Pledged Employers

Mental illness does not distinguish between status, colour, gender or religion and can affect us all at any point in our lives. We are committed to raising awareness and challenging the stigma of mental health within our community.

In partnership with the community, statutory services and voluntary sector , Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham will continue to work within both Tower Hamlets and Newham boroughs to further develop the work of the Time to Change campaign to end mental health stigma and discrimination.

The Bank of England signed the pledge on World Mental Health Day 2013. An article on the Bank of England Pledge signing was featured on page 2 of The Times. You can read excerpts of the article, including quotes from Spencer Dale, the Bank's Chief Economist and Time to Change Director, Sue Baker, here.

The Priory Group is proud to support the Time to Change campaign as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing the stigma attached to mental health problems.

Bovington Army Barracks signed the organisational pledge on 9th September 2013, and were the first armed forces unit to do so. The Garrison run a group that offers support and helps raise awareness amongst its personnel and their families. Group facilitator (and camp matron) Major Vanessa Crossey tells us more…

When I took over at Bovington as Matron in 2012, I became interested in the mental health and wellbeing of the families here at Bovington. I have served in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps for 20 years, am a Navy wife and have two small children, so I’ve experienced military life from both sides!

There is a growing interest in this subject; the Army Families Federation has mental health as one of its main campaigns. The army have also run an anti-stigma campaign called “Don’t Bottle it Up”, offering help and support to forces personnel, and encouraging them to be more open about their problems.

I wanted to know what we could do at Bovington to improve the situation for families and how we could try to reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Owing to the isolated location of Bovington, and the fact that some personnel undergo long periods of separation from their families and loved ones, people here may be affected by anxiety, loneliness and depression. How likely are they to access help?

In March I became involved with the Dorset Mental Health Forum and through them I found out about Time to Change. We then invited local campaigner Helen Hutchings to run one of her “Tea and Talk” sessions at the Garrison. “Tea and Talk” combines Helen’s love of afternoon tea and her mental health expertise and is designed to challenge people’s perceptions surrounding mental health.

Some of the families who came to “Tea and Talk” were keen to set up a group that would offer help and support to individuals, but also to encourage people to get involved locally to raise awareness of mental health and help reduce the associated stigma. The group is in its infancy and meets every Friday between 1pm and 2.30pm. At present I see my role as a facilitator for the group, and I also have also been fortunate to secure a Community Development Worker from Dorset NHS Trust to help me. We have lots of ideas for workshops, outside speakers and events and I hope that eventually the group will be self-supporting.

The group’s first main event was a Mental Health Awareness event for World Mental Health Day on October 12th 2012. It was a positive experience for many of us and lots of people from the Garrison showed their support. The Director of Music and some of the ladies from the Bovington Military Wives Choir came and sang, while someone from the Bovington Ladies Bootcamp came and to talk about how fantastic keeping fit can be for mental health and wellbeing.

The Dorset Mental Health Forum brought their “tree of wellbeing” and the Dorset Volunteering society also came and spoke to people about how satisfying volunteering can be. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the new support group and demonstrate that there are a lot of social groups and events that people can get involved with across the Garrison that can help people feel less isolated.

The event also raised awareness of general mental health issues and the associated stigma. The group is now going from strength to strength and there is an increasing feeling of mutual support and camaraderie amongst the members. There is now tangible evidence that people are beginning to benefit from this health promotion initiative.

The Chain of Command at ARMCEN (the Armour Centre - home of the Armoured Corps) have been extremely open to the whole process and have very much bought into the idea of raising awareness and reducing the stigma associated with mental ill-health. They have invited me to run a series of mental health workshops across the Garrison to continue the work started at the “Tea and Talk” event.

In addition to all this good work, Bovington Garrison are now the first army unit to sign the Time to Change “Organisational Pledge” – the signed on 9th September 2013. This pledge will demonstrate the level of commitment and support that I have already seen in regards to this subject from everyone involved here at ARMCEN.