First blog from AIM/Launchpad!

Sorry for being such a poor correspondent and welcome to the first blog from Newcastle and North Tyneside!

AIM and Launchpad have been busy planning our project and it is just about getting under way thanks to Alisdair, Jim, Jane and Ian.  We have had wonderful encouragement and support from Philip Clark and Louise Palmer.

We have had a great response from our initial networking with groups representing service users, explaining that we need help from people who have experienced discrimination.  Everyone has been so enthusiastic and we hopefully have a few volunteers who will be willing to tell their stories.

Our project aims, through a partnership with local and regional media, to tell the stories of service users in a positive way that contributes to the more positive attitudes of the general public towards people with mental health problems.  The project will also support service users with a view to reducing the discrimination experienced by them.  The project will raise awareness that mental illness is common and that people recover from mental illness.  It will also raise awareness of the stigma felt by people with mental health problems and the discrimination experienced by many of them, by using local and regional media, a DVD and a poster.

We have planned a press release with the help of communications at NHS North of Tyne, who have been an enthusiastic partner.  We have also planned a survey with the general public in Newcastle to look at their attitudes to mental health and mental illness.  We will repeat this survey at the end of the project.

Well that is what we plan to do!  Now starts the doing!

Dave