of Further & Higher Education and the Havering Business & Education Partnership.
_______________________________________


Rob Thomas spent 11 days in late January and early February delivering a 7 Day Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor programme and a 4 Day Extention YMHFA (for those who are already MHFA instructors) for MHFA England.


Thursday, 20 January 2011

2011 - A great start!

2011 looks to be a challenging year for everyone. The social and economic changes that are in progress will affect us all. What Britain will look like in a years time is difficult to predict...let alone trying to imagine five years ahead.

HUBB, although facing challenges like many individuals and organisations, has experienced a positive start to the year. Jenny Gray, our Director, has been recognised by Mental Health First Aid England as a 'Champion' for her support of Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid. An article was published in the Romford Recorder and other Archant Group newspapers.

Jenny Gray in the Romford Recorder 14th Jan 2011

We are in negotiation with a prominant local secondary school to be a 'Kite Mark' pilot for Youth Mental Health First Aid. HUBB is supporting the programme by providing free YMHFA Instruction. MHFA England are providing the course materials and certificates. The school will provide the venue. Whilst not fianlised at this moment in time, the prospects are looking very good for this programme to run over eight sessions in the half term before Easter. This will be one of the first schools in the country to be involved in YMHFA under the MHFA England Kite Mark Scheme - promoting health and wellbeing in schools and the wider community.


The pilot that HUBB is involved with is particularly exciting as it is hoped that 6 places will be taken by the school and six places provided to other schools and youth organisations in the local area. This will mean that 12 YMH First Aiders will be operational in a wide number of organisations to help identify young people cthat may be showing signs and symptoms of mental ill health and guiding them to the appropriate support. This early intervention will make a big difference in the lives of many young people..

Our mission to help MHFA England reach it's target of a 'Mental Health First Aider in every workplace' is moving forwards. We are meeting business leaders at every opportunity. It is our firm belief that the wellbeing of the nation can be improved by having MH First Aiders in similar proportion to physical Frist Aiders. Our Corporate Social Responsibility approach connects wellbeing to individual and business performance. More information can be found on our specific CSR website pages.


Our colleagues at Stredia are able to produce important diagnostic analysis of where companies may experience potential issues with stress and anxiety. The information  is generated via an anonymous online data collection system and presented in clean and effective reports. Combining this information with training key employees in Mental Health First Aid and developing specific training programmes in the areas recognised as generating higher levels of risk of stress and anxiety will not only create an improved working environment but can make big differences to the business balance sheet. Prevention of stress and anxiety is far more cost effective than dealing with the impact!

© Stredia 2011

HUBB is keen to link with any organisations that is interested in making a difference to their employee wellbeing.

Thursday, 30 December 2010

2010 - That was the year, that was...

HUBB has had a very successful year in respect the services we provide. On top of that our staff have worked hard on their own development and received personal recognition for their hard work in a number of ways.

All our advocates (IMCA & IMHA) have successfully completed the specialist module stage of the National Advocacy Qualification Certificate. They are currently preparing their core modules and completion of the certificate is confidently expected in February 2011. A number of advocates are also keen to carry their development by working toward the Diploma. Well done to Ian, Alistair, Dinah, Eve, Suzana, Kay for their success so far, and we wish them well on their journey to further success!

Lynn Burling, from our Training & Development Department, successfully completed a   Foundation Degree (Patient Educator in Health & Social Care) London South Bank University. Well done, Lynn!

Pam Macklin, HUBB’s Advocacy Manager, was also successful in completing the Certificate in Managing for Excellence in Advocacy Services from the Institute of Leadership and Management. Well done, Pam!

Jenny received the accolade of Mental Health First Aid Champion from Mental Health First Aid England for her promotion and support of the Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid programmes.


It has been a very busy year for the organisation.

January marked a great start for 2010 as Investors in People reviewed our organisation. The assessor reported ‘This is a very inclusive workplace, where staff are empowered to make decisions as appropriate, and to feel involved in what HUBB is aiming to do in the future. Staff also confirmed that their ideas and feedback was sought and that HUBB worked very much as a team.’

March saw HUBB awarded the ‘Quality Performance Mark in Advocacy’. The assessor wrote ‘I came away with the impression that HUBB are so well known in the area that they can tackle any issue with confidence and I would imagine they are a force to be reckoned with….HUBB is a high quality service with one of the longest records of service delivery in the country.’ Martin Coyle, Head of Quality and Development for ‘Action 4 Advocacy’ added ‘Service Users speak in glowing terms of the way they lead their own advocacy process, the skills and commitment of the advocates and the trust they have that the service they provide is independent and on their side.’

HUBB was awarded the status of an Approved Centre by Advantage Accreditation. We were also successfully receiving accreditation for our programme ‘Mental Health Act and the role of the IMCA’. Just before Christmas our ‘Recovering Jane’ programme was submitted for accreditation approval and we should hear news on its success early in 2011.

Our Independent Mental Capacity Advocates, Independent Mental Health Advocates and Generic Advocates all continue to provide sterling service to the London Boroughs of Havering and Barking & Dagenham. This quote from a decision maker typifies the response to our service. ‘The IMCA service was very easy and very helpful. I was quite nervous as this was my first referral to HUBB, but the staff were very helpful and knowledgeable and after speaking with them I had gained with them I had gained a better understanding in this case.’ A Senior Practitioner in a Learning Disabilities Team stated ‘HUBB IMCA provided an independent voice and useful (indeed vital!) professional judgement in what was a sensitive and complex case.’ More importantly one service user commented ‘I would like to thank HUBB from the bottom of my heart. If it wasn’t for them on the end of the phone I wouldn’t be here now.’ It is comments like these, and especially the service user perspective that make us proud of what we do.

Our Training & Development Department goes from strength to strength. We have delivered training to nearly four hundred people in the last twelve months. Of particular interest is how we are being asked to provide training programmes further afield. We continue to provide training in Havering, Barking in Dagenham, but 2010 saw us spread our wings on a regular basis. Sevenoaks and Sittingbourne in Kent, Islington, Croydon, Harmondsworth (near Heathrow) and even as far as Burton-upon-Trent!

We are gaining a strong reputation for our ‘Recovery Star’ programmes. This has been delivered to a wide range of organisations in public, private and voluntary sectors. We have been commissioned to provide Recovery Star training to the health services in Coventry in 2011, as well as many more programmes in Barking and Dagenham across multiple services following a successful pilot in December.

HUBB continues to promote and deliver Mental Health First Aid programmes. We were particularly proud to deliver an MHFA to the Gypsy & Traveller Community in Kent. Rob also co-delivered an MHFA course to the staff of the Immigration Centre in Harmondsworth.

Rob was selected as a member of the National Training Team for Youth MHFA and MHFA England in May. Youth Mental Health continues to gather interest and momentum. It was officially launched in November by an august team that included Esther Rantzen. A number of potential pilots in Havering and Barking & Dagenham are in the pipeline. Like many areas of life at the moment this will be dependent on funding, but the signs are looking good.

Poppy Jaman, Director MHFA England, with Esther Rantzen

Well, that is a quick review of HUBB in 2010. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients, supporters, friends and colleagues, in fact anyone that has had contact with us in any form over the last 12 months!

2011 is set to be an interesting year. Financially it will prove challenging for many individuals and organisations. Many will see the negative. However, out of such times there will be the seeds of creativity and positivity. HUBB not only promotes the recovery ethos to individuals working with mental ill health issues but also promotes this approach to any one and any organisation. The bedrock of recovery is hope. From this hope appears optimism. Through these two prisms new light is cast giving a new perspective on possibilities.

We wish everyone a happy and successful 2011.

Monday, 15 November 2010

Emotional & Psychological Wellbeing & Reslience Strategy (EmPWR)

HUBB atteended the EmPWER Commissioning Workshop on the 12th November at the Barking Learning Centre.

Introduced by Meena Kishinani, Head of Children's Policy and Trust Commissioning for London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, and facilitated by LisaWilliams of the Department of Health National Support Team, this event looked to reflect upon the strategic priorities for the emotional wellbeing for children and young people and develop effective actions to move LBBD forward to new and effective implementation.

Over 40 people representing varios interested parties across the borough attended. This included Senior Practioners, Head and Deputy Head teachers, a GP, Multi Action Location Team (MALT) members, Youth & Social Workers. There were also a number of representatives from the voluntary sector.


As well as providing a comprehensive update on the strategy implementation, Lisa facilitated the action planning. The ideas and suggestions are too numerous to list here but are being collated ready for the next stage of the strategy implementation by Paul Cosens, author of the EmPWR Strategy (Children & Young People) Project Brief.

As well as a positive and constructive session it is HUBB's belief that the Youth Mental Health Frist Aid programme will fit exceptionally well in to future implementation of mental health, wellbeing and resiliance in Barking & Dagenham.

Monday, 18 October 2010

Launch of Youth Mental Health First Aid

The official launch of the Youth Mental HEalth First Aid programme will take place in London on the 10th November. Further details are available from the MHFA England website.

HUBB is subsidising a number of YMHFA programmes to those who live and/or work in Havering and Barking & Dagenham. See our website for more information. Rob Thomas is one of MHFA England's YMHFA National Training Team members as well as delivering the 14 hour programme as an instructor.



"MHFA England CIC is excited to announce the launch of Youth Mental Health First Aid (Youth MHFA).  Following the huge national success of Mental Health First Aid, Youth MHFA is an internationally recognised course designed specifically for those people that live, work or care for young people aged 11 - 18. MHFA England have adapted the course to be specific for people living with, caring for and working with young people in England. The course provides information and training to promote a young person's mental and emotional wellbeing and to enable participants to support a young person who might be experiencing mental and emotional distress.
The Youth MHFA course will teach people how to:
  • Spot the early signs of a mental health problem in young people
  • Feel confident helping a young person experiencing a problem
  • Provide help on a first aid basis
  • Help prevent a young person from hurting themselves or others
  • Help prevent a mental health illness from getting worse
  • Help a young person recover faster
  • Guide a young person towards the right support
  • Reduce the stigma of mental health problems
Why is it important?
  • 1 in 10 young people experience emotional and mental health problems
  • By the time young people become adults the incidence of mental health problems rises
  • to somewhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 people.
  • For those aged 15-24 suicide is the most common cause of death
  • There is evidence to suggest early intervention is hugely beneficial"

Monday, 4 October 2010

Together Report - Peer Support - Lived Experience Leading the Way

An important new report - 'Peer Support - Lived Experience Leading The Way' - was launched by 'Together' on September 30th. The full report along with associated material can be downloaded from the highlighted links to the relevant pages on the Together Website.

Friday, 17 September 2010

HUBB Annual Report and other news...

The HUBB Annual Report 2010 is now available as a pdf download from the HUBB website. Scroll to the foot of the Homepage where a 'quick link' to the report is located.

HUB was involved in two Mental Health First Aid programmes. The first took place at the Ardleigh Training & Education Suite at St. Georges Hospital, Hornchurch with 13 delegates. This was for Havering PCT for people working and living in the borough and delivered by Pam Macklin and Rob Thomas. The second took place at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, near Heathrow Airport. Rob was invited to co-train with Jessica McKoen as part of her training provision for staff at the centre.

Lynn Burling is to deliver a one hour interactive lecture at Robert Clack Scholl on communication for those involved in social care this week.

Friday, 3 September 2010

HUBB AGM 2nd September

Over 50 members and guests attended HUBB's Annual General Meeting at Romford Baptist Church on the 2nd Septemeber 2010. Guest speaker was Poppy Jaman, Director of Mental HEalth First Aid England. She gave a great presentation on mental health awareness and support in England and how the Mental Health First Aid programme is progressing. There are now over 500 MHFA Instructors, of which HUBB has four, and they have trained over 23,000 people to become Mental Health First Aiders.


Poppy gave an overview of MHFA England and how it is establishing MHFA as good practise in business, simialr to how First Aid is an accepted part of our society, She also expalined about the Youth Mental Health First Aid programme.

The meeting was chaired by Neil Wood, who was also re-elected as chairperson for HUBB for 2010-2011.


Unfortunately Jenny Gray, HUBB's Director, was unable to attend due to illness, but was very ablely duputised by HUBB's Advocacy Manager, Pam Macklin and Office MAnager, Dawn Byrne. Pam presented the Annual Report 2009 and Dawn chaired the announcement of the new Committe for 2010 - 2011. These are:
Officers:
          Neil Wood – Chair
          Steve Marsh Treasurer
          Liz Cadzow Committee secretary
Members:
          John Potter
          Mary Larkin



HUBb would like to thank all those attended and a special thanks to our guests, Fiona Weir, Robert Keys, Claire Stritton, Simon Cannell and Sue Gibbs.

Thursday, 12 August 2010

MHFA New Website Launched


The Mental Health First Aid England website has undergone a complete refurbishment. It covers comprehensive information on the Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid Programmes along with supporting material around them.


HUBB has four instructors listed on their 'Instructor Database' - Jenny Gray, Pam Macklin, Lynn Burling and Rob Thomas. We will be listing our MHFA and YMHFA programmes on the MHFA England website as well as updating progress on our own HUBB site.