February was a very exciting month for our network of independent support groups, as it was Connect Month!Connect Month ran throughout the whole of February. The aim of this initiative is to encourage support groups to connect with their local community, either to raise their profile, reach out to people who might face barriers to attending a support group or connect with people who can help the group and its existing members.Our Even Better Together team asked support groups to pledge to do one task that fell under one of three following categories:Reaching outReaching Out is about connecting with people who are affected by OCD (or a related disorder) who face a specific barrier to attending a support group and doing something to remove that barrier. This barrier might be physical (for example: a disability), cultural (for example: a language barrier, or religious fears) or cognitive (for example: a learning difficulty or other mental health condition.Inviting inInviting In is about connecting with and inviting someone to your group who might be able to support your members, provide information, or benefit from listening to your members, so they in turn can help their own service users. They could be someone from local services, other organisations/charities, school/FE college representatives, someone from the OCD Action speaker list (via Skype) or anyone you think would benefit your members.Getting knownGetting Known is about promoting your group and raising its profile in your community, to attract more people who might benefit from support.Loads of support groups got involved with the action in a variety of exciting ways! Here's the lowdown of what happened (click on each link to see how the support group got involved!)...Oxford Support GroupReaching out... Oxford group delivered a talk on OCD for a local homeless resource centre that particularly addresses mental health issues amongst the homeless.Getting known...They also had a stall at a shopping centre promoting the support group.Reaching out... Jeremy Allen, the facilitator has also produced a podcast interviewing someone with OCD during Connect Month. Central London OCD Support GroupInviting In....On Thursday 22nd February the facilitators handed over the reins of their support group meeting to a group attendee who has personal experience of accessing specialist CBT for her OCD. She’s chaired an event called: 'How do I access the best NHS treatment for my OCD? Top tips from a NHS mental health professional (Prof. Paul Salkovskis), OCD Action’s Advocacy Service and lived experience experts about accessing both primary and specialist Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)'.Reaching Out... The group have made the decision and started work in appointing a number of volunteer roles within the group, one of which will be ‘Community Liaison’, aimed at managing relationships with the charity and professional communities. They hope that the person in that role will take on, as one of their early tasks, Reaching Out to under-represented groups, particularly faith communities. Reading BDD Support GroupGetting Known…Reading group opened a confidential Facebook group to encourage potential participants to attend the group and keep in touch with each other between group sessions.Inviting in....They booked in speaker Dan Marcon to run a BDD dramatherapy session within their group session on Skype. NOPS (Norwich Peer Support) Support GroupGetting Known & Reaching Out.... NOPS group attended the Samaritans conference to deliver a presentation called 'Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – The truth behind the myths'. They talked about the true nature of OCD and told their personal stories of living with the condition. Macclesfield (Reality Check) Support GroupGetting Known.... Macclesfield group had promotional materials printed and booked a speaker to come to their group. York Support GroupGetting known...York group advertised their support group around York University.Reaching out...Rachel Bailey, the facilitator did a radio interview to reach out to new members and raise awareness.Inviting in... The group asked author Gemma Sarsfield to their group as an inspirational speaker. Carmarthen hoarders Support GroupInviting in....Carmarthen group invited in a hoarding specialist speaker - Satwant Singh to their group to give a talk. Barnsley Support GroupGetting known....Barnsley group are looking at having promotional materials produced. Cromer Head-Space Support GroupInviting In....Cromer group had a mindfulness speaker visit their group on 22nd February. Edgware Support GroupGetting known.... Edgware group asked the Even Better Together Team to help them set up and use social media.Reaching out.... They are planning to do a radio interview to help promote the group and raise awareness of OCD in their community. As you can see it was a very busy and exciting month, and we hope these activities carry on throughout the year! If you would like to join a local or online support group, check out the groups page. Log in or register to comment
