We have a very worthy cause we would like you to support on Saturday for our bucket collection – Mental Health Carers Group Stockport (MHCGS).
Chair of the MHCGS Committee Irene Harris explains the role of the group:
Our group is so pleased to be offered the opportunity from Stockport County and the Community Foundation team to carry out Saturday’s bucket collection. This will help enormously to provide much-needed funds and assist in raising awareness about our voluntary group and the work we do in our local community!
MHCGS was started in 2012 by carers, for carers of adults of working age who have a serious, long-term mental illness such as Psychosis, Personality Disorder and Bi-Polar.
We are a sociable lot, facilitating monthly meetings where we aim to help each other with emotional support, information-sharing and guidance through the labyrinth of local mental health service provision. Our purpose is to challenge attitudes to mental illness, invite speakers who share their knowledge and experience about treatment, mental health policies & procedures, and to promote cutting edge research. We aim to make a difference locally and nationally, trying our best to provide carers and their loved ones with a better quality of life.
It is difficult to understand serious mental illness unless someone you love or care for suffers from it, and it is equally difficult to talk about it because of the stigma attached.
Imagine you are parents of grown-up children who have recently flown the nest! You are so pleased they have their independence and look forward to having a bit of time to yourselves with less worries as you get older. Then suddenly everything changes – you get a call from your son’s university informing you he has climbed onto the roof of his lodgings and won’t come down. He thinks he can fly! Apparently, his room-mate says he’s been acting strangely for some time, locking himself in his room and not going to lectures or training, and saying very strange things.
Well, this is the start of the journey with serious mental illness and you can see why parents and families need long-term help to find the best possible quality of life for their vulnerable loved ones. Once a mental health condition has been diagnosed, to manage their symptoms different medications are prescribed but these alone do not lead to a cure. Therefore support is needed for our loved ones and ourselves to be able to cope with their illness and the other side effects of the medications. Not to mention the stigma and discrimination that is often experienced by the vulnerable loved one and their families.
More often than not our loved ones future aspirations and dreams become no longer possible living with a serious mental illness. Coping with the many losses in life can be very distressing and overwhelming for all concerned.
Well, that is where our group comes in to offer support in finding and campaigning for better treatments, to improve education and research into serious mental illness.
Please dig deep and give generously for a very worthy cause. Thankyou!
Irene Harris (Chair of Committee)
www.mhcarersgroupstockport.co.uk
