World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day 2020

October 10th sees both World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day being celebrated. Mental ill-health and homelessness can affect anyone, any day or time of the year but the 10th October brings a good opportunity to show your support.

We want to get Oxfordshire talking about the ever-growingly important subject of Mental Health and Homelessness. Research has shown that poor mental health can be both a cause and a consequence of homelessness (Crisis, 2019). After months of lockdown along with the many other stresses coronavirus brings, it is important now more than ever to look after your mental wellbeing.

The Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership, Homeless Oxfordshire, and the Oxford Homeless Movement felt it was important to collaborate today in order to help the residents of Oxfordshire know where to get help if needed. Rather than using this one day as a way to promote two separate messages, it felt important to join together and show how clearly these two incredibly important topics also have a very distinctive link.

We’re reaching out to organisations across Oxfordshire to ask them to share this message on Saturday 10th October to show your support for both mental health and homelessness. We aim to get our message out as far as possible to show we are all here willing to listen and support whoever needs it.

Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership
The Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership wanted to give you a visual representation of what our services looked like and how we are here to support people throughout. Follow Jo through their recovery journey with the OMHP, as drawn by an individual who uses the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership services.

https://youtu.be/TQaugxhwte8

We want to make everyone aware that anyone can access mental health services. The OMHP has been involved in setting up the new Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Helpline. This is a phone line anyone can call and get direct advice about where they can go for mental health support that would be most appropriate for them. Watch the video below to find out more information. 

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Helpline numbers are as follows:
Adults: 0800 783 0119 or 01865 904 997
Children and young people: 0800 783 0121 or 01865 904 998

Homeless Oxfordshire
Homeless Oxfordshire wanted to showcase how you can get help is you are in danger of becoming homeless. Through a series of interviews with those who are using Homeless Oxfordshire’s services, we will learn about “step one” of someone’s journey out of homelessness, the referral process, how to gain access to Homeless Oxfordshire as well as some of the different housing and support options that are available.

Oxford Homeless Movement
The Oxford Homeless Movement interview style video features them talking to their clients about how homelessness has affected them and its link to mental health. 

The Oxford Homeless Movement’s vision is that nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets of Oxfordshire. They are a partnership of many organisations working to ensure that nobody has to sleep rough on the streets of Oxfordshire. They aim to bring greater visibility to all Oxfordshire’s work in this area, guiding volunteers, supporters and homeless people alike to the actions or services they’re looking for. They make a difference by enabling the public to make a difference.

In a recent survey, one third of Oxfordshire residents said they were “very concerned” about homelessness in the city. You are probably one of them – concerned, but perhaps not sure what to do about it. It’s a surprisingly short step from being concerned to taking action. The Movement guides you across the gap. If you’ve ever seen someone sleeping rough on the streets, you’re already part of the Movement. You share that street with that person. We are all neighbours. You are involved. We can help you to find how to take action, now. Why does Oxfordshire need the Movement? Because life is simpler when the organisations working to tackle homelessness in Oxfordshire come together in partnership. They function as a shop window for these various organisations, signposting the full breadth of services and opportunities for volunteering.

Homeless Oxfordshire 
Homeless Oxfordshire is the largest supported accommodation provider for homeless adults in the county. Each night we accommodate 200 people. But we are more than bricks and mortar. We were the first organisation to develop a Housing First project in Oxfordshire and through 11 innovative projects, we provide the person-centred support people need to recover from homelessness, for good.

When someone becomes homeless, their whole life spirals out of control. But we’re here to help them navigate through the chaos. From providing meals and accommodation, to running training courses and supporting people to manage a tenancy, we help individuals build the confidence, resilience and life skills needed to live independently.

OMHP
The Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership (OMHP) is made up of 6 mental health service providers: Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Elmore Community Services, Response, Oxfordshire Mind, Connection Support and Restore.

The Partnership was awarded in October 2015 with an initial 5-year contract; however, this has now been extended a further two years to allow the Partnership to carry on with all the good work it is doing. The OMHP offers a wide range of interventions including inpatient hospital care, community mental health services and third sector services to get people back into employment, education, stable accommodation and relationships.

Our mission is to support recovery, hope and ambition. We do this by being compassionate, creative and collaborative. We wish to transform and innovate services to be more responsive to our service users and their carers’ needs.