To register for the workshop or for more information, please contact Charles Yankiah on (0118) 974 6013.
Residents will be given the opportunity to discuss mental health issues at a public workshop on Monday February 13 from 6.30pm at the Civic Offices, Shute End.
The health overview and scrutiny committee at Wokingham Borough Council established a Mental Health Task and Finish Group last August to review the mental health service for 16-year-olds and over with common to moderate mental health and wellbeing needs. It aims to identify how easy it is for individuals to access the service for the first time in the Wokingham Borough.
As part of that review the task and finish group is organising a public workshop to listen to and discuss the concerns of members of the community who have experienced trying to access these services, over the last two years, as well as those who have used the services.
Chair of the task and finish group Cllr Charlotte Haitham-Taylor said: "What may surprise many people is that one in four people in the UK suffers from some kind of mental health problem, at some point in their life. Sadly, discussion of mental health is still considered, by some people, as something of a taboo subject.
"An individual’s experience of accessing services for the first time, getting the appropriate treatment and of longer term recovery is rarely something that is shared. The health overview and scrutiny committee needs to hear about these experiences, if we are to find better ways of understanding how to make services more easily accessible and therefore provide better patient treatment and outcomes."
"If you or anybody close to you, aged 16 or over, has experienced mental health and wellbeing issues and you or they have accessed services in the Wokingham Borough within the last two years, then we would really value your input."
The committee has been looking at both statutory and voluntary services within the Wokingham Borough and now it needs help from residents to tell them first hand of any positive experiences, negative feedback or their ideas for any service provision which they feel is missing.
To register for the workshop or for more information, please contact Charles Yankiah on (0118) 974 6013.
