Our Response to Coronavirus We started 2020 -2021 during a UK wide lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We had already put into place a series of measures to ensure the safety of our staff and those using our services. We knew that the Coronavirus pandemic would disproportionally affect people with mental health needs. In response to this we quickly moved our support services online and created a ‘Virtual Front Door’ where people could access the support they needed. Our services teams worked tirelessly to ensure appropriate systems were in place so that we could respond to the emerging themes. • More than half of adults (60% of those over 25) and three quarters of young people (74% of those aged 13-24) said that their mental health had worsened during the period of lockdown restrictions, from early April to mid-May 2020. • Loneliness has been a key contributor to poor mental health. Feelings of loneliness have made nearly two thirds of adults’ and over three quarters of young people’s mental health worse during lockdown. 18-24 year olds are the most likely to see loneliness affect their mental health. • People do not feel entitled to seek help, and have difficulty accessing it when they do. 1 in 3 (34%) adults and 1 in 4 young people (26%) did not access support during lockdown because they did not think that they deserved support. (Mind - The Mental Health Emergency - How has the Coronavirus pandemic impacted on our mental health, 2020)
Covid-19 support social media graphics targetting people across Cwm Taf Morgannwg
In response to this, we released a series of social media campaigns encouraging people across Cwm Taf Morgannwg to get in touch with us if they needed mental health support. All our social media campaigns included mobile numbers of specific members of staff for people to speak to someone directly. Everyone who got in touch was offered a ‘what matters’ conversation, from this point people were able to access our services.
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