Being Alongside

This year’s annual conference explored different ways that churches and other community groups can effectively ‘be alongside’ those experiencing mental health challenges.

Drawing on the rich experience of our affiliate groups, the gathering enjoyed stimulating presentations from various examples of community-based pastoral support, and lots of opportunities to chat about how these beacons of good practice could help inspire other such projects.

More than 30 supporters of Being Alongside gathered in the wonderful setting of St Peter’s, Battersea, at the heart of the Winstanley Estate.

The day began with an opening address by Dr Larry Culliford – Being Alongside’s new Patron. Larry reflected on his experience as a psychiatrist, in particular in training new practitioners to respond attentively to the needs of their patients. Larry stressed the importance of ‘being’ rather ‘doing’; and of sitting in true company with those who are suffering. He reflected on the role of spirituality as part of the human experience, and the value of meditative practice.

Our annual conference this year will focus on different ways we can ‘be alongside’ those in need – with examples from across the charity’s affiliated organisations and beyond.

The free event will feature guest speakers including:

• Dr Larry Culliford, Co-Founder of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group
• Canon Andrew Wilson, Chair of Croydon APCMH

The event takes place on Saturday 9 March 2024, beginning at 11.00am and finishing at around 3.00pm. Our venue will be St Peter’s Church Hall on Plough Road in Battersea, just a few minutes’ walk from Clapham Junction stations (Grant Road exit, then down right down Plough Road towards the Thames).

We’ve revised and updated our set of five “action sheets” which provide valuable advice and information based on the experience our local groups and affiliates have gained over many years.

If you are considering setting up a drop-in session or befriending scheme, or working to make your community group or place of worship more welcoming for people who are in mental distress, we hope you will find them useful.

Summer 2023

Our summer issue of Being Alongside magazine is out, with a cover featuring the theme of “setting free”.

We begin by paying a grateful tribute to our late patron Professor Andrew Sims, who died in November last year, and Jamie Summers reflects on a thought-provoking afternoon of conversation with the distinguished professor a few years ago.

Ben Wilson introduces our new grant scheme for local drop-ins, with a special focus on helping to get new projects off the ground.

We thank outgoing trustees Miriam Reyes, Marissa Lawingco and Stafford Cunningham for their service to our association over a combined total of nearly 20 years.

Continuing our series exploring organisations with similar aims to ours, we meet Befriending Networks, among whose members is our affiliate Battersea Befriending Network.

Our administrator Lucy Roose, a priest with a passion for compassion, tells us about how something as simple as a table can signify something rather special.

The second half of this issue features content from “Setting Free”, the conference we held last Spring with a focus on the inter-related topics of addiction, prison life and mental health. Dr Paul McLaren gives us the medical view of the latest analysis and trends in the area of additions; counsellor Tess tells us how Alcoholics Anonymous enables her to be a better person, and outlines what rehab owes to AA; Revd Jonathan Aitken, a chaplain at HMP Pentonville, entertains and enlightens with the lessons he learned since becoming the first cabinet minister since Tudor times to be jailed; and custodial manager Neil Fraser introduces Pentonville’s innovative Neurodiverse Unit.

Our magazine is freely available to all digitally. If you would like to enjoy it in glossy paper form, you are warmly encouraged to become one of our supporters.

On Saturday 11 March, more than 40 people gathered at The Charterhouse in central London for the third conference organised by Being Alongside since the start of 2022.

The day focused on the inter-related topics of substance addiction, mental health and prison life, and we were pleased to welcome a range of expert guest speakers to help explore our subject.

Delegates heard from experienced psychiatrist Dr Paul McLaren about the current medical approach to major substance addictions – chief among them, alcohol dependency – and about recent updates to the international classification system, which guides healthcare professionals in making diagnoses. We also heard about the remaining gaps in medical knowledge about the nature of addictions and their treatment.

We are pleased to announce that our next event is taking place in spring, focused on the related topics of substance addiction, mental health and prison life.

With guest speakers:
• Revd Jonathan Aitken, Prison Chaplain at HMP Pentonville
• Dr Paul McLaren, Consultant Psychiatrist , Priory Group
• Another healthcare professional working in private psychiatry

The event will take place in the wonderful surroundings of The Charterhouse in central London (close to Barbican and Farringdon stations, at Charterhouse Square, EC1M 6AN) on Saturday 11 March 2023, beginning at 11.00am and finishing by 3.00pm.

Winter 2022/23

The Winter 2022/23 issue of Being Alongside, available free here digitally as well as in glossy paper magazine form to our supporters, is both inward- and outward-looking.

Catching up with comings and goings within the Being Alongside family, we meet our new chair Ben, and say thanks to key figures retiring from their posts, as well as a respectful and grateful farewell to the man who was said to have saved our assocation.

Looking outwards, in the first of a series looking at the many other wonderful organisations with similar aims to ours, we find out about Kintsugi Hope, a charity that’s seeding wellbeing groups throughout the UK.

This issue’s first-person testimony is provided by Michael Rothwell, who asks: “What is mental illness like to Everyman?”

And our long read is a transcription of a fascinating talk given at one of our conferences earlier in the year by Philip Bacon, centred on the “delicate and difficult” task of exploring spiritual wellbeing in a clinical setting.

Members gathered at The Charterhouse in central London on 21st May 2022, for a day-long conference exploring questions of diversity and inclusion in relation to faith and mental health.

The event also included Being Alongside’s ‘Annual General Meeting’ – though in fact, the Charity Commission had approved the organisation’s change of legal status to a Charity Incorporated Organisation just days before, which means only the trustees need to attend and vote at these formal meetings in future.

Our two guest speakers stimulated much thought and discussion with their talks about the Church’s relationship with two broad groups of identity: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities; and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Saturday 21st May 2022
11am to 3pm
The Charterhouse, Barbican, London EC1M 6AN

With the theme of “Being Alongside Everyone”, our Spring conference on will explore the relationship between mental health and spirituality, with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

It will be an opportunity to discuss how faith groups can support the mental health of individuals from traditionally marginalised groups.

Speakers include:

• Canon Ann Clarke, Preacher at the Charterhouse, London
• Revd Joseph Fernandes, Lead Chaplain for Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller Communities, London Diocese

The conference will be following by our Annual General Meeting (starting at 2.15pm).

Refreshments provided. Sandwich lunch available (donation requested).

This event is free to attend and open to all.

To book your place please contact Lucy Roose, charity administrator, via admin@beingalongside.org.uk or 07496 909828