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Disability and Health Mentoring Network Launch
06 May 2011
On Tuesday the 19th of April the Scottish Disability and Health Mentoring Network was formally launched at an event in Glasgow.
Scottish Mentoring Network is delighted to announce that the Disability & Health Mentoring Network has been launched. This network aims to support projects and strategic partnerships to deliver successful mentoring projects aimed at people with a disability or health condition. The network will help Scottish mentoring projects that relate to disability & health and their partners work more closely together and raise the profile of their work.
The launch event took place on Tuesday the 19th of April at Brunswick House in Glasgow. It was well attended and on the day and we heard a number of presentations and concluded with a networking lunch.
Sarah Rainey, Network Development and Support Officer at Scottish Mentoring Network outlined the work of the network and the services Scottish Mentoring Network can provide to mentoring projects. Robert Hinds, Welfare Rights Specialist from Glasgow City Council gave a very interesting presentation on ‘Benefit Reforms and the implications for Service users’.
Morag Cassidy gave an overview of her experience when visiting mentoring projects in Sweden and we finished off with a presentation from Tina Yu of the Mental Health Foundation who described her experience of setting up and running their Brighter Futures pilot peer mentoring service for isolated older people in the community, the project was delivered in partnership with three project partners (Glasgow Association for Mental Health, Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health and Seniors Together in South Lanarkshire) and aimed to significantly improve the quality of life of older people, enhancing their social networks, mental health and enabling meaningful activity. There will be a DVD and evaluation of this project available shortly to allow the sharing of good practice.
The network’s purpose is to help disability & health mentoring projects and their partners share good practice, discuss relevant issues and to support the development of disability themed mentoring services across Scotland. Designed for project coordinators and their partner organisations such as training providers and funders the network will link up staff tasked with developing and maintaining disability and /or health related mentoring projects with others in a similar position and other agencies that might be of assistance.
The network will raise awareness of mentoring, and also help policy-makers work more closely with those involved in delivering mentoring services working with service users who have a disability.
The network will also be supported by our online resource for members allowing them to communicate and share information in a simple and quick fashion. Members of the network will be given their own project profile page on our website allowing them to promote their project and communicate with other mentoring practitioners who are working on disability/health mentoring projects and also with other mentoring projects operating in the same local region. Their profile page will also connect them to service providers who are working across Scotland who may be able to provide them with training and other services.
If you didn’t make it along to the launch event and would like any more details about the presentation on the day or, if you are currently operating a mentoring project which focuses on Disability and/or Health or are thinking of setting one up please get in touch using the details below to become part of this network.
For more information please email Sarah Rainey from Scottish Mentoring Network (sarah@scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk ) or call 0141 550 5001
