Wigan mental health group connecting with members through personal experiences

Bridging Gap Mental Health meetings are run by Kieran Jones, who is using his own previous struggles to help others.

The first men’s group took place at the end of September, with a strong number of people attending the Wigan and Leigh Carers Centre.

Mr Jones, 41, said: “Usually you get two or three on the first one, but we had nine or 10 turn up, which is massive. That was before we had put further feelers out, so eventually there will end up being more than one group.

“I went to groups and could see why they weren’t working, so I have designed this to fill the gaps, from my point of view. We’ve had our own experiences, meaning we can connect better than a professional could because we can interact on the social side of things.

“It’s also important for people to know what may work for them, may not work for another.”

Mr Jones says despite being well known for his work in Wigan, his main focus is to continue helping others rather than taking on any other roles.

“A lot of people in my position would go into an office and have others do the work for them, but I’m not like that, I refuse to go up. If I’m going to employ anyone it would be to do the higher up stuff so I can stay on the ground.

“It is a two way street. Even when I’m doing a one to one with someone, supporting them naturally releases a chemical in your brain which makes you feel good.”

Mr Jones is also rolling out a 12 week project which starts with one to one support for the first six weeks to build them up and work on their self-care confidence.

After that people will go into a group environment for three weeks, where they will set up a fund-raiser to help them engage with each other.

From week 10 onwards they will meet in public places, to help ease them back into the community, instead of a sudden discharge.

During that time Mr Jones will also offer training to allow people to help others in the future.

“I can give people the tools to be a peer-support worker because lived experience is something the NHS is doing a big drive on.

“When I went into the system after my suicide attempt, I wanted to learn from it as well. Peer support is about being real, so if I have a relapse I will tell people that I have, because it is important for them to know I’m normal, and it will give them a bit of power.”

Mr Jones is happy to be working in conjunction with others, while still being in the driving seat.

“I wanted this to be a collaboration, so I could stay focussed on what I was doing. People want to work with me because I’ve established myself, I’ve done it all by myself with no wages and no funding.

“It was about building it and proving it works, so I can show I’m in it for the long haul. I wouldn’t change it.”

The group is just the beginning of his plans, with more things lined up to help those struggling with their mental health.

Mr Jones said: “We’re already in talks to have a crisis hub, where we will have a vehicle on the road to go out because sometimes you just need to talk for an hour. We would do that instead of sending people to A&E, because we could de-escalate it, so they aren’t being passed about.”

Mr Jones has teamed up with another organisation Talk About It Mate, to help run the sessions.

Founder and trainee counsellor Mike Richard says he is pleased to be working alongside Bridging Gap to bring his format to Wigan.

He said: “This is the first time we have done a collaboration like this, which is really exciting because it is the way to reach more people. I’ve known of Kieran for a while.

“I attended one of his first ever groups and I got a very good impression of him, he’s got a lot of integrity.

“Kieran has become a really good friend, and you can see the impact he can have. His main skillset is one on one support, which he is really good at. We don’t do exactly the same thing and that’s why we complement each other.

Mr Richard believes these types of groups are crucial when tackling mental health.

“It’s important we don’t let people slip through the net, and give people more options.

“A lot of the peer support can come from outside the sessions. There’s loads of different ways to help, you just need to signpost people in the right direction.

“It’s the perfect time to do this with things opening up, people want to get

there.

“There is a lot of media led stuff, but for me it’s about actually doing the work.

“Once we have said ‘It’s okay not to be okay,’ we need to follow that up with a place for them to go.

“While there are always things that are different about each other, we focus on what unites us.

“Everyone can get something from these groups.

“It’s not an us and them thing.”

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