Maccas Blog 3
Hello Maccas followers! Thank you for choosing to read our third blog. Our team have had an exciting start to their new year; we hope it has begun well for you. If you didn’t catch our first two blogs you can find them here
What have we been doing?
We reach the bulk of our young people by running workshops in schools and colleges. During Jan we visited Cardinal Catholic College and St Josephs where we worked with 271 pupils looking at mental health and suicide as well as looking at coping strategies. On completing the workshop one student said: – ‘It has taught me more about mental health and it has given me a clear idea of what it is’
Another exciting venture has been the development of our support/consultation groups. We have successfully started to run these hubs in four locations, Burslem College, Ruff and Ruby, Pilgrims Pit and Clayton High School. From these groups we are learning what the young men would like to see from our project. One group has alerted us to the issues they have with bullying and we are working on a plan of new ways to help. We are also learning from the young people how they would like to widen the knowledge and break down stigma surrounding mental health. These groups are also bringing those in need of further support to the forefront, meaning we can quickly get to work on making sure they are sign posted to the right place for their needs.
A big thank you to all that came to join us at ‘Ruff and Ruby’ for ‘Time to Talk Day’ on 2nd February. It was a great success. We spent time talking to some amazing people about mental health awareness. Some wanted to tell us their stories, others wanted to discuss what they felt were pit falls in the system, and then were those that wanted to talk about the things they felt were helpful. Even the Sentinel turned up to have a chat with us about the project. So all in all a wonderful event, with people talking openly about the subject close to our hearts: – mental health.
We are proud to say many of you have been taking your own initiative in carrying the fund raising flag high! Tom’s family rose over £1000 over the Christmas period hosting events. They are wonderful people who tirelessly work to promote Maccas. Cosmic Coffee also got involved by selling their lovely coffees on the streets of Newcastle to raise funds for us. During February a small squad completed a 24 hour ‘Bikeathon’, at Tesco in Hanley, it wasn’t for the faint hearted! They did an amazing job raising awareness and funds for the project. Thank you to all those who took part in and supported these events, and also for the generosity of the public (without you there would be no Maccas), we are extremely grateful. If you have a fund raising idea and would like to get involved, please let us know via our website or Facebook page.
Our team spent a morning with a large group of homeless people at St Marks Church. We felt they may not have access to our project as readily as others, so we went along to talk to them about the work we do. They gave us a warm friendly welcome and I am pleased to say some of them have since joined us at our group settings.
Message for this edition
Talking is a powerful way to help our mental health. Talk to someone you trust, a friend, relative or maybe a work colleague. When we bottle things up it can have a very negative effect on our mental health. Talking to other can help us build positive relationships with others and keep our mental health in check. If you don’t feel you have anyone to talk to then please get in touch with us so that we can sign post you in the right direction. And you are always welcome to come along to one of our groups.
I hope you have enjoyed this latest update, keep checking our Facebook and Twitter to find out what we are up to!
