Get-Your-Act-Together! Course
Introduction to the course
The iBUG Get-Your-Act-Together! Course was a Pilot Project, which was a great success. Both the participants and the facilitators enjoyed it and found it very inspiring. Due to this success we would like to jointly run the course on a permanent basis with other North London Boroughs at different locations.
The aims of the course
The aims of the iBUG Get-your-act-together! Course are to support mental health service users to:
- gain back self-confidence
- learn about our talents and interests to find a way forward in life
- manage time and finances better
- manage relationships better
- learn about services available and organisations that can help with juggling things in life
- find a way back to voluntary work, education or paid work
The Planning
The project plan for the Get-your-act-together! Course was developed through extensive communication with mental health service users and professionals in Islington. The membership and the experiences of our members provided a very solid knowledge base in developing this course.
As the result of our findings we have identified the need for a course which supports mental health services users to get back on their feet, gain back their self–confidence, and learn about their rights and about the work of different organisations that might be able to help them achieve their potentials in life.
The facilitation and the content
We have made it very clear from the beginning that iBUG does not have the expertise and knowledge to provide counselling and emotional support for the participants of the course. We have explained it to both our funders and our participants that this course would be unique in a way that it is designed by service users and facilitated by services users for service users. We wanted the sessions to be based on providing information but we wanted the practical knowledge to be developed through facilitated discussions on experiences.
For instance when we designed the session on “Understanding and controlling our emotions and frustrations” we invited Cognitive Behaviour Therapists to talk about different methods and techniques that can help us to change certain behaviour patterns and control our feelings and thoughts. However, it was also very important that we facilitated discussions on how each and all of us deal with these challenges on a daily bases. We exchanged experiences on what worked for us in certain situations and we also talked about the importance of recognising other people’s emotions.
It was also very important for us to start each session with an “ice-breaker” which gave the space, time and opportunity for all of us to “warm up” get to know each other and get into the subject of the day.
The facilitators
It was planned that the facilitators were going to be the iBUG Board Members. However, it was important to make a last minute change: one of the Directors became unwell and had to take a long-term sick leave. It was decided that Edit, the co-ordinator would take on the responsibility to take over the facilitation of those sessions.
The facilitators and sessions facilitated by them:
Session 1: Induction- attended by all facilitators
Session 2: Time management- Lead facilitator: Peter Jones, support facilitator: Edit Szarvas
Session 3: Money Management- Lead facilitator: Edit Szarvas, support facilitator: Shirley Scott-Norton
Session 4: Mapping out mental health services- Lead facilitator: Peter Jones, support facilitator: Edit Szarvas
Session 5: Understanding and controlling our emotions and frustrations- Lead facilitator: Margaret Newton, support facilitators: Edit Szarvas and Shirley Scott-Norton, guest facilitators: Cathy Gingell and Matthew Pugh Psychologists
Session 6: Voluntary work, educational and paid work opportunities- Lead facilitators: Edit Szarvas and Peter Jones, support facilitator: Shirley Scott-Norton, guest facilitator: Hannah Antony
Session 7: Managing relationships-Lead facilitator: Peter Jones, support facilitator: Edit Szarvas, guest facilitator: Ros Lettman, service user involvement co-ordinator who has counselling experiences
Session 8: Activities, hobbies and courses- Lead facilitator: Margaret Newton, support facilitator: Edit Szarvas, guest facilitator: Victoria Emms, activity based buddying co-ordinator at Islington MIND
Session 9: Lifelong planning-Lead facilitator: Peter Jones, support facilitator: Shirley Scott-Norton, guest facilitator: John Hanna, clinical psychologist
Session 10: How to prepare for and participate actively at meetings Lead facilitator: Shirley Scott-Norton, support facilitator: Margaret Newton
Session 11: Review of the course-attended by all facilitators
The Evaluation Process
The facilitators and the co-ordinator of the course were responsible for the monitoring and evaluation prior to the course, during and after the course. We used different quantitative and qualitative methods to collect information after which the co-ordinator of the course produced an evaluation report.
To request a copy of this report please contact us.
If you are interested participating in this course in the future please contact us and we will provide further details.
“The things that this course has tought me are to make things happen for myself and be proactive.” (Quoted from a participant upon completion of the course.)
“It was very helpful and interesting. There should be more courses like this. The facilitations were very professional.” (Quoted from a participant upon completion of the course.)
“The course helped me to get back my self-confidence and do things that I always wanted to but did not have the courage. Now I am very busy recording my music and attending a biography writing course.” (Quoted from a participant two months after taking the course.)
