3-minute films: How our members adapted How our members adapted A series of ten films edited by Flexible Films showcasing the ways our members used NSUN COVID-19 funding to adapt their activities through the pandemic and talking through thoughts of the future for user-led groups. Talking Sense Talking Sense is a Hearing Voices Group in London. It was founded by two people, Lauren and Janey, with personal experience of voices, visions and other unusual sensory experiences and is 100% peer volunteer led. They met in the evenings on Brick Lane in London, creating a non-medical space for 9-5 workers, students and night owls to discuss experiences of voices and visions. They start with a check-in that sets the "agenda" for the evening, so to speak, but there's no expectation to talk. Janey tells us that like many groups, they had to move online during the pandemic, and were able to do this with funding from NSUN. They found they were joined by people outside of London and connected more with people in the Hearing Voices Movement. More services have reached out to them to find out more about their group to spread the word to more people. To find out more about Talking Sense, visit www.talking-sense.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @TalkingSense_ Wish Wish is a user-led charity for women experiencing mental health difficulties in prisons, hospitals and the community. Kelly Royer, Community Link Worker, tells us that many women have found it very difficult to adapt to sudden changes brought about by lockdown, but the NSUN COVID-19 grant enabled Wish to purchase Zoom to keep their meetings and drop-in service going. On top of this, they were also able to run workshops around managing anxieties, and provided packs to women who couldn't make it to the sessions or didn't have access to IT. They're hoping to run IT sessions for women who are unfamiliar with using technology or are otherwise digitally excluded, and to set up a positive pathways project that focusses on enabling what the women they support want to achieve. Visit their website here. Adira This week we hear from Adira, a survivor-led mental health and wellbeing organisation based in Sheffield supporting Black people with mental health issues. They were able to pay for a Black therapist to do a listening training course for their peer supporters with COVID-19 funding from NSUN. Find out more about Adira by visiting their brand new website here. Taraki Taraki works with Punjabi communities to create spaces where all individuals can access mental health awareness, education, and support to better care for themselves and one-another. They aim to reshape approaches to mental health. Shuranjeet Singh, founder, tells us about how funding from the NSUN COVID-19 grant enabled Taraki to to continue their groups and engage further members of Punjabi communities in conversations about mental health through Zoom. They've also created social media assets, reports, posters, and more with a Canva subscription to enable new work with graphic design. Kuljit Brogal, LGBTQ+ Support Group Facilitator, speaks to us about how they've been able to get their website going, aiming to be a one-stop shop for LGBTQ+ Punjabi people to connect with each other. They're also now aiming to extend some groups beyond London. You can find out more about Taraki here. Traveller Pride Tyler Hatwell, founder of Traveller Pride, lets us know what additional activity they've been able to do as an NSUN's COVID-19 grantee to support their members, including training volunteers for a new phoneline and providing psychotherapy sessions to Travellers from therapists who have worked with Travellers before and have received some training from Tyler. You can find out more about Traveller Pride here. Let's Talk About Loss Beth French, Founder and Director of Let's Talk About Loss, tells us about the additional activity they've been able to carry out with money from NSUN's COVID-19 grant to extend the offer of support to bereaved 18-35 year olds. You can find out more about Let's Talk About Loss here or follow them on Twitter @talkaboutloss. Nomad Radio Mohamed Ismail and Amina Farhan, both presenters on Nomad Radio, the first Somali radio station in the UK, tell us about the work they've been able to do with the COVID-19 grant money from NSUN's COVID-19 fund. They produced three audio bytes exploring issues of mental health in the community during the pandemic, looking at the impact of things like social distancing on mental wellbeing. You can visit their website here, or follow them on Twitter: @nomadradio To see our #NSUNcovidlife film series, where members talk about their experiences of lockdown, click here. For more information relating to COVID-19 and user-led groups, click here.