Positive Futures is a leading Northern Ireland charity supporting children, young people and adults with a learning disability, acquired brain injury or autistic spectrum condition and their families and carers. ‘Positive Achievers’ are an established mixed adults group who meet every Thursday at Newry branch.
For their Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership (BCPP) project Positive Futures partnered with pharmacist Noelle Holmes from McNally’s Pharmacy. They identified the two main issues for their group as mental health and emotional well-being. Together with Noelle and the support of Positive Futures they co-designed a programme of events to make, and strengthen, connections with the community and the pharmacy while exploring ways of protecting their mental health and emotional well-being.
The ‘Positive Achievers’ group members have been meeting for many years, their ages range from mid-forties to seventy five and they have varying health needs. It is not unusual for adults with a learning disability to have poor mental health and in this group there were a number of members with a very negative opinion of their health. The group acknowledged a focus on physical health automatically leads to a positive discussion about healthy eating and being active but when we think about mental health it is generally a more negative approach, focusing on ill health and issues such as depression and anxiety. The group wanted to look at mental health in a positive light; taking a salutogenic approach focusing on factors that support and protect health.
They teamed up with PIPS and the partnership was extremely positive, PIPS had the perfect course called ‘Be Positive’ and Shane was a natural with the group. He was able to tweak the course so the pitch was just right in terms content and complexity. This built really well on Noelle’s earlier session exploring ways to look after your mental health when the group practiced relaxation techniques together.
Noelle engaged with the group and developed a great connection with them, she introduced them to the services of the pharmacy and the support that she and her colleagues can offer. It is a core aim of BCPP that people have a better understanding of services and are able to more easily access support appropriate to their needs. In BCPP we often experience participants reporting that they use services more appropriately and in this group there was one member who routinely used A&E as their first point of contact for the health service. By the end of the programme she was using the pharmacist and the GP instead.
The group were also keen to have an arts element, this was something they had previously explored and really enjoyed. Sticky Fingers was the ideal partner; the group loved the creativity and there was a real sense of achievement as they completed their quilt, which hangs proudly in the centre.
The ‘Positive Achievers’ continue to meet every Thursday, they have a closer connection with the pharmacy, each other, are more resilient and have a renewed enthusiasm for protecting their mental health and feel empowered to do so.