Shift Together C.I.C

What a fantastic morning delivering our wreath making, mince pies and chat session with Susan Smith and Gelli Life For Living! We love a collaboration.. and a Christmas wreath! So great to have an opportunity to bring the community together, connect and share during the build up to Christmas- a challenging time for so many. As always please reach out to us for support and of course our donation options are on the website along with ways to get involved. All help much appreciated 💚 #multiplyrct #collaborationiskey #mentalhealth #alittlemoreconversationalittlemoreaction #bootsonthegroundsupport Interlink RCT Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council

Here's a little snippet of our interview with BBC Wales yesterday morning, talking all things SHIFT and how The National Lottery Community Fund helped ignite our growth from 1 small group in Cwmparc to now nearly 10 accross South Wales. Funding such as the Awards For All fund we received back in 2022 is crucial for the continuation of our work and allows us to offer a transformative service to the local community, helping people connect at our in-person mental health support groups, which has lead to life-changing growth for many of our service users. We are determined to keep pushing for real mental health support in this noisy industry of catchy strap-lines and empty promises. If you care about living in a supportive, kind and collaborative society that genuinely looks out for one another- please donate at https://lnkd.in/e-GCGb7S - ALL donations go directly towards the continuation of our support groups, tangibly changing people's lives. #mentalhealth #mentalhealthsupport #mentalwellbeing #BBCwales #BBC #mentalhealthawareness

Behind the scenes!🎞️📽️ A little more on our interview with BBC News Wales. Our Founding Director Caroline Shanks sat down with Felicity Evans on Tuesday last week, to fill her in on the incredible impact the The National Lottery Community Fund had on SHIFT, after being awarded the Awards For All fund in 2022. This fund allowed us to launch SHIFT in a meaningful way, and the growth and success we’ve had since stems from this. We are so grateful to The National Lottery for helping build our foundations and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate its 30th year anniversary!🎈 We are SO proud to have institutions like the BBC noticing what we’re doing at SHIFT. It’s exposure like this that puts us in front of the right people. Be it funding to push our mission forward, potential facilitators to run new groups or a viewers at home who discover their new weekly support group to help get them through, well, anything. You can catch us on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow, LIVE at 7:45am, continuing the crucial conversation. #mentalhealth #bbc #mentalwellbeing #nationallotterycommunityfund

Behind the scenes!🎞️📽️ A little more on our interview with BBC News Wales. Our Founding Director Caroline Shanks sat down with Felicity Evans on Tuesday last week, to fill her in on the incredible impact the The National Lottery Community Fund had on SHIFT, after being awarded the Awards For All fund in 2022. This fund allowed us to launch SHIFT in a meaningful way, and the growth and success we’ve had since stems from this. We are so grateful to The National Lottery for helping build our foundations and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate its 30th year anniversary!🎈 We are SO proud to have institutions like the BBC noticing what we’re doing at SHIFT. It’s exposure like this that puts us in front of the right people. Be it funding to push our mission forward, potential facilitators to run new groups or a viewers at home who discover their new weekly support group to help get them through, well, anything. You can catch us on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow, LIVE at 7:45am, continuing the crucial conversation. #mentalhealth #bbc #mentalwellbeing #nationallotterycommunityfund

A big win for SHIFT this week with BBC Wales Today joining us to find out how The National Lottery Community Fund has helped us to deliver our project over the last two years. As part of a programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of The National Lottery, BBC News were keen to see the direct benefits to community projects such as ours. We had a fun morning filming and sharing our story and future plans. A lovely recognition of all the hard work by the team, supporters and our fantastic service users who motivate us to keep going! Please get in touch for more info on our services, ways to get involved and donation options. All help is hugely appreciated 💚 #bootsontheground #alittlemoreconversationalittlemoreaction #mentalhealth #rct

We couldn't agree more. For too long, a 'busy' and 'challenging' work schedule has been synonymous with success- yet it's often these schedules that lead directly to burnout or in some cases, breakdown. The fact that the government is choosing to favour the 'getting back into work' approach to supposedly help people (who have potentially ended up in the situations they have because of work-related stress) is careless and damaging. Just as new mothers are still often frowned upon for taking full mat leave, seen as indulgent even for spending the prescribed amount of time with their new baby, the societal pressure to 'bounce back' from whatever is keeping us away from a traditional working schedule seems to be growing stronger. Too many of us push ourselves before we are ready. This inability to listen to what our minds and bodies need in these moments is a direct result of the work-obsessed society we live in, that equates employment to identity. Despite a growing awareness around mental health, those in positions of power are still making fatal decisions for those who desperately need them to be making the right ones. During a SHIFT group session, we understand the importance of creating space for members to feel they can share, in whatever way feels right for them. No expectation, no pressure. When members are given the space to come to decisions that feel authentic to them, in their own time, we see they are more intentional and long-lasting, and doesn't this feel like a better result for everyone involved? A disappointing headline to read but one that reminds us of our mission here at SHIFT. Providing accessible, reliable, free mental health support groups to the local community of South Wales, so that anyone who has been left behind by the system has somewhere to turn (and they can stay and talk for as long as they like...) #mentalwellbeing #mentalhealth #workplaceculture

Happy Birthday to...us! 🌼 💙 Last week, we celebrated our 3rd Birthday. It just so happened to coincide with #WorldMentalHealthDay. We are encouraged by the growing awareness around mental wellbeing and remain committed to ensuring momentum is not lost. Created by our founding director Caroline Shanks, SHIFT embodies all that World Mental Health Day represents through the consistent delivery of free mental health support groups, meeting the needs of service users all year round. Running a C.I.C requires determination, commitment and energy. From funding bids to creating employment opportunities, promoting services to ensure maximum visibility and increasingly effective implementation of key resources to deliver a high quality service to those in need. We have been fortunate enough to secure funding from a range of partners, such as The National Lottery Community Fund, Moondance and People's Health Trust who have helped powered the delivery of our mission. Additionally our hugely successful Summer Fundraiser which saw the local community come together and support SHIFT in-person. We are so grateful for the backing we have received so far. To continue our work, it's essential we secure new funding and donations from people who believe in our mission. People who want to be a part of a society that actively acknowledges and supports the mental health crisis in our country. Mental wellbeing is not linear, it ebbs and flows. Challenges can pop-up when you least expect them to. It's in moments like these that support must be available. That is why for our 3rd birthday we are wishing for donations. ALL funding benefits our service users directly. SHIFT: Support. Help. Information. Friendship. Time. To make real impact please visit our donations page: https://lnkd.in/gPvbjnPy For potential larger funding opportunities please reach out to Caroline Shanks or Ellender Wildey directly. Thank you! 💙 🌼

What a lineup! Although definitely space for one more...shameless plug incoming...💙 🌼 Free, accessible and most importantly in-person mental health support is what is needed ALL OVER the UK in order to tackle this crisis head-on. We will forever beat this drum. Any donations, small or large, allow us to continue offering consistent and deeply rewarding sessions to our group members in Wales and eventually beyond. If you would like to donate, our website: https://lnkd.in/gPvbjnPy Thank you 💙

Feeling a little SAD today..? 😥 Hang in there. You're not alone! With the NHS estimating around 2 million Brits are suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder each year when the colder months roll around, (including more than 25% of those predisposed to mental illnesses such as Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar), it is high time we take things a little more seriously. The NHS recommends a combination of approaches when tackling SAD. These include: Lifestyle measures – including getting as much natural sunlight as possible, exercising regularly and managing your stress levels 🧘♀️ Light therapy – where a special lamp called a light box is used to simulate exposure to sunlight 🌤️ Talking therapies 🗣️ Unfortunately most of these solutions can be inaccessible for those bearing the brunt of the suffering, with a lot of the suggestions found online either costing money or asking people to implement lifestyle changes that are just not realistic in the short term. Especially for single parents and those with disabilities or the neurodivergent. At SHIFT however, we are able to contribute to the solution we believe is the most effective, talking therapies. As many will know by now, our entire mission is built on our boots-on-the-ground approach, which means a consistent and accessible mental health service made available to as many people in the local area as possible. We are now running 8 mental health support groups which incorporate a range of mediums to allow members to open up in an environment that feels most safe. Be it our interactive art groups, our Cook, Save, Share group- which focuses on using 'everyday' cupboard essentials to whip up nutritious and hearty meals, or our founding NLP support groups- there is something for everyone and we pride ourselves on total inclusion. We know that this time of year, especially in the lead up to Christmas, life can feel unimaginably difficult for so many. That is why we are committed to offering as many of our groups as possible throughout the Winter months, ensuring anyone who may need just that extra chat this season, has access to it. If you would like to contribute to SHIFT's mission, please visit our website https://lnkd.in/gPvbjnPy to donate or get in touch. These donations allow the continuation of our free mental health support groups that are crucial now more than ever. #mentalhealth #mentalhealthsupport #SAD #alittlemoreconversationalittlemoreaction

Just one month to go until World Mental Health Day! 🌍💜 World Mental Health Day is celebrated every year on 10 October. This year, the theme is “prioritising mental health in the workplace”. Work can have a huge impact on our mental health. It can help give us a sense of purpose, boost our self-worth, and provide opportunities to connect with others. But it can also be a source of stress and anxiety and contribute to developing or worsening mental health problems. A mentally healthy workplace can make a huge difference. For World Mental Health Day, we’ll be sharing how to support good mental health at work. Visit our website to find new resources: https://bit.ly/3r8E9x8