Anxiety, Depression, and Men’s support groups restarting in December 2022

We are pleased to announce that three of our peer support groups — Anxiety, Depression, and Men’s Support — will be restarting in December 2022 and running regularly alongside the existing Bipolar and OCD groups. We are still reviewing the Hearing Voices support group and will announce plans for its return in the coming weeks.

As you may be aware, we recently placed a number of our facilitator-led peer support groups on hold. This has allowed us time to be able to liaise with service users, to start to understand the impact the groups have for people, as well as providing an opportunity to listen to thoughts and suggestions on the future delivery of such groups.

In response to some of the feedback received and through ongoing consultation with service users, we are planning to introduce some small changes to our returning groups that will include the following:

• Some additional structure to the sessions, with core topics of discussion each month.

• Organising slots for guest speakers from other organisations to attend part of group sessions, to discuss support offers and providing additional links for people within their communities.

• Introducing some new house rules for all groups, to make sure everyone gets the most value from attendance. We are open to changing these based on feedback, which we can discuss at upcoming sessions.

• All main communication for groups going forward will be conducted by emails via the website. The exception will be for any last-minute cancellations, in which case we will attempt to contact people directly.

• A Devon Mind member of staff will be present in the main reception at Ernest English House 10 minutes before the group starts to welcome and show them to the room, where you can sign yourself in.

Thank you for your time and continued patience — we look forward to seeing you at our groups!