“This is a weight off my shoulders!”
Sarah was referred into Social Prescribing by her GP surgery, Mossley Medical Practice. Sarah has a visual impairment, and her sight has been declining in recent years, with things building up at home, Sarah didn’t know where to start. Sarah talked to Stalybridge Social Prescribing Officer, Sinead, about her mental health. Sarah said that her housing situation was having an impact on her mental health and that she had been living with depression for years. Sarah no longer enjoyed being in, or coming back to her home, she had a network of friends and neighbours but didn’t feel she could ever have people round.
Sinead used a conversational approach to discuss what support Sarah had received in the past, Sarah told Sinead that she had engaged with traditional mental health provisions, but that she wanted to find something different to support her wellbeing. Together, Sarah and Sinead identified the two main areas Sarah wanted to work on, firstly improving Sarah’s living conditions and secondly, exploring opportunities to help Sarah improve her mental health and wellbeing. With Sarah’s consent, Sinead contacted Jigsaw Housing who agreed to send Sarah’s neighbourhood officer out to do a home visit, assess her home and put a plan of support in place. After the visit from Jigsaw, Sarah told Sinead ‘This is a weight off my shoulders.’ Sinead also provided Sarah with information on a range of opportunities in the community to help her with her mental health, including The Anthony Seddon Centre, The Health & Wellbeing College and MIND. Sinead noted Sarah’s passion for animals and informed her about Noah’s ART’s.
Sinead had three telephone appointments with Sarah, which enabled Sarah to connect to a range of activities and support in her community that Sarah was not aware of before working with Sinead.
To find out more about Social Prescribing in Tameside, call the team on 0161 830 6833 Monday – Friday, 09:00 to 16:00 or email us socialprescribing@actiontogether.org.uk
