Information Day hosted by South Tipperary Local Mental Health Forum

The South Tipperary Local Mental Health Forum will be holding an Information Day on this Saturday May 18 at the Main Guard in Clonmel from 12pm–3pm.

The HSE’s community healthcare services in the south east – as part of working with people who use mental health services and with their family members, carers, supporters and staff – have set up a local forum in south Tipperary.

This is a partnership approach to mental health services improvement, where people meet on the second Wednesday of each month in the Clonmel Involvement Centre at 5.30pm. Feedback is taken from people’s lived experience, plans are progressed and decisions made together on how to improve the services for everyone.

The establishment of the forums follows on from recommendations in the national mental health strategy 'Sharing the vision' and the HSE’s own national strategy for service user involvement.

The HSE’s mental health division operational plan included the strategic priority “that service users, families and carers are central to the design, planning, delivery and evaluation of services".

The HSE’s Community Healthcare service areas nationwide have area leads for mental health engagement and recovery, with Paul Fallon being in place to serve the south east (with services in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, south Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford).

Speaking about the information meetings, Paul Fallon said: “The purpose of my post is to consult and present the views of mental health service users, family members and carers through engagement and partnership and to influence decision- making at area management level in the south east.

"This is a great opportunity for people to have their voice heard, to be part of the development and design of the mental health services for their community and beyond.

“Along with my colleagues in the community healthcare services in south Tipperary, I want to hear from people around the area as to how we can further develop mechanisms for engagement of service users, their family members and carers. I will be dedicated to allowing for their involvement in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of mental health services.

“Significant in, and to, all of this are the local forums. At these meetings, I will be communicating our project and proceeding from there to implementing guidelines for the local forums.

"The forums will be coming from the community and represent the voices of those with experience of our services. The membership will include service users, family members and carers, as well as HSE mental health staff and people from community and voluntary organisations.

“My colleagues and I are experts, both by profession and experience. I will be talking about my role at the meetings and my background as a family member. I have confidence in this project and I think it will be of benefit to everyone concerned with mental health services.

“I look forward to continued good attendance at the meetings and to working with as many people as possible in south Tipperary in my role as an Area Lead for Mental Health Engagement and Recovery”.