Another press release by a misled councillor

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive board member with responsibility for adult social care, said:“These changes are about finding more meaningful alternatives for people, based on how citizens and staff have said they would like support to be delivered in the future." We would welcome news on how many staff have said that the day centres should close! None have said this publicly, and none are known to have said this!

“Our day centres have provided a good service for years, but many people are telling us they would like to be supported in other ways.  Increasingly, people want services which are more tailored to their needs.  After all, what works for one person might not necessarily work for someone else.  The future of mental health day support is about individuals, not institutions." How do day centres compare to institutions? The choice of language is interesting, would Councillor Yeadon care to tell us how what happened in the institutions is similar to the activities of the day centres please!

The current service also tailors to individual needs, this is central to the ethos of the day centres, and has been for many years!

“Making these changes will ensure services are available to help people to recover, or to better manage their condition, and enable them to take part in activities which are available to everyone – like education, training and employment." So the new service will enable people to do exactly what they can in the day centres! Seems like a lot of work to do the same thing! This shows that Councillor Yeadon, the Executive Board member for Adult Social Care, does not know what happens in an adult social care centre!

“Good mental health day support should be a bridge back into the community.”

Leeds’ adult social care department will be asking the council’s executive board to agree these plans in February 2011.  If the changes are approved, the council will work with the NHS to commission a wide range of modernised mental health services, focused on recovery and supporting people to access mainstream opportunities." So it will focus on the same things that the current service has for years!

 

(Of course, the comments in red are not quotes from Lucinda Yeadon!!)

Public meeting - CORRECTION

The Public Meeting on the 8th Feb is at 2pm, not 1pm as stated earlier.
This meeting will be in the council chambers at the Civic Hall in Leeds. Please come along if you possibly can, we need as many people as we can.

New Website

Our website is now live, have a look HERE

Public meeting

Unison is holding a meeting on Tuesday 8th Feb for Unison members, service users and anyone else who is interested in mental health services in Leeds. They want to get service users’ and others’ views about the proposals to cut the Crisis Centre and Leeds’ mental health day centres. It is at the Civic Hall in Leeds city centre at 1pm.
There is also a TUC demonstration in London at 11am on 26th March against cuts to public services. Coaches will be organised from Leeds. See www.unison.org.uk/million or www.facebook.com/amillionvoices
(From the Crisis centre blog)

Twitter account

You can now follow us on Twitter, @saveallcentres. The more the better!

Unison leaflet

This is the leaflet that Unison has produced. If you would like copies of this to give out to the public, please speak to the Unison office, or email saveourservices@gmx.co.uk.

Leeds City Council is proposing to close services:

They plan to close:

·        The Vale Mental Health Day Centre

·        Stocks Hill Mental Health Day Centre

This will leave only a pared down service which will run at Lovell Park Centre.

Mental health day centres are staffed by skilled and experienced staff. These community based centres provide a wide range of services to help people to recover when they have been unwell and to prevent relapse. They do this by providing:

• A warm and welcoming atmosphere in which people can make friends
• A personalised approach. People have their own support plan which is just right for them
• Individual key working which helps people make changes in their lives
• A wide range of groups to encourage new interests and to rekindle old ones 
• Education classes for the whole community
• Support with volunteering and/or returning to paid employment
• Individual sessions out and about, helping people to overcome anxiety and get on with their lives.
• Hope at those times when everything feels hopeless

Leeds City Council also plans to close

·        Leeds Crisis Centre

This award winning centre helps people who find themselves in a crisis. Maybe a relationship has come to an end or perhaps there has been a death in the family. Anyone who is experiencing a crisis and feels that they’re not coping can contact Leeds Crisis Centre for help. Using counselling as an intervention, experienced and skilled staff help people to deal with a crisis in a positive way. There is no other service like this in the city.

Learn more by visiting http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpess.com/

SAVE OUR CENTRES is a campaign to keep these vital and cost effective frontline services. Please help:

• Send an email to branch@leedsunisonlg.org.uk

We’ll keep you in touch with what’s going on

• Tell others – friends, family and colleagues
• Write to your local councillors and visit their surgeries

Details at your local library or visit www.leeds.gov.uk

• If you’re in a trade union, raise it at your Branch
• If you’d like copies of this leaflet let us know
• If there are other ways you can help, please tell us by email or by phoning 0113 245 8442

We look forward to welcoming you to the campaign

Thank you to the Unison staff and reps involved in producing this.

Contact Us

If you have something you think should be on here, but don't want it to go as a comment, you can email saveourservices@gmx.co.uk. I will go through all posts as soon as possible!