Under the umbrella of Cornwall Rural Community Council, we aim to help mental health service users to have a say about their care, treatment and quality of life when receiving services. We actively involve service users at all stages in our work and, together, are focused on bringing about improvements through partnership-working with health and social services. We are based in Truro and cover the whole county, co-ordinating community and in-patient Visitor Schemes and district forum meetings to directly consult with mental health service users about the issues that affect them. We also co-ordinate a service user representative group who take these issues to the services that need to hear them and who also act as representatives of the service user perspective in health and social care service planning.

We produce a quarterly newsletter that informs people about recent issues raised by service users and any responses we have received from health and social cares services in relation to these issues. The newsletters also contain useful information on issues around mental health, events that may be of interest and details of helpful organizations. We encourage contributions from service users so if you have anything you would like to submit, please get in touch.

We continue to support self-help groups around the county through assistance with the initial setting up, with applications for funding (we manage a grants scheme to fund self-help groups) and offering any help that may be needed throughout a group’s life on a needs basis.

Service user involvement is about ensuring that users' views and comments are heard. This is done through meeting with service users and gathering their feedback about mental health services and ensuring that users are involved in the planning and design of services.

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It’s a gathering of anyone with mental health problems, including carers, for the sharing of ideas, experiences and concerns in a safe, non-judgmental meeting point. There are six forums held quarterly across Cornwall supported and co-ordinated by the Mental Health Project Co-ordinators at the CRCC in conjunction with Service User Representatives. For details of our next forum meetings in your area, please see our Events section

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We provide information on self help groups around the county that might be of benefit to you. For a list of groups click on the link below:

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Our newsletter will keep you updated on all our current activities, plus information on other useful services and organizations, poems, articles, etc. If you would like to receive a copy by post, please let us know.

All newsletters are also available for download in PDF format : Mental Health Newsletter downloads

We are always looking for items for the newsletter so if you have anything that may be of interest that you would like to send, please contact Nicki Sweeney.

Submission deadlines are:

• Spring 2010 – Fri 5 Feb (to go out early March)
• Summer 2010 – Fri 7 May (to go out early June)
• Autumn 2010 – Fri 20 Aug (to go out mid Sept)
• Winter 2010 – Fri 5 Nov (to go out early Dec)

Individual grants are available specifically for people with mental health issues. In order to help with personal growth and development. A variety of initiatives are supported, including adult education, craft materials and use of leisure facilities. The grant is managed and administered through the Cornwall Mental Health Project.

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The Mental Health Self Help Resource is a pool of money available to groups of people throughout Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly who wish to set up self-help initiatives. The resource is managed and administered by Cornwall Mental Health Project.

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