In Our Office....
Grapevine Project CEO and Counsellor: Mark Smith
Community services manager & Volunteer Coordinator: Julie Keeling
Counsellor: Emma
Volunteer Administration Assistant and Trustee: Jayne Lowe
Making Rainbows Project Manager: Chantelle Ross
Making Rainbows Support Worker: Anna Watson
Making Rainbows Support Worker: Tamlynne Baranski
Making Rainbows Counsellor: Rachel
The Grapevine Project is a charity based in Buxton, Derbyshire. Our premises include the Grapevine community cafe on High Street and offices, an activity room and a fantastic new Community Zone on St. James Terrace, Buxton where the Making Rainbows sessions have taken place.
The Grapevine Project exists as a support and signposting service to adults and now young people, who have in the past or are presently experiencing mental distress.
The Grapevine Project is expanding its provision of therapies and support services to include:
• Access and support to and for community mental health teams
• Access to support from Incapacity Advisors
• Access to housing support
• Access to debt advice
• Access to adult education services and retraining opportunities
• Access to Health Trainers
• Providing a community cafe for 365 day support for all in need
• Providing one-to-one emotional support
• Running Anger Management, Depression and Anxiety Management courses
• Facilitating diverse self-help groups (recovery based theme)
• Organising weekly Walks for Health
• Running weekly Tai Chi classes
• Digging Therapy at our allotment
• Close links with neighbouring areas (Derbyshire, Macclesfield, Stockport and Manchester)
• Easy access to therapy and counselling
• cCBT (skilled helper lead computer based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy)
• Books on Prescription - skilled helper managed access to self-help books or bibliotherapy)
• A Women's group
• A Men's group
• A reading group
• Access to a Social Worker
• Access to a Childcare provision Pilot scheme
In addition, there are a number of volunteering opportunities which are always available within the Grapevine Project. These will open up a world of meaningful employment to anyone who chooses to sign up, boosting not only confidence and self-esteem but also CV’s and future job prospects.
There are also paid posts generated from time to time too.
Some facts and figures...
The UK government have placed the health of teenagers at the centre of a number of policies (DfES and DoH, 2004; DfES, 2004; DoH, 2004; DfES, 2006).
The catalyst for this is the evidence which identifies this age group as the only one for whom mortality rates are not improving (DfES and DoH, 2004).
A major causative factor for this is high risk-taking and poor self-care skills which can be directly related to their mental health status (Collishaw et al, 2004; DfEs, 2006).
The age between 16 and 25 years denotes transition into adulthood and therefore, for many with an existing mental health problem, entry into adult mental health services (Day et al, 2007). However, both services have widely differing philosophies. The greatest focus is upon those with severe and enduring illnesses within the adult sector, whilst children’s services work to a more preventative model which incorporates families, schools and the wider community.
‘Adolescents sit poorly between the family-centred, developmentally
focussed paediatric paradigm and the adult medical culture’
(Viner, 1999).
So what of those who fall outside of the severe and enduring category, or those who simply decide not to access adult services once they reach 18?
Given that the incidence of mental illness increases significantly between the ages of 16 and 19 years (NHS, 1997; ONS, 2001; Newman et al. 1996) the stark lack of tailored support for this sector of the community is a matter of very great concern to many services working with adolescents.
Young people who access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the High Peak have their provision withdrawn as they move into the transition period between 16 and 17 years.
A great number of these may not be suitable for a referral to adult mental health services and indeed may refuse further intervention.
In 2001 there were 11,411 children aged between 11 and 19 years in the High Peak. In 2008 this population is now 17 to 26 years of age.
Nationally in 2004, one in ten children and young people aged 5 to 25 years in Great Britain had a clinically recognisable mental disorder.
This means that potentially, there could presently be as many as 1,141 young people in the High Peak area who fall within this category.
There are around 500 children and young people aged 0-17 years registered with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the High Peak today, 53 of whom are reaching the period of transition.
Although this seems lower than the projection of 1,141, this figure only accounts for children aged up to 17 years and reflects research that has concluded the incidence of serious mental illness increases significantly between the ages of 16 and 25 years and most markedly during the transitional period of 16-19 years.
The World Health Organisation warned last year that the fastest-growing mental health problem in the world, and particularly in the developed world, was among adolescents.
In 1999 The UK Government placed mental health high on its agenda for tackling poor health.
Despite this, the charity Mental Health Foundation claims vulnerable mentally ill young people are currently slipping through ‘huge gaps’ between adult and child services, a finding that is also highlighted in a number of other studies.
Faces Behind the Statistics
Having identified an area of great need in mental health services The Grapevine Project's Making Rainbows was created in an attempt to bridge the gaps in services for young people aged between 16 and 25 years.
On a personal level, this gap in provision has become increasingly apparent to me over the years through my studies and work with children, young people and families as a volunteer, community arts worker and latterly as a School Community Nurse.
When, in October 2007, The Grapevine Project offered me the opportunity to set up a pilot group for those aged between 16 and 25 years, it gave me the opportunity, through consultation with a number of key organisations such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), social services and Connexions, to attempt to plug the gap for some of these young people.
The results have been very encouraging... here are the outcomes of an evaluation questionnaire we devised at the end of the first stage of Making Rainbows:
The following questions were asked of each of the 8 participants 6 of whom completed the questionnaire:
1) My feelings on starting the group sessions were mainly (tick as many as you wish):
Anxious_ Excited_ Terrified_ Nervous_ Depressed_ Paranoid_ Happy_ Other_
2) My feelings whilst attending the group sessions were mainly:
Anxious_ Excited_ Terrified_ Nervous_ Depressed_ Paranoid_ Happy_ Increased confidence_ Other_
3) My feelings on finishing the group are mainly:
Increased confidence_ Sadness_ Terrified_ New Friends_ New Skills_ Glad its over_ Optimistic_ Other_
They answered as follows:
Question 1: Anxious- 4; Excited- 3; Terrified- 1; Nervous- 4; Depressed- 0; Paranoid- 1; Happy- 2; Other- ‘interested’.
Question 2: Anxious- 1; Excited- 3; Terrified- 0; Nervous- 2; Depressed-0; Paranoid- 1; Happy- 5; Increased confidence- 3; Other- ‘relaxed’.
Question 3: Increased confidence- 5; Sadness- 3; Terrified- 0; New Friends- 6; New Skills- 4; Glad its over- 0; Optimistic- 2; Other- ‘sad because was fun’; ‘would like it to continue, not end’.
This data collection tool does not allow for the changes observed in the young people who have participated in the project.
Some letters of endorsement written by professionals working in the services which have referred young people to Making Rainbows will be posted in full on this site soon... but see on the home page for some extracts.
THANKYOU FOR VISITING AND
KEEP ON LOOKING!