Funding user-led groups: learning from the Side By Side Fund

Creativity and Mental Health: Still Ill Corona Diary

Monique Jackson, creator of Still Ill: Corona Diary [https://www.stillillcoronadiary.com/], talks to Gabrielle Johnson from NSUN about the power of art to build community, understanding and awareness. “The ethos of the project is to: * Document Monique’s experience of the Pandemic in the UK * Raise the visibility of the illness ‘Long Covid’ * Share helpful resources * Amplify voices of Front-line workers and Researchers * Explore and discuss benefits of Mental Health Services. The project has grown to include online international conversations via IGTV and Zoom talks with creatives, key workers and people experiencing the effects of the virus. By initiating conversations between people from different walks of life it is hopeful that we can nurture innovative and creative survival strategies which can benefit everyone overcoming the pandemic together.” You can find the project on Instagram by clicking here [https://www.instagram.com/_coronadiary/?hl=en] and find the project on Twitter by clicking here [https://twitter.com/stillillcorona1]. Links: * The Long Covid Survival Guide [https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Long-COVID-Survival-Guide-by-Fiona-Lowenstein-editor/9781615199105] * Spare Tyre [https://www.sparetyre.org/] * Long Covid SOS [https://www.longcovidsos.org/] * Body Politic [https://www.wearebodypolitic.com/] * Arts and Health Hub [https://www.artsandhealthhub.org/] * Kazzum arts [https://www.kazzum.org/]

Lived experience work: anti-racism & mental health

Kadra Abdinasir and António Ferreira talk to Amy Wells from NSUN about lived experience work at the intersections of anti-racism and mental health. Kadra (lead, Children & Young People's Mental Health at Centre for Mental Health, and organiser, Charity So White) and António (mental health activist/speaker and student) discuss the dynamics of lived experience based "work" in anti-racism and mental health from the challenges and barriers to what nurtures this kind of activity. They touch on the "hard to reach" narrative, the state of anti-racism work within the mental health charity sector, and the emotional toll of doing this kind of work and activism. Links: Follow Kadra on Twitter: twitter.com/Kadra_A_ [//twitter.com/Kadra_A_] Follow António on Twitter: twitter.com/Antothenio [//twitter.com/Antothenio] Find out more about #CharitySoWhite: charitysowhite.org [//charitysowhite.org] Find out more about António's tokenism campaign: www.antonioferreira.co.uk/campaigns [//www.antonioferreira.co.uk/campaigns] Find out more about NSUN: www.nsun.org.uk  [//www.nsun.org.uk ]

In conversation with StopSIM (part 2)

NSUN member Erica sits down with Luna Tic, Sunny, Hope, Bethan and Hattie from the StopSIM coalition to look back at the grassroots campaign against the High Intensity Network's 'Serenity Integrated Mentoring' (SIM) programme for 'High Intensity Users' of crisis and emergency services, which criminalised distress and used the threat of punitive legal action to coerce people into no longer “demonstrating intensive patterns of demand” without addressing unmet need. The coalition – a collection of activists who are past or present service users, carers and allies - worked tirelessly and in their own time to extensively research and campaign around the issue and succeeded in seeing the High Intensity Network close and getting NHS England (NHSE) to publicly outline their intention to conduct a review of SIM, however, we are yet to see the results of the local reviews NHSE triggered. This is episode two of two, covering: * What are the moments in the campaign that made the coalition feel proud?  * And finally: if you could wave a magic wand or make a wish, what would make things better? You can find part one here. It covered: * How the campaign and coalition began  * What the campaign strategy was and how it changed  * The cost of the campaign: was it worth it? This podcast comes with a content warning for references to suicide and iatrogenic harm. You can find out more about the StopSIM campaign on their website: www.stopsim.co.uk [http://www.stopsim.co.uk/] or through their Linktree [https://linktr.ee/StopSIMMH]. You can also follow them on Twitter and Instagram where their handle is @StopSIMMH.

In conversation with StopSIM (part 1)

NSUN member Erica sits down with Luna Tic, Sunny, Hope, Bethan and Hattie from the StopSIM coalition to look back at the grassroots campaign against the High Intensity Network's 'Serenity Integrated Mentoring' (SIM) programme for 'High Intensity Users' of crisis and emergency services, which criminalised distress and used the threat of punitive legal action to coerce people into no longer “demonstrating intensive patterns of demand” without addressing unmet need. The coalition – a collection of activists who are past or present service users, carers and allies - worked tirelessly and in their own time to extensively research and campaign around the issue and succeeded in seeing the High Intensity Network close and getting NHS England (NHSE) to publicly outline their intention to conduct a review of SIM, however, we are yet to see the results of the local reviews NHSE triggered. This is episode one of two, covering: - How the campaign and coalition began - What the campaign strategy was and how it changed - The cost of the campaign: was it worth it? Part two, coming on Monday 6th December, will cover: - What are the moments in the campaign that made the coalition feel proud? - And finally: if you could wave a magic wand or make a wish, what would make things better? This podcast comes with a content warning for references to suicide and iatrogenic harm. You can find out more about the StopSIM campaign on their website: www.stopsim.co.uk [http://www.stopsim.co.uk/] or through their Linktree [https://linktr.ee/StopSIMMH]. You can also follow them on Twitter and Instagram where their handle is @StopSIMMH.

Funding user-led groups: learning from the Side By Side Fund

In the first ever episode of the NSUN [https://www.nsun.org.uk/] podcast, Mark Brown talks to Ruairi White (Project Manager at NSUN) and Emma Ormerod (NSUN Associate) about what we learnt from running the Side By Side Fund for grassroots community groups. The Side by Side Fund awarded small grants of up to £500 to peer support, mutual aid or self-help groups that benefit people/communities who live with mental ill-health, trauma and distress to connect remotely, prepare to move their activities to face-to-face, or make their group more sustainable. We talk about the barriers small, grassroots organisations encounter while trying to get funding for their core activities, moving away from power dynamics in funding towards more participatory grant-making and genuine representation of lived experience, and the value of making funding application processes as straightforward as possible. More information about the Side By Side Fund: The grant was aimed groups that were in some way led by members of the community they engage. We defined peer support as the intentional action of bringing people together who have experiences in common, to offer mutual support. Not all groups that fit this bill define themselves as ‘mental health groups’. We are interested in groups who recognise that coming together supports wellbeing, healing or connection, and other things we associate with our mental health. Click here to find out more and view our Grantee Profiles [https://www.nsun.org.uk/projects/our-grants/]. The grant was made available through Mind’s Side by Side: Peer Support in your community project, which was funded by Morrisons Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation.