Derventio is sharing a free distraction pack filled with activities, tips and ideas to stay healthy and busy during the lockdown period.

The 16-page booklet includes puzzles and activities including Sudoku, wordsearch and a stay at home bingo game. It has tips on enjoying the outdoors and looking after your wellbeing. There are also lots of links to advice and online resources for more games, activities and free content. Derventio hope it will inspire people to find ways to spend their time doing something fun, creative or relaxing.

The booklet is available for individuals, groups and organisations to download and use. This resource is free to access. If you find it helpful, please consider making a donation to support their work with people facing homelessness and other challenges.

Here is a link to an online version of the Living Well with Dementia Programme: https://surveys.derbyshcft.nhs.uk/s/LivingWellWithDementia/    
 It has been developed by Derbyshire Community Health Services & Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who are currently unable to provide their face to face Living Well with Dementia groups due to COVID-19.
 
This resource could be helpful to people with mild dementia and their carers & families. It has some useful links to activity ideas & resources towards the end of the course.

Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18 to 24 May 2020, and the theme this year is ‘kindness’.

The Mental Health Foundation have produced a Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 Supporter Pack which includes lots of acts of kindness ideas to inspire you including keeping connected with family and friends and ideas for acts of kindness at home, in the community and at work.

FREE COUNSELLING

Are you aged 70+ or do you have an underlying health condition? If so and you live in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire, then thanks to funding from National Lottery Awards for All, Relate Chesterfield & North Derbyshire can offer free counselling via telephone or webcam from today.

FREE SUPPORT SESSIONS

Thanks to funding from the Connect Bolsover Small Grants Scheme 2020, Relate Chesterfield & North Derbyshire can now offer 2 free 30 minute support sessions by telephone or webcam to people aged 70 or over or people with underlying health conditions living in the Bolsover area.

Thanks to other funding and national contracts, Relate Chesterfield & North Derbyshire can also provide free/subsidised counselling to:

• Young people aged 11-18 years old
• Individuals with anxiety or depression
• Couples where one person has anxiety or depression
• Individual/Couples aged 70+
• Individual/Couples with underlying health conditions
• Civil Servants, Chartered Accountants, Bank employees (and family members)
• Air Force, Royal Navy, Royal Marines (serving or veterans and family members)

Please e-mail admin@relatechesterfield.org.uk or call 07384762877 or 07401343817. Relate can currently book you an appointment within 24/48 hours of you contacting them.

www.relatechesterfield.org.uk

Mental health support is now available to Derbyshire residents of all ages through a new Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust mental health support line.

The mental health support line is for Derbyshire people of all ages who are experiencing increased mental health needs during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Call 0300 790 0596 between the hours of 9am and midnight, seven days a week.

www.derbyshirehealthcareft.nhs.uk

Telephone Befriending at Derbyshire Carers Association (DCA) is a regular friendly call from a fully trained volunteer to help alleviate isolation and provide some company and light conversation to adult Carers (over 18) within Derbyshire (not Derby City). DCA phone volunteers give support, reassurance, a listening ear.

The DCA Telephone Befriending service is continuing to run in the usual manner throughout the COVID-19 period. DCA established Volunteer callers are continuing to make their calls from home, as usual, to Carers they have previously been matched with, as well as any new Carers needing a chat. DCA Peer Support staff are also helping to provide befriending calls to isolated Carers during this time of increased need.

During the COVID19 period DCA are able to continue to offer support from their Telephone Befriending service to those Carers who are, or have become, more isolated or who are extremely vulnerable. Support and signposting can also be provided during the calls, where the Carer is in need of other information and local support.  If you feel you as a Carer would benefit from telephone support, or wish to discuss the Telephone Befriending, please contact DCA on: 01773 833833

Older adults aged 65+ from across Derbyshire are being invited to take part in a new project ‘A Necklace of Stars’. During the Covid-19 crisis, instructions and support for making embroidery, poetry and lullabies will be provided via post, online and on the phone for those who are housebound.

A Necklace of Stars is an Arts Council England supported collaboration between Arts Derbyshire, DCC Public Health, Derbyshire Library Services and arts organisation arthur+martha. Collectively, we will make an embroidered quilt with a poem and song soundtrack, inspired by lullabies. Lullabies bring calm and comfort, and also tell insightful stories that pass on the depth of human experience from generation to generation.

Using embroidery, poetry and repurposed bed sheets, pillow cases and pyjamas, stars will dance across the quilt. At a time when so many of us are suffering the negative effects of isolation lock-down, this project couldn’t be more timely. It will help to build confidence and wellbeing, reduce loneliness, forge connections and re-ignite creativity.

This project will culminate in a 12-month exhibition showing the quilt, poems and soundtrack in a variety of cultural venues across Derbyshire.

If you are interested in taking part in this project (whether you have no experience or plenty), or know of someone who might enjoy getting involved, please contact Sally Roberts on 07395 904386 or email sallyartsderbyshire@gmail.com

You can also visit arthur+martha’s website to find out more, or express your interest https://arthur-martha.com/portfolio/a-necklace-of-stars/

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has launched a new scheme to connect patients in their hospitals and their loved ones, called Thinking of You.

Thinking of You aims to encourage communication by enabling people on inpatient wards to receive letters, messages and images from their carers, friends and families, sent over email.

The Trust is following national guidelines and is not currently allowing visitors to our inpatient units, other than in exceptional circumstances. This is obviously making it more challenging for patients and their loved ones to stay in touch. They hope that Thinking of You will be one way to help individuals stay connected.

How the scheme works

If you would like to submit a letter or message to an individual on a ward, please email this to dhcft.thinkingofyou@nhs.net.

Please make sure you include the following information with your email:

• Full name of the patient that you are sending your message to
• Their date of birth – if you have it
• The unit and the ward name where they are staying
• Your contact details including a phone number and email address if possible
• The message and any images or pictures, either within the email or sent as attachments.

Please be aware of the following guidance about your message:

• Videos cannot be passed on through this scheme
• Please make sure the content of the message is appropriate. This means you would feel comfortable if someone else read the message.
• Any attachments to your email, such as images, must not exceed 10MB in total.

A small team will confidentially print the message, in a way that is discreet and respects your privacy. They will place the message in an envelope and make sure it reaches the intended recipient.

Trust Chief Executive Ifti Majid has said: “I am delighted that we are launching the Thinking of You scheme, to support the family and friends of service users in our inpatient services, who unfortunately are not able to visit their loved ones at this time. Many thanks as ever to Trust colleagues who are working hard to make this happen.

“I would encourage carers to make use of this opportunity to put a smile on the face of their family members or friends at such a challenging time for all of us. We look forward to receiving and passing on your messages.”

For this and more useful information for carers, please visit our website.

In partnership between BCVS and Bolsover District Council, Bolsover Together have launched a way of signing up as a community volunteer across Bolsover District.

People who sign up to the scheme will receive a call from a local support officer from BCVS and will then be connected to a community organisation offering support services to people at this difficult time. With that organisation, they will be able then to negotiate the details of how they can help.

Please follow this link: 
https://www.bcvs.org.uk/bolsover-together/item/sign-up-as-a-volunteer-for-bolsover