Monday: Attended Voice10, the Social Enterprise Coalition’s annual conference. Our own social enterprise, http://www.notjustnuts.co.uk/ had a stand there, and it was great to see the positive reception they got from other attendees. Also it was great to see the launch of the Social Enterprise Mark, http://www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/ which will hopefully motivate people to buy goods from social enterprises in the same way that the Fairtrade Mark has promoted awareness of fair-trade. Great performance by No Fit State Circus to celebrate the launch.
Tuesday: Went with fellow mental health organisations Mind Cymru and Hafal to meet with the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the new Local Health Boards. The fact that we (as representatives of the Wales Alliance for Mental Health) were the first organisation they’ve met with in that joint forum hopefully illustrates their awareness of the need to improve mental health services. They certainly seemed interested in what we had to say, and I really hope that this is the start of mental health being given the priority it deserves.
Wednesday: Another conference; this time the Public Service Management Expo. Some interesting speakers and workshops, although I think it’s fair to say that I won’t be subscribing to the Ruth Badger school of leadership!
Thursday: Meeting with Shelter Cymru in my role as Chair. There’s a strong correlation between mental ill-health and poor housing/ homelessness, and it was interesting to read Clare Allan’s article in the Guardian this week about the relationship between mental ill-health and social housing http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/03/council-housing-failures-mentally-ill. Also great to see the Housing LCO making progress. Bought a NotJustNuts hamper for a friend’s birthday (largely because it’s full of things I want to eat, and I’m hoping he’ll share it with me!).
Friday: Catching up with staff about what’s been a pretty eventful week. Public Affairs Manager’s very excited that the Mental Health LCO made it through the House of Lords on Monday (which means Wales should be getting the power to legislate on mental health in the next few weeks) and our Marketing Officer’s been updating me on the progress of our new online petition, calling for Wales to have a mental health anti-stigma campaign just as England and Scotland do. We really want as many people as possible to sign up, so please check out http://www.gofalcymru.org.uk/index.php?page=61 and encourage all your friends and family to do the same!
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