The data presented took account of people having followed the training during the pilot (PhD study) and during four courses run subsequently in the community in Hertfordshire. The data from a fifth course will soon be added to this evidence base to give a complete overview of effectiveness.

click on the link to download the Powerpoint presentation straughan_wallcraft_emiliafeb09-presentation-v4

and go to Gallery for photos of the Paris trip!

You can also find out more about Emilia from our Web Links page.

In Hertfordshire, there are two Recovery In-Sight self-help groups in Watford and Stevenage.

Both groups are run by people affected by bipolar disorder for people affected by bipolar disorder, whether they are service users or carers.

Over 150 people have used these self-help groups at some time since the creation of the first one in Watford in January 2006.

About a quarter of our members are carers of people affected by bipolar disorder.

The groups run monthly and organize a variety of events (see below).

If you wish to receive advice on setting up a self-help group in your area, or suggestions on offering peer support to service users or carers, then please email the Recovery In-Sight team.

Hertfordshire Recovery In-Sight Bipolar Self Help Groups

Events Winter - Spring 2010

Watford

The monthly self-help group meetings and venue for the events is every SECOND Saturday of the month from 10.30am - 12.30pm at the Friends Meeting House (Quakers), 150 Church Road, Watford, WD17 4QB. The group welcomes people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and their supportive carers and friends. We alternate speakers and training with self-help group sessions and ideas for these come from group members. We ask for a 50p donation for tea/coffee we provide at the break. Go to multimap.com for free directions/map.

* Saturday 13th February 2010 - Jasmine Heaps, a trained counselor in relationships and with experience of bipolar disorder in the family, is facilitating a discussion on Relationships and Bipolar Disorder, based on topics suggested by group members on the day. This session was postponed from December 2009.

* Saturday 13th March 2010 - self-help group meeting.

* Saturday 10th April 2010 - workshop on Food & Mood - how certain foods influence your mood. Roger Smith is back by popular group request following his workshop last year.

Stevenage

The Stevenage Recovery In-Sight group meets at The Friends Meeting House (Quakers), Cutty’s Lane, Stevenage, every FOURTH Wednesday in the month, from 1.30pm - 3.30pm.

Events, speakers and self-help sessions are run along similar lines to the above Watford events (see NEWS for the Newsletter giving details of both bipolar support groups in Hertfordshire).

* Wednesday 27th January 2010 - self-help group meeting

* Wednesday 24th February 2010 - self-help group meeting

* Wednesday 24th March 2010 - self-help group meeting: to decide the future of this group whose funding is currently under review.

If you are a member of one of The Recovery In-Sight Centre’s Bipolar Support groups - let your committee know about your suggestions for future guest speakers, workshops or events or if you want to get involved in helping to run one of the groups!

For further information on peer support or self-help, please contact: the Recovery In-Sight team.

The Recovery In-Sight Centre’s team offers training to businesses who are looking to not only improve the well-being of their employees but also to decrease their costs. In this economic climate this is an essential double ‘win’ whose importance cannot be ignored if companies are to survive and thrive through these difficult economic times and hold onto their most important asset: their staff.

This concept was key to The Recovery In-Sight Centre’s innovative work practices and unique training portfolio winning three business awards in 2009. Helping people in the workplace and helping the bottom line of a company. Now the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has brought out new guidelines on how this is possible.

Many of the Centre’s team members have experienced illness due to workplace stress and can suggest ways of improving how companies run their day-to-day operations, at a fraction of the cost that they would save a company in continued annual expenditure if it were not to put into practice these new ways of working towards a more mentally-healthy work environment.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in their guidelines published in November 2009, indicate that if certain policies are put into place, a company could save up to 30% of all mental health related costs - for an example of a company with 1,000 employees this represents a loss of over £835,000 of mental health related expenditure in any one year, and hence a saving of £250,000 per year, every year.

click on the links below to read further about the NICE guidelines - then give The Recovery In-Sight Centre a call on 01707-284808 to see how our team can help your staff and your bottom line.

wellbeingatwork for the full document

argumentsfor for why it makes sense to do this

copy-of-ph22-promoting-mental-wellbeing-at-work_template_final-1 for how and how much employers will save.