EnglishWelsh

History of cavamh

How we began

 

Cavamh has been in existence since 1991, when, as the South Glamorgan Mental Health Development Project, it was funded under the first mental Illness Strategy of 1989.

Initially operating as part of Intervol, and then the Vale Council for Voluntary Services, Cardiff & Vale Mental Health Development Project became an independent charity in June 2000 and changed its status to a company limited by guarantee and its name to Cardiff & Vale Action for Mental Health (cavamh) in March 2013.

From 1997 until 2007-08 the Project administered the Mental Health Small Grants Fund on behalf of the Mental Health Forum.

 

 

And of course some things happen regularly and get little or no mention – co-ordination of World Mental Health Day Events, including over the years events at the Senedd and information stalls at Riverside and Barry markets, our networks and meetings – the Mental Health Forum (and now it’s sub groups), Carers Involvement Group, Reps Support Network – through which so much of our work is done.

 

 

Timeline

Development Support

  • 2018-22: cavamh co-ordinated the Dementia Friendly Communities
    Small Grants Fund on behalf of the Cardiff and Vale Regional
    Partnership Board, to enable community groups to embed local
    initiatives.
  • 2022/23: cavamh co-ordinated the Winter Wellbeing Small Grants fund to support
    peer led group wellbeing initiatives.

Sefyll was our Adult Mental Health involvement project which operated until 31st August 2022. It focused on:

  • Involving people in the running, planning and development of the mental health services they use.
  • Working with organisations to develop involvement within their services.
  • Supporting the development of service user initiatives.
  • Training/retraining and skills building.

Many people saw Sefyll as an opportunity to influence policy and practice at a senior level. It’s gave them the chance to identify and influence decision makers. Others saw it as a way to gain an understanding of services beyond those with which they are normally in direct contact.

Meeting other service users with a common understanding provided some people with a sense of ‘camaraderie’. While others felt that being involved gave them a building (or re-building) of confidence and even ‘a purpose in life’.

Goodbye And Thank You From Sefyll

 

 

 

Nexus was our Older Persons Mental Health Involvement project which operated until 31st August 2022 . Nexus was set up in Cardiff and the Vale to provide support and resources to older people and armed forces veterans who access mental health services including those living with dementia and their carers.

Nexus gave the opportunities for older people to:

  • gain an understanding of services available to them as a service user or carer;
  • make new friends with other service users and carers;
  • build confidence in speaking out;
  • use their experiences to positively influence mental health services in Cardiff and the Vale.

Sharing insights and experiences and feeding them back to service providers, means that future services can be changed to suit the needs of those who use them. This in turn makes the services better for everyone.

Goodbye And Thank You From Nexus

 

 

We are hugely proud of all that has been achieved through the Sefyll and Nexus projects; in particular, we appreciate and are grateful to all the staff past and present that have worked on the projects over the years, our members and supporters, our service user representatives, and not forgetting our volunteers.

Thank you to everyone who was a part of this journey with us, we could not have continued to achieve so much without you.

Involvement services will continue to be provided via Adferiad/Caniad 

Below you will find a timeline of some of our notable acheivements and activities.

Skip to content