Karrinyup Men's Shed Email Bulletin 30 October 2020

From: Karrinyup Men's Shed

To: Karrinyup Community Men's Shed members

Access and Inclusion in the Shed – A Men's Health Initiative

Members may recall that this project was commenced in February 2020, when, with the support of a Connect Groups Grant, we retained the services of Occupational Therapist, Melissa Hitchcock of Yellow Door Therapy Services.

At that time, members were invited to contribute to discussion sessions which were than interrupted by our shed closure due to the pandemic. Melissa's work was concluded via a number of Zoom hook-ups with members on line.

Melissa's final report summarises the work of the project and the findings of the consultation period, with recommendations going forward.

Many will find the report a positive and useful resource exploring the nature of our shed and declaring a commitment to our future men's health objectives.

A key objective of the project was to identify ways in which we could offer a more supportive and inclusive shed experience for members with support needs, both now and in the future.

Individual support needs can take on many forms, some obvious, but many are not so obvious. The shed experience may encourage men to connect with others and discuss their feelings and needs, but some will not.

Inclusion is one of the important core principles of our men's shed in that we welcome, without discrimination, men of all ages from all walks of life, cultures and backgrounds.

Our men's support objective is to provide positive experiences to promote strong mental health, overall well-being and social connection in a communal, non-threatening environment.

Work activities undertaken within the shed are a conduit to building our capacity to engage members constructively to improve their lives.

We currently have available some limited grant funds to engage Melissa for short-term, one to one, private meetings with members who feel they would benefit from some assistance in getting the most from their shed experience.

If you feel that your experience could be improved to better suit your needs, having a talk with Melissa will look at how your ideas might contribute to improving our Shed for you.

The time spent with Melissa is totally in confidence and can be arranged on your own turf.

If you would like to make a time to catch up with Melissa, please contact Richard Curry or Jeff Crookes and we will then refer your request to Melissa to make a time.

Regards to all.

Jeff Crookes, Member Services

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Earlier KCMS newsletters

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