Recovery In Sight … photo diary

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An award for ‘great and valuable services to the community‘ was presented to Heather and Sarah by the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Lord Charles Cecil at a special awards ceremony at County Hall on 15th March.  

Heather and Sarah outside County Hall before the ceremony, and being presented with the award by Lord Cecil.  

The award that was presented …

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On 1st March 2012 a supporters’ and fundraising event was held at the Old Free School in Watford to secure funding to continue to offer job-skills, job-related skills and individual placement and support sessions in the offices at the School after June. Many members were also present to lend their support, giving testimonies as to how the In-Sight training, office opportunities and attendance at the self-help groups had enabled them in their recovery and in their return to work. The RISE team welcomed County Councillor Roberts, vice-chair of Herts Health & Wellbeing Board who pledged funds from his Locality Budget, and Watford Local Councillor Meerabux who made a personal contribution.

Cllr Roberts talking to a member Chris, who had just completed the training and is a regular group member. To the left of the photo, paid Trainer Chris Dinsdale and in the background, new Finance Officer Anthony Woodgate who previously followed the In-Sight training. To the right, HR Lead Sarah Pillay.  

Heather welcomes the guests, who also included Dominic Wade, TCHC who administered the European Social Fund that enabled many people to access the office opportunities and In-Sight training, and Regan Connors from the Watford Housing Trust.

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Members of the RISE team attended the performance of the Band of the Grenadier Guards at Watford’s Colosseum on 25th February, invited by Lady Virginia Cecil, wife of the Lord High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. The performance was in aid of the High Sheriff’s Fund, and the team met Lord and Lady Cecil during the evening. A wonderfully rousing evening experienced by all, which also celebrated the end of the 10th Recovery In-Sight course delivered in Hertfordshire. Heather and Sarah are invited to attend the High Sheriff’s

 

Awards Ceremony to be held at County Hall in March.

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Richard Harrington MP for Watford received Heather and the team at the House of Commons on 13th December in support of the work of the social enterprise getting people with mental health challenges back into employment. Richard spent an hour with the team discussing mental health issues locally, as well as support for social enterprises. He was encouraging to keep going through what are proving difficult financial times. Thank you Richard for your time and for your inspiration. The team at the start of their tour - in Westminster Hall. Richard and the team, outside on the terrace dining area. Big Ben and the London Eye in the background - and a lovely sunny day! 

The team later visited on foot the Treasury, 10 Downing Street, Horse Guards Parade, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, the shops on Regent and Oxford Streets as well as Carnaby Street, before returning home after a grand day out. —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Recovery Devon’s new Lead, Linden Lynn, visited the Old Free School in Watford in October to exchange with Dr Heather Straughan on a number of issues regarding setting up and running the social enterprise in Devon. Linden & Heather outside the School, much admired - giving Linden ideas for a future base for Recovery Devon. Linden in front of the inscription above the main door to the School. Heather beside the brass plaque - “Recovery In-Sight … for better mental health”. ==================================================================================================================== The RISE team manned a stand at Watford Pump House for World Mental Health Day in October, where they presented their new services to the public: legal, benefits/debt and employment advice, job-skills training and practical work placements and the next Recovery In-Sight course to be run in January. The team also spoke to people interested in attending the Employment Advice Fair to be held on 18th October. Sarah working hard on the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Watford Mayor’s fund, RISE opened up the Old Free School for the first time in its history to the public on 10th September for one of the English Heritage Day events. Over 150 people explored the building with RISE staff and volunteers acting as guides. Over 120 people left appreciative comments in the guest book; 80 of these were Watford residents. One special picture was taken by a budding 3 year old photographer, Lowenna Priestley - looking out of the window below the bell tower in the eaves of the School, towards St Mary’s churchyard and church. Well done Lowenna!

 

 

 

 

 

Heather presented a keynote speech on empowerment and moving towards independence for users of mental health services at MIND in Barnet’s AGM on 19th July 2011. On the panel was Christina Meacham Chief Executive, Dr Hadley Hunter Chair and The Mayor of the Borough of Barnet Andreas Tambourides President, who was made a lifetime member of MIND in Barnet.

Heather addresses service users’ concerns.

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A special Auction of Promises was held at The Old Free School on 7th July 2011 organised by RISE and involving over 50 companies and supporters who had generously donated gifts that were auctioned on the night raising almost £3,000. Over 70 guests attended the buffet and auction. The String Quartet, Plus One, from Watford Girls Grammar School welcomed guests upon arrival, and artists decorated the building with their paintings. John Lewis presented RISE with a cheque from their fundraising at their Watford store. A wonderful evening bringing the grade II* listed building alive!

The Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill inaugurates. Heather thanks supporters and guests.

Plus One delighted the guests.

John Lewis present the RISE team with a cheque from their fundraising.

Leanne in fine form as an excellent auctioneer .. and guests consider putting in a bid

Event organisers, Sarah and Richard, supervise the lots.

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Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, chose The Recovery In-Sight Social Enterprise (RISE) as the organisation to receive all sponsorship monies and donations from her Christmas cards in 2010.

Ten companies, including Watford Football Club and the Saracens, the Harlequin Shopping Centre and Sigma, gave over £2,000 and donations are still being received. Dorothy invited the team to the Town Hall on 13th December to receive a huge cheque. Thank you Dorothy for your kind support! The beautifully created card by Carol Rogers pictured the Watford Museum. mayors-christmas-card The photo later appeared on Dorothy’s blog - Access : dorothy’s blog —————————————————————————————————————————

Heather and Jan presented at the World Health Organisation’s first meeting on Empowerment and Leadership, held in partnership with the European Commission and hosted by EUFAMI (the European Federation of Associations of Families of Mentally Ill People).

It took place at the Irish College in Europe, Leuven, Belgium 27th - 28th October 2010.

Over 90 people attended, all world leaders in empowerment and leadership in mental health, and over 30 countries were represented from Albania to the Slovak Republic, from Iceland to Norway, from Georgia to Sweden.

Jan and Heather set off for Leuven, stopping off at Brussels train session on the way The In-Sight poster, among 12 other top European posters on empowerment. Jan presented on quality assurance and monitoring of mental health services, then mentioned the Truth and Reconciliation in Psychiatry (TRIP) the request for an apology from mental health services to users for the damage that had been caused by services (see ‘publications’ for the TRIP).

On the panel with Jan was Hedinn Unnsteinsson from the Icelandic government, Nicolas Daumerie who spoke about the

WHO indictors for empowerment in mental health, Kevin Jones from EUFAMI, Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation and Annette Deveze from the PROSPECT training project. The venue was the old church hall of the Irish College, with lovely stained glass windows and vaulted ceiling. Pr Peter Ryan, who led the largest research European project on mental health training (EMILIA), and Paul Arteel who heads up the GAMIAN-Europe project, led the workshop on User & Carer Leadership. Peter asked Heather to present on The Recovery In-Sight Social Enterprise (RISE) as an example of user empowerment and leadership.

At the Leuven Town Hall at an evening reception given by the Mayor -

David Crepaz-Keay and Andrew, Jan and Heather.

Andrew, Peter and Jan.

Below a chance for Heather to catch up with Claude Finkelstein, Chair of the French Association of User Groups, and her colleagues who she first met in 2006 in Lille when she spoke at the anniversary of the French government’s decision to create (and fund!) 300 self-help groups. Claude mentioned that since then, over 350 groups had been created in France. Heather and Anja Baumann, who leads the WHO project on Empowerment and Leadership. The meeting ended with the commitment from all those who attended to promote the WHO indicators and work more closely together.  

 

 

 

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To celebrate moving into The Old Free School in Watford, the newly created Recovery In-Sight Social Enterprise (RISE) staff team and volunteers organised an office warming on 7th October 2010.

MP for Watford Richard Harrington lent his support and was interested to find out more about how RISE’s services had benefitted both staff and volunteers.

Many of the team come from Watford, and Benit and Heather are Old Fullerians! Richard with Heather at the start of the office warming, and talking with Sarah during the relaxed afternoon.

Heather with the Reverend Graham Knotte, Vicar of St Mary’s, which is just opposite The Old Free School.

Benit was cameraman for the day, and took some lovely photos of the Old Free School’s reception room and Main School room.

The School Room is the main training area and the reception room is used as a quiet break out room and welcome area.

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The Recovery In-Sight Centre received a finalist award for Best New Business from The Federation of Small Businesses in their 2010 Awards ceremony.

Held at Tewin Bury Farm, Welwyn on 13th May at a Black Tie reception and dinner, the awards ceremony came shortly after the launch of the Centre, now one year old. Heather and Laura outside the marquee Benit and Laura at the reception as the band played in the background … Laura proudly holding the award Well done to all the team for their hard work, and for this, our 5th award since The Recovery In-Sight Centre started only a year ago!

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The Recovery In-Sight Centre celebrated its 1st birthday at an exclusive conference launch on 29th April 2010, with the theme “Service Users in the Lead”.

Two honoured guests attended, the Worshipful Mayor of the Borough of Welwyn Hatfield, Councillor Kim Langley and the Mayor of Hatfield Town, Councillor Caron Juggins. They helped Heather cut the ribbon to mark the occasion. 

More photos to follow … for the launch presentations, please see ‘News’. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Heather and Jan presented on the effectiveness of the In-Sight training at the EMILIA

Conference held at the Ministry for Health in Paris, 11th & 12th February 2010.

dressed warm for sub zero temperatures ...

Their presentation took place in the Salle P. Sternberg of the Conseil Regional d’Ile-de-France, 57 rue Babylone. The theme of the presentation was “empowerment” which has no translation in French..

a historic room for a new theme

Heather did some sight-seeing around the Latin Quarter where Jan and Heather were staying … Notre Dame de Paris, with 5 below freezing!

Rupert Young and Linda, after his brother Will’s concert at the Bournemouth International Centre

December 2009, where Rupert was promoting his charity, The Mood Foundation.

An interview with Rupert Young will follow in the next edition of The Recovery In-Sight Centre’s newsletter .. so watch this space!

Rupert and Linda meet up

At the Hertfordshire Business Awards Black Tie Dinner held at Knebworth

November 2009, Heather, Linda, Gwyn and Ruth are happy to be among the finalists in the Creative Innovation Category.

Best Dress goes to Ruth!

All the team vote for Ruth for Best Dress! The team captured around the table before the evening’s celebrations. Linda and Ruth collect the Finalist Award for Creative Innovation in the Herts Business Awards 2009 from Bill Turnbull. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Heather in her PhD gown at the graduation ceremony at St Albans Abbey,

November 2009. A strange thought: being a person with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and actually being able to wear this sort of get-up in the main high street and for it to be perfectly ‘normal’…

completely acceptable attire …

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Linda, Communications Lead for The Recovery In-Sight Centre, takes some photos around the offices.

One of our awards from the two wins in the University of Herts Flare competition and the Federation of Small Businesses in 2009.

Team photo in our offices

Another photo taken by Linda - capturing Ruth, Heather and Paul in our more quieter breakout meeting room with some of our awards and the In-Sight manual. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ila, Liz and Heather met Peter Jones, the multi-millionaire from The Dragon’s Den fame, when he visited their new offices at the MacLaurin building at the University of Hertfordshire in June.

Peter was especially impressed by the team’s winning business plan and their Recent Graduate Award from the Federation of Small Businesses, and by the social purpose of the new initiative. Peter mentioned that 35% of his business is carried out with social enterprises. Whilst he admitted to the services that The Recovery In-Sight Centre provides were not in his own area of business interest (the telecomms/IT field), Peter was happy to have his photo taken with the team when informed about its plans to enable people in their recovery from mental ill health. Thank you Peter!

The Recent Graduate Award 2009 from the Federation of Small Businesses

The Recovery In-Sight Centre team - Heather, Ila, Liz and Linda - take to the stage to receive their Recent Graduate Award from the Federation of Small Businesses 2009 awards for Hertfordshire. Prizes were awarded by compère Susie Fowler-Watt of BBC Look East who told the gathering, “It is great to hear some good news! Words like ‘brave’, ‘focused’ and ‘innovative’ kept cropping up among the judges. These are the characteristics that allow business to thrive.” Said Head Judge Carol Undy, former FSB National Chairman, “It is such an achievement to get to the finals. I hope that everyone found the exercise of putting forward their application enjoyable and rewarding. It makes you realise where your business has strengths and weakness lie, and this is a very valuable insight.” Event Organiser Damian Cummins added, “These are the companies that stuck their necks out to join in on an award scheme dedicated to small businesses. This is the first of its kind and I hope we will see many more in the coming years in Herts and the rest of the UK.” Please have a look at the news to read more

The team wins Best Business Plan in the University of Hertfordshire’s Entrepreneurial competition FLARE 2009

The Pitch … the team conferring Liz, Ila and Heather work hard on last minute conferring before they pitch to the three Dragons in Tower Bridge on May 1st 2009 in the competition. A serious pitch for a serious issue - a social enterprise helping people with experience of mental health issues return to work and to enable their own recovery. Click on the image to enlarge ! …………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Pitch … the business initiative behind the idea

A pitch that needed to present a viable business idea too … Click on the image to enlarge ! ………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Pitch … strategy Ila and Heather exchange a few strategy ideas for business development of the social enterprise after the pitch. Click on the image to enlarge ! …………………………………………………………………………………

After the pitch …

All business competition finalists were pleased to have finished their pitches, and to be leaving Tower Bridge. Click on the image to enlarge ! Outside Tower Bridge … all finalists together All finalists were happy to be finally let out of Tower Bridge and into the sun.

 

Outside Tower Bridge … the Recovery In-Sight team

The Recovery In-Sight team with the judges. Click on the image to enlarge !

 

Prize-Winners … the Recovery In-Sight team receive their crystal trophies The Recovery In-Sight team wins its way to Best Business Plan, with awards presented by the Business School Director at the awards ceremony at Beales Hotel, Hatfield on 8th May 2009. Click on the image to enlarge ! ………………………………………………………………..

Prize-Winners … all winners together

Recovery In-Sight, and other winners with awards, and in the frame the book This is Survivor Research which was released a few days earlier on 5th May 2009 in Kings College, London. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. A photo of Heather, taken by Katherine from adeoDesign, website designer and graphic artist at Adeo Design.com, Lyons, France which she then made into a pop art. Catherine, who also has experience of mental health issues, designed the Recovery In-Sight website. Un grand merci Catherine!