New free peer support sessions launch to tackle the increase in demand for mental health services

The sessions will start on Wednesday, September 8 at 6pm, with an online session focusing around how to dealing with anxiety

Mental Health charity Time to Talk has created a partnership with the LGBT+ training company Stomp UK to launch a series of free peer support mental health sessions.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a 42% increase in demand for mental health services across Greater Manchester which, in many cases, has increased waiting times for this support.

For popular services, such as CPD group therapy sessions, people could be waiting up to two months to access that much needed support.

The sessions will start on Wednesday, September 8 at 6pm, with an online session focusing around how to dealing with anxiety.

This will be followed by a range of online Teams sessions and face-to-face sessions at nearby Hurst Community Centre in Ashton, held on the second Saturday afternoon of each month.

The sessions aim to offer an intermediate support for those waiting to access mental health services, with each session taking a peer support approach.

Sessions will be led by a number of mental health professionals to ensure that support can be offered for a range of issues.

Each session will include a number of individual and group tasks, to ensure that nobody feels isolated or excluded.

Founder of Stomp UK, Daniel Griffiths, said: “Covid 19 has been tough for the most resilient of people, so we wanted to do something practical to help people facing mental health difficulties but unable to access immediate support.

“I know that many people’s relationship with their mental health is a fluid thing, you can’t pencil in good and bad days, therefore I wanted to do something to help people cope while they are sitting on a waiting list or just needing somebody to talk to.

“With the help from Time to Talk and our partner organisations, we are excited to launch a series of events which aims to help people when they need it most with issues such as anxiety, low mood and social isolation.”

For more information on the events and to book a ticket to the launch or a session, click here

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