Page 9 - QARANC Vol 14 No 6 2013

When I took over at Bovington MRS as Matron last year, I undertook a health needs analysis and became interested in the Mental Health and wellbeing of the families here at Bovington.
I have served in the QARANC as a Nursing Officer and Midwife for 20 years, am a Navy wife and have 2 small children, so experience military life from both sides!
There is a growing interest in this subject; the AFF (Army Families Federation) has mental health as one of its main campaigns - see more detail at this link. AFF Mental Health Campaign. In addition, Phase 2 of the Army Health Promotion initiative “Don’t Bottle it Up” Mental Health Stigma campaign launched on the 6th June 2012 and has a new page on the Army website. This page offers help and advice to soldiers and family members. The site will be updated regularly with case studies and personal experiences from soldiers and officers all trying to break down the stigma associated with mental health so others don’t suffer the way they did.
All this is very welcome, but I wanted to know what we could do at Bovington to actually improve the situation for our families and how could we try to reduce the stigma associated with mental health? Some issues that may affect people here are: the isolated location of Bovington, separation from their partner, maybe they don’t drive (or have access to a car). Maybe they are feeling low, anxious, lonely, depressed? How likely are they to access help?
In March I became involved with the Dorset Mental Health Forum and the National Campaign Time to Change, http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/. Much work has taken place since then, with a “Tea and Talk” workshop from Helen Hutchings. Helen is a registered mental health nurse and has bipolar disorder – so she is in the unique position having used and worked in the mental health service. “Tea and Talk” combines Helen’s love of afternoon tea and her mental health expertise and is designed to challenge people’s perceptions surrounding mental health. Some of the families who came to “Tea and Talk” were keen to set up a group that would offer help and support to individuals, but also to encourage people to get involved locally to raise
Maj Vanessa Crossey
awareness of mental health and help reduce the associated stigma. The group is in its infancy and meets every Friday between 1pm and 2.30pm. At present I see my role as a facilitator for the group, and I also have also been fortunate to secure an NHS Community Development Worker from Dorset NHS Trust to help me. We have lots of ideas for workshops, outside speakers and events and I hope that eventually the group will be self-supporting.
Our first main event was a Mental Health Awareness event for World Mental Health Day on October 12th 2012. It was a positive experience for many of us and lots of people from the Garrison showed their support.
Capt Ian Johnson, Director of Music and some of the ladies from the Bovington Military Wives Choir came and sang, Taff Williams from the Bovington Ladies Bootcamp came and publicised how fantastic taking part in keeping fit can be for mental health and wellbeing. The Dorset Mental Health Forum brought their “tree of wellbeing” and the Dorset Volunteering society also came and spoke to people about how satisfying volunteering can be. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the new support group and demonstrate that there are a lot of social groups and events that people can get involved with across the Garrison that can help people feel
less isolated. The event also raised awareness of general mental health issues and the associated stigma. The group is going from strength to strength and there is an increasing feeling of mutual support and camaraderie amongst the members. There is now tangible evidence that people are beginning to benefit from this health promotion initiative.
The Chain of Command at ARMCEN (Armoured Centre) have been extremely open to the whole process and have very much bought into the subject of trying to raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental health. They have invited me to run a series of mental health workshops across the Garrison to continue the work started at the “Tea and Talk” event. In addition to all this good work, the Time to Change Team have asked Bovington Garrison to be the first army unit to sign up to a Time to Change “Organisational Pledge”. Time to Change is England’s biggest ever attempt to end the stigma and discrimination that faces people with mental health problems – one of the ways in which the campaign works is with organisational pledges. Many organisations have already signed up and I hope that Bovington would be seen to be setting a real example to the rest of the Army. Time to Change wants to encourage all employers in all sectors, including all political parties, to sign up to the Time to Change pledge and join the existing social movement against stigma and discrimination. Those already signed up include BT, British Gas, the Premier League, E.ON, Ernst & Young, Accenture, Shell, Pepsico, The Labour Party, The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England, Channel 4, Lloyds, and many NHS trusts, universities, and local authorities. The undertaking of this pledge will demonstrate the level of commitment and support that I have already seen in regards to this subject from everyone involved here at ARMCEN.
For more information or if you are interested in undertaking a similar health promotion campaign within your unit contact me on 01929 403474 or have a look at the groups facebook page at Bovington “Coffee and Chat group”.
Maj V Crossey
Matron, MRS Bovington
THE GAZETTE QARANC 7
Bovington “Tea and Talk”
A Health Promotion Initiative