Hi some good news about AiW.. and that means APEx as well.
The long planned for, AiW as a User Led Organisation employing highly motivated, highly trained, independent thinking small teams of paid workers underpinned by volunteers – running a wide range of practical, and now therapeutic, Primary and Secondary care mental health, Drug and Alcohol Misuse and Public Health/Wellbeing and employment – plus a range of “after Hours” Peer support and Exercise groups is gathering apace now.
As we will – through our staff and volunteers – support over 5000 vulnerable Wirral residents this year – it really would be great to see folk arranging to come down and visit, and experience our recent progress and exactly what we are doing down at Woodside now as just in the last 6 months there have been some dramatic developments in scale and range of services.
In Just the last month:
- We have successfully undergone ISO 9001 assessment evidencing our increasingly high quality of work and evidence
- And yesterday our successfully being assessed for Investors in People -validating how we take folk from Service User, to Volunteer, to Paid worker and often on to management.. We gained Investors in People at our very first attempt!!
- Tomorrow – at the House of Lords after our being successfully nominated for a national mental health award for services to mental health.
- And APEx has come of age by my being successfully nominated to be an Olympic Torch Bearer in June this year for advocating the high therapeutic benefits of regular exercise for improving mental health and wellbeing.
- Winning the contract to run the Café at the new St Cath’s hospital to build upon the excellent high quality standard of the “Food 4 Good Mood Café” that we operate at the new VCH Primary care base.
- The starting of a couple of potentially really innovative new Pilot projects in partnership with CWPT!
We now have 49 highly skilled and qualified paid staff and 38 volunteers that we will help support and develop and qualify further to build an even stronger team with a blend of skills to make this organisations ability to provide “High-outcome” and highly cost effective services at a time of burgeoning need but less financial resource available to support it.
A staff team, comprised mostly of folk who have direct experience of Mental health (Primary and secondary Care) and DAAT services, has accommodated huge personal and organisational development – particularly over the last 18 months, and we have focussed upon providing post Graduate and Graduate Qualifications ensuring the high empathy of Expert by Experience knowledge can be increasingly married to qualification and training to develop highly motivated skilled and adaptable folk operating service to vulnerable peers.
And we have several more folk undertaking Post-Graduate and Graduate Qualifications in Therapeutic and Social Care/Advocacy as I write this…
The above are just the icing on the cake for a service that can tell several thousand huge stories, each year, of supporting Recovery and successful outcomes for folk who both come to us for support and for those offering the high standards of providing professional support to Peers.
Well done to all the folk involved
Chris Shaw CEO
Phoenix is the editor of this site and was diagnosed with bipolar twenty years ago. In between 8 periods of illness and hospitalisation she trained as a garden designer and was a awarded an RHS Diploma, gained a first class degree in Cultural Studies and a Certificate in Education that enables her to lecture in Recovery in Mental Health to psychiatric nurse students and mental health professionals at universities.
Phoenix leads a diverse life which she attributes to Wellness Recovery Action Planning and all aspects of Recovery. In the last 2 years she performed stand up comedy. Laughter truly is the best medicine! Now she is concentrating on being involved in improving conditions for inpatients and service receivers trustwide. And training in WRAP, Recovery Star and the new Advanced Statement and some gardening for health. 
Do take up Chris’ offer of a tour of AiW. There is loads of good stuff going on and more to come in future.