Agenda item

The Director of Public Health to submit a report on the Time to Change Leicester: Campaign 2017/18.  Time to Change is a national charity that works to combat the stigma and discrimination faced by those who speak about their experience of mental health problems.  Officers have been working in conjunction with Time to Change to develop a programme specifically for Leicester based upon the national campaign and using their national resources and support to support the campaign.

The Director of Public Health submitted a report on the Time to Change Leicester: Campaign 2017/18.  Time to Change was a national charity that worked to combat the stigma and discrimination faced by those who spoke about their experience of mental health problems.  Officers had been working in conjunction with Time to Change to develop a programme specifically for Leicester based upon the national campaign; using their national resources and support.

It was noted that:-

a)   Although there was  co-ordinating and steering group for the programme, the real driver for the initiative would need to come from the partnership of Board members.

b)   In effect, the Council would become a hub to enable the Time to Change resources to be channelled across the city in ways which were best suited to local circumstances.

c)   A proposed local campaign had been produced to run from August 2017 to 2018 with the aims of:-

o   Changing the behaviour and attitude of the local population towards people with mental health problems.

o   Reduce the levels of reported mental health stigma and discrimination in the local area.

o   Empower people with experience of mental health problems to be at the heart of all agreed local activity. 

d)         The first phase would be a Stop the Stigma campaign, working in partnership with the Council’s communications unit to target different groups throughout the year with appropriate material for the particular group. These groups would be:-

o   Men and be would be launched in July. 

o   Children and Young People (July-August) focusing in the Summer reading Challenge.

o   Schools and places of education including mothers through the September back to school period.

o   Working age adults with a focus on workplace stress, this would be an ongoing focus.

o   Higher education and student mental health in February to coincide with the university mental health awareness dates.

e)         The second part of the campaign would be the proposed community grants fund.  This was intended to mirror the Time for Change national grant fund to support groups working to tackle stigma and attitudes in their communities.  £50,000 had been allocated locally to this fund.  Guidance was still being developed for applicants but there was no specific project types being stipulated.  However, any projects must be able to demonstrate that they are able to work towards combating stigma and discrimination around speaking about mental health in their own areas of the community.

f)          The Steering Group comprised stakeholders, voluntary sector, local businesses, schools, Time to Change East Midlands and mental health partners, including champions’ representatives.  The Governance arrangements were fully outlined in the report.

g)         7 businesses and organisations had already signed up to the programme and more were encouraged to take part.  These businesses and organisations would be supported by the Steering Group and had representation upon it.  The Resilience Service would also be involved. 

In response to Members questions it was stated that:-

a)         The pledge from partners was an important way forward as it was hoped that the partners would then encourage and influence other organisations they were involved with to become involved as well.

b)         The existing links with the Children’s Trust and the Leicester Education Strategic Partnership would be used to engage with those groups who had already looked at mental health issues and would be able to provide immediate support.

c)         The £50,000 for the Community Grant Fund was funded through the current ring fenced public health budget.

d)         The Council was the first in the Country to enter into a partnership with Time to Change and, although it would not bring any additional funding, it would attract considerable resources, campaign materials and expertise in working with schools and businesses in the area of mental health.

e)         The criteria for the grant application currently being developed could be brought back to the Board if required.  The timescales were short as it would be important to have projects completed and evaluated by the end of 2018. 

f)          There was already a large amount of information available through Time for Change and it was important locally that the projects focused on stigma and were not simply a re-badging of existing projects.  Significant progress was envisaged in the next few weeks.            

g)         UHL’s offer to become involved was welcomed and officers would contact UHL after the meeting to discuss the details of how the engagement could be taken forward.  There was a general invitation being issued to communication units across all organisations to be involved in the launch in July and then to take it forward in their respective organisations.

h)        The launch would be in a variety of venues encompassing faith groups, health café type venues as well as pubs to reach as wide an audience as possible. 

i)          A number of resources were being used to understand a baseline for current levels of stigma and attitudes to mental health.  The resources of Time to Change would also be helpful in establishing the baseline.

k)         Whilst measuring outcomes were important, it was recognised that the emphasis for this programme should be primarily focused on bringing about change.   

Healthwatch Leicester indicated that the Leicester Aging Together Partnership comprising 17 organisations,  although working mainly with the over 50s,  did undertake much work around mental health which could be useful to utilise in addition to their experience of engaging with men experiencing mental health issues. 

The Fire and Rescue Service reported that they had a wide programme of events with their workforce in relation to mental health issues. The Service would be happy to provide venues and role models to support the programme if this was helpful.  There were also similar support arrangements for Police and Ambulance staff.  

AGREED:

            1)         That the report be received and the initiative be supported.

2)         It would be useful for the Board to some insight and be able to give a steer on the timescales and the criteria given the short lead in for projects to be implemented and completed by August 2018. 

3)         That partner organisations encourage their communications representatives to attend the launch in July.

4)         That partner organisations who were not already represented upon the Steering Group be encouraged to send an appropriate representative to future Steering Group meetings.