Coventry and Warwickshire Mind (CWM) has been appointed by Warwickshire County Council (WCC) and Coventry City Council (CCC) to manage and deliver a new and innovative peer mentoring project.
The year-long project, to support young adults aged 18-25 across the region with their mental health, is funded by Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and launches on 6 December.
The project will use a team of staff and volunteers to target and work alongside over 150 young adults, many of whom are transitioning between children and adult mental health services. The project will also support those who may be at increased risk of needing a mental health intervention, and those young adults leaving care, who have an increased vulnerability to developing a mental illness.
It will work across all communities and with people from all backgrounds. It is significant because it provides a targeted and integrated approach to supporting young people's mental health. There is a recognised step-change when transitioning between child and adult mental health support services and it is important to keep sight of care needs. Many young adults fail to seek advice and support early enough and the aim of this project is to enable a smoother transition into adult support or community services.
Using a combination of peer support workers, peer leaders and experts by experience – somebody who has current or past experience of living with a mental health problem – CWM will provide one-to-one peer mentoring support, both face-to-face and virtually, targeted at each individual’s need. CWM will be recruiting one-to-one buddy mentors, who will expressly guide and assist individual young adults – motivating and empowering them to set personal goals and make small but significant steps towards change – this might include understanding early warning signs and symptoms of mental health difficulty, accessing information and following up on support, and building confidence to talk about their mental health.
As the leading mental health charity across Coventry and Warwickshire, CWM have been developing and delivering services with, and for, people with a lived experience of mental illness, for over 50 years. In 2020/21 CWM supported 38,000 adults and children, across a wide range of mental health services. This project leverages CWM’s existing relationships with housing and social care teams, and with partners across the region, and will engage with GPs, CWPT and the Mental Health Access Hubs.
CWM is committed to the role of young adults in the design and delivery of this project and young people will be encouraged and involved in the recruitment of roles, the design of services and as part of a steering group of important stakeholders.
Warwickshire County Councillor Margaret Bell, Portfolio Holder for Health said: “This is great news for Coventry and Warwickshire and I am thankful to our partners in health for providing funding to set up this support for young adults.
“The project will be welcomed by many who will benefit from extra help at a critical time to ensure their mental health needs can continue to be met as they transfer from children to adult services. Importantly, young adults have been central to the project’s development and will be directly involved in delivery – helping one another to improve their mental health with bespoke packages of support.”
Coventry City Councillor Patricia Seaman, portfolio holder for Children and Young People, said: “This peer mentoring project is a real opportunity to help support young people through continued mental health support as they enter adulthood."
“We know that the transition can be a difficult process from young peoples’ to adult mental health services and so we hope this will result in a reduction in the overall number of young adults falling through the gaps, reaching crisis point and improving their resilience and self-confidence along the way through continued support.”
Alethea Balbuena, Director of Operations for Coventry and Warwickshire Mind said, “We are delighted to be awarded this work by WCC. It is another example of how important the role of peer support is to our own mental health.”
“There are many young adults across Coventry and Warwickshire who would benefit from this support today. And our support will greatly reduce the likelihood of mental illness in the future and also improve the wellbeing of those young people and their families. The potential impact could be huge.”
Dedicated to equality and inclusion, CWM is committed to supporting racialised communities; to ensuring a sense of safety and sensitivity for all genders, identities and sexualities; to ensuring accessibility and support for those with a disability; and to ensuring support for those of all faiths and none.
If you have questions about the peer mentoring project, please call Coventry and Warwickshire Mind on (024) 7655 2847 or email admin@cwmind.org.uk