Fighting to Talk
Friday, January 20, 2012
British Forces Broadcasting Service supports pioneering military support.
Well over 1,500 serving personnel, veterans and their families have joined www.bigwhitewall.com for free, since its launch to the Armed Forces community mid Sept 2011, following funding from Help for Heroes and the Department of Health. Big White Wall is an online community available 24/7, provided in partnership with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It provides people with a safe, anonymous space to share what’s troubling them, with no fear of stigma.
Clearly, the volume of new joiners demonstrates there has been a longstanding need for a safe, anonymous space for our serving men and women to share what's troubling them and to seek help with no fear of stigma. In recognition of this and in support of www.bigwhitewall.com BFBS TV has produced an information film to raise awareness of the service with the Armed Forces community: http://www.bfbs.com/radio/article/big-white-wall
On Big White Wall, members talk anonymously to others who may have gone through similar experiences, and get brief counselling support from Wall Guides (counsellors). Members can share what’s on their mind in ‘Talkabouts’ with the community, or in a one-to-one with another member or Wall Guide. They can also express themselves using art by creating ‘Bricks’ to say how they feel in images and words. This combined with peer and professional support leads to 95% of members reporting improved wellbeing and 73% sharing an issue for the first time.1
Clinical staff from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust provides support for the Wall Guides who moderate content on the site. This support includes training, role coaching and professional mentoring on a variety of mental wellbeing topics. The Tavistock and Portman team also provides assistance in carrying out research and evaluation for this project.
Matthew Patrick, CEO of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Ease and equity of access are essential in enabling people to make use of mental health and wellbeing services when they are in need. The Big White Wall delivers exactly that.”
One member of Big White Wall, a soldier, who wishes to remain anonymous said: “I feel that the support given by Big White Wall is fantastic. You are not judged and you can be yourself. Most of us are good at hiding our feelings. This is the only place I have felt comfortable in expressing myself.”
Common issues facing our serving personnel and veterans raised on Big White Wall include fear of deployment in war zones, difficult experiences and memories of war, post-traumatic stress disorder, concerns for their families whilst serving overseas, injury and disability, drug and alcohol use.
Avoidance of stigma for anyone experiencing psychological distress is vital, not least our serving personnel and veterans, who may not use existing offline services as Dr Andrew Murrison MP highlighted this in his ‘Fighting Fit’ report on veterans in October 2010. Dr Murrison flagged the importance of interventions acceptable to a population accustomed to viewing itself as mentally and physically robust and described Big White Wall as a ‘pioneering online early intervention service’.
To join, serving men and women, veterans and their families simply log on to www.bigwhitewall.com and click on the relevant section to them. Support Big White Wall on Facebook now www.facebook.com/bigwhitewall and follow via Twitter @bigwhitewall1
For more information please contact:
Emma Heath, Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, eheath@tavi-port.nhs.uk
Sharon Makin, Head of Media, Big White Wall 07918108195 sharon@bigwhitewall.com
Notes to Editors
Spokespeople available for interview
1 Big White Wall Independent Review
About Big White Wall
BWW operates within a governance framework jointly developed with clinicians at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (TPFT). All Wall Guides are supervised and trained by clinicians from TPFT. Big White Wall is a community of people who are experiencing common mental health problems who are supported to self-manage their own mental health.
Big White Wall has supported 6500 people in the last two years and has been commissioned to support a further 7000 people by a range of healthcare and other organisations.
Big White Wall's awards include: Guardian Public Services Awards 2010 – Winner ‘Transformation Award’; eGovernment National Awards – Finalist; HSJ Awards 2010, Innovation in Mental Health – Finalist ; NHS Health and Social Care Awards, Mental Health and Wellbeing 2010 – Finalist; National eWell-Being Awards 2010 – Finalist; Media Guardian Award 2009 for Innovation in Community Engagement - Winner
About the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
• The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a high performing mental health trust, which specialises in Training and Clinical services. The Trust services are focused on psychological, social and developmental approaches to understanding and treating emotional ill health and to promoting mental wellbeing. It has a national and international reputation based on excellence in service delivery and clinical innovation, and high quality clinical training and workforce development.
• Mental Health Network NHS Confederation Report on Big White Wall: http://www.nhsconfed.org/Documents/MHN_Case_study4.pdf
