The Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Voluntary Sector Mental Health Forum exists to provide opportunities for people from community, voluntary, and ‘not for profit’ independent organisations/groups, whose work involves mental health, to meet each other and to develop effective working relationships with public and private providers of services associated with mental health, as well as users of those services and their carers.
Our Aims
- Gain influence in decision making through appointing ‘representatives’ to serve on relevant teams, committees, boards, steering groups.
- Receive feedback from its representatives from above represented groups/committees
- Formulate collective Forum responses to events, actions and initiatives as well as to lobby for change
- Share information about Forum members’ activities
- Learn about public and private sector services (existing and proposed)
- Devise ways of communicating with one another outside of meetings
Our Achievements
In the past year the members of the forum have focused on changes at national level have impacted at local level. Forum members have raised a number of issues with senior management within the PCT, Shropshire Healthcare Trust and MH Trust. The forum also promotes publicity to change attitudes to improve public perception of mental illness and the stigma that it carries within the community and particularly the workplace.
The Forum is open to all organisations and groups interested in or associated with mental health. There are a minimum of 4 meetings per year with the dates set in advance annually. The minutes of meetings are circulated to over 60 organisations or individuals involved in providing mental health care. The Forum is supported by the Mental Health Service (Shropshire) of South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Chair: Dee Plozay
