Issue 5: The Wish We Could Extend Again Issue

Well what a busy time we’ve had since the last issue. October saw the staging of our first Art in Mental Health MOVING FORWARD event which was very well attended by 130 delegates, followed by the inaugural meeting of our National Strategy Group which went really well, we are very excited about what this group will be able to achieve. It is always great to work with such positive people, it really lifts our spirits, and is a great antidote to the apathy and negativity we sometimes face.
It’s also great to be out and about visiting people on the front line so to speak, and we really enjoyed firstly being able to re-visit our mental health roots and going to see Ali Lee and the nice people at the Waddington Street Centre in the beautiful city of Durham, followed by our trip to the CAMHS service in Wigan, run by Dr Sandeep Ranote, which both Angie and I found truly inspiring. It really was great to be able to speak to so many really talented young people including Alex and Danni whose work you can see elsewhere in this issue.
We have also been able to re-visit the excellent Pathways project where once again we were well looked after by the inspirational Matt Ellis, who was able to introduce us to Richard Turner who runs the Artists in Mind (AIM) initiative and Phil Russell and Kim Gregory who run HOOT – both fantastic projects which will feature in future issues of this magazine.
To us, visiting all of these brilliant projects is what it is all about, and there is no better way of keeping our spirits high, and counteracting the few downsides of producing this magazine, such as the continuous worries around funding, and the fact that we cannot possibly feature all the fantastic art we are receiving, despite increasing the size of the magazine by eight pages over the previous two issues.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this first issue of the New Year, and please feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you think. We would love to hear from you!
Seasons Greetings and sincere best wishes for a happy, peaceful and successful New Year!

By the way......

There will be a general election within the next six months, and despite what they may like to think MP’s are there to serve us, not the other way around, and this is the time they are most likelytolisten. Breakthrough campaigns for more resources for mental health generally, and more resources for the Arts in Mental Health specifically. Speaking of which be sure to read the Interview with Anne Milton on page 7.    We will launch our campaign on our new website www.breakthroughMHart.com shortly.
PLEASE ACTIVELY SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN. Remember apathy is the big threat to our services and we must not sit back and do nothing while cuts are made. The ARTSAID RECOVERY and ENHANCE OUR WELL-BEING make sure the decision makers understand this.