Learning Disability England has been working to bring members and partners together during the pandemic to to help people stay safe, well and connected.
One of the ways has been through the Pass-it-Online Mental Health training, funded through the grant that was part of the Government’s £750 million charity support package.
The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities has been working with Learning Disability England, using the grant funding to make workshop sessions available across the country and train people locally to deliver them.
Funding has also made sure that we can pay the trainers with learning disabilities to deliver these workshop sessions.
Research suggests that more than 40% of people with learning disabilities have issues with their mental health.
The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities (part of London South Bank University) developed the Pass-it-on project, a workshop-based project all about mental health specifically for people with learning disabilities.
The workshop sessions look at what mental health is, the five ways to wellbeing and making plans. They focus on all of the practical things we can do to stay happy and healthy.
The workshops have been designed to be led by people with learning disabilities supported by a worker.
The sessions brought people with learning disabilities, family members and organisations together to take this important work forward.
Here’s what some of them said:
‘”The project has lots of intended benefits for those that attend it. We expect people with learning disabilities to develop a much better understanding of what mental health is, take a more proactive approach to their own mental health, and, through the workshops, develop new connections and friendships.
Working with Learning Disability England has been invaluable in getting the very best value we can from the project and we very much look forward to cooperating more in the future.”
David Mahon from The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
“Mental health is such a big issue made even bigger by the Coronavirus pandemic. So, the Pass It On training is for people with learning disabilities and autism to start to talk about these things and learn to cope better. For anyone who wants to know more about it’s a great opportunity to learn more.”
Greg Hill, from SeeAbility
“Teaching people about mental health is important as people need to know what it is and how it affects people. This is so they can understand it better and be able to help someone or use the knowledge to help themselves. We know the pandemic is affecting people’s mental health so this training is really important.”
Vicky Forfar, from Pathways
“A real privilege to be involved in the Mental Health Train the Trainer workshops facilitated by David Mahon. Great credit to everyone involved in developing this fabulous resource for people with a learning disability. Really excited about delivering this training in Sunderland.”
Andy Fox, from Sunderland People First
If you would like to find out more about Pass-it-Online, please contact us by email: info@LDEngland.org.uk or phone us on 0300 111 0444.