The need

The aim of the Positive People Care is to help and support people with mental health issues discharged from hospital or day care centres. They are able to offer members activities and opportunities to improve their confidence and improve their quality of life. This includes support in helping them re-enter community life, and find employment where possible.

Positive People Care was growing in size and felt it should become a constituted organisation with an active operating committee. This would ensure that:

• the organisation of activities were shared amongst group members
• negotiation with partners and other organisations could take place more effectively, and
• fundraising and applying for funding could take place more efficiently.

The support

• Developing a new constitution and working with the group to help them understand the implications and responsibilities of association.
• Finding appropriate insurance and bank accounts.
• Developing a code of conduct for members, helping them manage expectations and resolve possible future disputes.
• Support with completing funding applications.
• Attendance at network events and funding fairs to articulate their case for support.

The impact

Positive People Care is now a constituted organisation. It has a committee, a bank account and appropriate insurance. The group is now working to support even more people blighted by mental health issues.

Their chair said:

“A couple or years ago some of these members would not come out of their houses or get on a bus. How they have moved on speaks for its self. That is the purpose of the group (to move them on). They all have suffered from mental illness, with one having had cancer & been made homeless a few years ago and another attempted suicide on several occasions”.