In our communities
Partnership in action MHFA England is working in partnership with West Midlands
Combined Authority (WMCA) to improve mental health in the region. Sarah Barge is Regional Development Coordinator for MHFA England. Her role is to help both MHFA England and the WMCA achieve their objectives and improve the mental health of the local population. WMCA is the lead of the West Midlands Thrive Mental Health Commission. Its aim is to address and improve the society-wide causes of mental health. One of the priorities is to increase community involvement. The ambition is to train up to 500,000 people in Mental Health First Aid, or other equivalent programmes, over ten years. So far, the total has reached over 31,000 people trained. We are collaborating with WMCA on Thrive into Work, a workplace wellbeing programme. Employers sign up to take part in the accreditation programme. MHFA England training helps them to provide good mental health support in their workplaces. So far, over 270 organisations have signed up, giving a reach of over 108,000 employees. There is a joint MHFA England and WMCA initiative. The aim is to train 5,000 sport and physical activity staff and volunteers in mental health awareness and first aid skills by the start of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. By working together MHFA England and WMCA can have a more coordinated impact and promote shared goals of better mental health in the West Midlands.
Both organisations have also signed up to #21by21. This is an initiative by the Sport for Development Coalition and is partnered by a wide range of organisations including national sports charities StreetGames and the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. It is campaigning to train 21,000 sports coaches in mental health awareness by 2021.
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