A new mental health wellbeing hub in Shropshire is off to a hugely successful start with many people already benefiting from its range of self-help services – including some that are free.
The Stay Mentally Healthy Hub launched at the start of the year from its base in Faraday Drive, Bridgnorth and provides one-to-one sessions, group sessions, workshops and events through a team of qualified Self Empowerment Journey (SEJ) volunteers, all dedicated to helping people stay mentally healthy.
Serving Bridgnorth and surrounding areas, the hub offers services including a free personalised wellbeing plan and all appointments must be pre-booked. No referral is necessary and partial or fully-funded sessions can be obtained through online application.
Mary Phillips, founder of the Self Empowerment Journey Process and Stay Mentally Healthy Hub in Bridgnorth, which is an initiative of the Self Empowerment Foundation, said: “We are delighted with the response we have received since launching at the beginning of the year and interest in our self-help services are growing all the time.
“Good mental health and positive wellbeing are extremely important in today’s full-on, fast-moving, world and most of us need some help in achieving and maintaining that level of where we need to be mentally healthy. What we offer is a fast, effective, easy-to-use life-changing self-help process that really works.
“We are a not-for-profit organisation and are dedicated to empowering people through self-help to stay mentally healthy and find purpose and direction to reach their full potential.
“Bridgnorth is our flagship Stay Mentally Healthy Hub and the place where we initially piloted the SEJ process in schools, before expanding to London and Higher Education.
“The Bridgnorth area community now has the opportunity to acquire skills for improving and maintaining good mental health, especially as local mental health services are often overstretched. Everyone deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential.
“We are keen that everyone should have access to our services and fully-funded sessions are available, but there is a minimum low cost fee for those people who can afford it – we endeavour to keep our prices as low as possible.
“The wellbeing plan is free to all and, to ensure we are being fully inclusive, people can apply for free funded services via a simple application process online.”
Explaining how wellbeing assessments work, Mary said her SEJ consultants work closely with the individual to create a wellbeing plan that focuses on their individual wellbeing goals which can help them to find purpose and direction, address money worries, gain support with relationship issues, address emotional health, provide help with recovery and mental wellbeing and end isolation by making friends.
“Our wellbeing plans are key to what we do, fuelling our success, enabling us to make a real difference and empowering people to reach their wellbeing goals,” said Mary. “We regularly review the plan to ensure goals are being met and the plan holder can ask for a review at any time.
“The benefits of a Wellbeing Plan include a personalised service, encouragement for the individual to more easily commit to wellbeing goals, self-evaluate and take control of their own wellbeing through tailored strategies,” Mary said.
“The plan allows for the development of self-awareness, an understanding of mental and emotional triggers, and how these impact on all areas of the individual’s life, including career, relationships, health, finances and social interactions.
“Another important aspect of the plan is to empower the individual to take the preventative steps necessary to stay mentally healthy. It also means we can help identify where any additional support may be needed and advise on how that support can be accessed.”
Mary added: “We are filling a very important gap in the current services which are available to those who need support.
“We are literally helping people who are depressed to live a normal life free from depression in as little as one to three sessions which is life changing and often life saving.
“Many of our clients don’t want to see their GP or speak to therapists due to stigma or they don’t meet the criteria needed for that support but here at the hub, we can help them.”
The Self Empowerment Journey, the process used at the Hub, was born out of Mary’s own very personal experiences from early childhood through to working in the corporate world for many years whilst simultaneously experiencing mental health challenges – including depression, anxiety, and self-harm, culminating in attempted suicide.
For more information, visit https://www.staymentallyhealthy.org.uk/
Mary Phillips, founder of the Stay Mentally Healthy Hub in Bridgnorth and the Self Empowerment Journey Process.
