Travellers Interactive Project
Friends, Families and Travellers has an Outreach Team working in East and West Sussex supporting Gypsies and Travellers. We have 2 Well-being and Mental Health Outreach Workers who support Gypsies and Travellers to access services and advocate on their behalf.
Since the Spring of 2012 to February 2013 the FFT Outreach Team has visited unauthorised encampments 92 times in different locations across Brighton .
During these visits we talked about various issues relating to health including getting appointments with the Doctors Surgery or the Hospital, and understanding health issues. We spoke about how stress and depression can have an impact on many aspects of people’s lives and explored options of how to manage these issues.
We also made a special visit to the Horsdean Transit Site on World Mental Health Day in October 2012 to promote well-being and accessing health services. We gave out cotton bags with leaflets on health and well-being and had informal chats with the residents about their lives and health.
We took up cameras and the Travellers took their own photos and here are some of the things the Gypsies and Travellers were saying:
A little Traveller boy says what makes him happy:
“my dog and my trailer!”
The young people were given a camera to take photos of the site. They loved showing us the photos and talking about what was in them.
By visiting sites we are able to talk to people about accessing health services. One of our clients has been able to access the secondary care she needed for bowel and kidney problems, and is also now going to counselling to help deal with her depression. This Traveller said:
“I’ve had lots of help with my health since I came to Brighton , everyone’s been really nice and helpful – not like most other places where they don’t care about Travellers”
Another Traveller we support with her mental health issues said:
“I wouldn’t have been able to go to counselling without someone from Friends, Families and Travellers helping me because I was frightened that they would judge me and say I was mental”
During our visits we were also able to tell Gypsies and Travellers about the services offered at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project. Since then some of our clients have been using the IT facilities at the centre to go online and check their emails and network with other members of the travelling communities elsewhere.
Gypsies and Travellers are now increasing their use of the benefit advice service at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project, which is invaluable to those that do not read or write and so have difficulties understanding their benefits letters.
If you are a Gypsy or Traveller and want information or support about well-being or mental health please call us on 01273 234777. If you urgently need to speak to someone in relation to your mental health please call either the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (24-hour helpline) or MIND on 0300 123 3393.
If you are a Gypsy or Traveller and want information or support about well-being or mental health please call us on 01273 234777. If you urgently need to speak to someone in relation to your mental health please call either the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (24-hour helpline) or MIND on 0300 123 3393.
