Did you know that one in every four people have a mental illness at some point in their lives? That means most of us will have a close friend or loved one affected by mental ill health during our lifetime.

As well as the more serious conditions, this can also mean any number of common problems. A mother who has suffered from post-natal depression, for example, a student who has been given medication for exam stress, or someone who has been off work with anxiety – they have all had a mental illness.

And now you can have a real say over the mental wellbeing of people in Waveney.

Your local NHS mental health trust is applying to become an NHS Foundation Trust. This is a new type of Trust which is accountable to the people it serves rather than being under central Government control.

We’ll still be part of the NHS – but better! And we need 6,000 public members.

If you share our vision of helping those with mental illness reclaim their lives, then we hope you will become a member to influence the services we provide.

Membership won’t cost you anything and you can choose how involved you wish to be, from just receiving newsletters to sitting on influential committees and helping choose our staff. As a member, you can help us shape our future by:

• Telling us what your community needs and giving us ideas about how we can make things better

• Electing governors and helping them plan, develop and monitor our services

• Lobbying the bodies which hold the purse strings to ‘buy’ the services you want

We shall send you information about the Trust and hold special events for members – some may be purely for fun, while others will be to tell members more about the services we provide and to promote social inclusion for our service users.

If you live in Waveney and are over 11-years-old, please consider becoming a member.

To join, just give us a call (01603-421494)

Email us on [email protected]

or download a membership application form from our

website: www.nwmhp.nhs.uk

We look forward to meeting you!