MENTAL HEALTH
Below: The Solace Centre in West Ealing
Service user Tyron Barnett chatting
with a recovery worker
Natasha
Wing
the new
centre
was well
received
by a sea
of 140
smiling faces.
Councillor
Hitesh Tailor, Ealing
Council’s cabinet member
for health and adults’ services, said:
“The new purpose-built building will
give current and future users much
needed support.”
‘LONELINESS IS A KILLER’
Natasha Wing has been going to
Solace for 15 years. She has been
diagnosed with borderline personality
disorder – a condition that she believes
was first triggered by
personal traumas as a child.
“Solace has become my
second home and very
much become my
safety net,”
she said. “It
has done
so much
for me in
dealing
with day-
to-day
living and
the stresses
and strains
of life.
“We help
each other.
Peer support is
so important. And it
gives you social contact you
might not otherwise have. Loneliness
is a killer.”
work and do not have that kind of daily
routine that brings you together with
other people. And if you don’t have a
routine or a reason to be somewhere,
it is not good for your mental health.
The staff also know me really well now
and can pick up on signs if I am getting
manic or a little too high. If I feel
wobbly, I can use them as a touchstone
and then do something about it.“
Tyron Barnett has been attending
Solace for 16 years. He said: “This is a
family to me – a big family of people
from different places. We share each
others’ problems and look out for each
other. And you can knock on the door
and talk to staff any time.”
Read the full story at
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/
features/solace
‘THIS IS A FAMILY TO ME’
Another member of Solace who
has been going there for 15 years is
Dympna Bolger, who lives with bi-polar.
“Solace is not just about having a
laugh and a cup of tea; it is much more
than that,” she said. “A lot of us don’t
Bottom right: Councillor Tailor opening the centre on World Mental Health Day
around ealing February 2018
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