Welcome to the Winter 2022 edition of our In the Loop members’ newsletter, where we focus on the work of new members who are joining us at Hunts Forum. Please take a while to learn about these organisations as they introduce themselves. Each one is a possible partner, collaborator and inspiration.

Our monthly News Forum newsletter now includes all the latest news from our members and the wider VCSE, as well as training, events and funding updates. If you haven’t already signed up to receive our News Forum newsletter then you can do so here. These are published on the third Thursday of the month. If you have something you would like to be included in either In the Loop or News Forum, please do get in touch.

 

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In this issue of In the Loop we hear from two new members who are at different stages of their journey but share many similarities. Both are inspired by personal experience, offer peer-to-peer support and are championing the role art can play in maintaining our mental health.

Lifecraft
A&M Potters

 

Hello Everyone!

We are Lifecraft, a user-led mental health charity that was founded in 1993 by four mental health service users who wanted to promote self-help and provide a space for people to support each other.  Over the years the organisation has grown and we are now commissioned to provide a variety of adult mental health services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Many of our services are open to anyone over the age of 17 or 18 (dependant on the service) who live in the area.  We call these our universal services, and they include:

• Lifeline, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough adult mental health helpline, which is available from 11am-11pm every day of the year (0808 808 2121).
• Suicide Bereavement Support Service, which helps and supports adults recently bereaved by suicide.
• Health and Care Staff and Volunteer Support Line, which is available from 11am-7pm Mondays-Fridays for anyone working in health or care in Cambridgeshire or Peterborough (0808 801 0377).
• Sanctuary Aftercare Service, providing additional support to people after a mental health crisis (referrals via 111 option 2 and CPSL Mind).
• Missing from Home Service, supporting people who have recently been missing from home (referrals from the police).

As well as our universal services, we have several services that are available to those who choose to become a member of the organisation.  Membership is free and is open to anyone living in Cambridgeshire or Peterborough who is over the age of 18 and who uses or has used mental health services, or who has had a personal experience of mental distress.  Most member activities currently take place in Cambridge, but we have some online groups and are always looking to see if there are other locations where our presence would be of benefit.  Examples of our membership services include:

• Peer support groups, including social activities and get togethers.
• Recovery and self-help groups, such as meditation, resilience and art groups.
• Skills development.
• Employment and volunteering support.
• Up to two years of free counselling.

As a user-led organisation, we encourage and support our members and those with a lived experience of mental ill-health to be part of all aspects of the governance, management and delivery of services.

To gauge the size of our operations, here are some stats:

• We have twenty paid members of staff, which equates to just under ten full-time equivalents.
• We have approximately 35-40 volunteers working for us at any time.
• In 2020/21 we
  • provided 1,134 counselling sessions.
  • answered 5,502 calls on Lifeline.
  • Supported 61 people through the Suicide Bereavement Support Service.

If you want to find out more about us, our website is a good start (although it needs some updating!) www.lifecraft.org.uk and our latest annual report can be found in the ‘About Us’ section.

We’d love to hear from you if you think our service users would benefit from knowing about your organisation or if there could be merit in exploring opportunities to work together.  You can contact me, Gemma Barron (CEO), on gemma@lifecraft.org.uk

 

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A&M Potters is a community interest company which started with Ann teaching Matt ceramics and the rest as they say is history. Based in the small Fenland market town of Ramsey, Ann and Matt produce fun and quirky ceramics, taking inspiration from nature and the local East Anglian Environment. Working predominantly in stoneware and crank, the pieces range from small to medium-sized, for internal and external exhibition. This is their story in their own words:

 

Ann
I was introduced to pottery at the age of 19, whilst at college training to be a teacher. I really took to working clay and have had a passion for this medium ever since. My late husband, Bill, admired my work and often suggested that I take it up professionally, but at that age my lack of confidence meant that I did not pursue it any further. Some years later I had the opportunity to teach art at a local secondary school which had an active ceramics department. Every child in years 7-9 had a chance to work with clay and older students often used it as their preferred medium for exam work. This is really where my love ceramics and my passion for teaching its techniques were born. On retiring I treated myself to a hobby kiln (a very important piece of information for any A&M Student), but only engaged in pottery sporadically. It was not until I was asked to exhibit at the Ramsey Craft Market that I realised that people liked my pieces and then therewas no looking back.

I met Matthew when he came to me to study pottery as a healing process after battling with illness and we seem to form a natural bond, whilst teaching and creating. I am looking forward to what the future holds. As if you had said to me 5 years ago, after retiring you will become the Director of your own business and guide that business through a global pandemic, I would never have believed you. Yet here I am with work in galleries and classes of eager student hungry to learn. I just wish Bill were here to see me now.

 

Matt
I came to ceramics about 3 years ago, as a kind of therapy to help cope with the anxiety and depression I was suffering after becoming seriously ill with SEPSIS. The therapeutic effect of clay and Ann’s amazing teaching qualities enabled me to ground, refocus and basically changed my life. My family, Ann and the ceramics brought me back from a very dark place, I now hope to use my experience to help others know ‘its ok not to be okay’ and to bring the joy of pottery to all ages and abilities in my local fenland community and beyond. I am excited and proud to be the co-founder of A&M Potters and hope that my work reflects this. Who knew that the those once-a-week classes with Mr. Griffiths, at Ramsey Ailwyn, would lead me here, well with a lot of guidance from Ann.

 

You can get in touch with A&M Potters via email aandmpotters@gmail.com

Or have a look at A & M Potters Instagram / A & M Potters Facebook to see some of the fantastic pieces coming out of the A&M studio.