Ilfracombe Poverty Truth Launch
On September 26th, the Ilfracombe Poverty Truth Commission gave it's opening address to assembled MP's, Devon County Council and local parties engaged in the area. These events are starting to be held around the country, and this is the first one in the Southwest. It was a sharing of stories of people with lived experience of poverty, its impact (mental health as you would guess featured heavily) and what services helped and what services could have been better with their support. Two representatives from the Devon Mental Health Alliance, Cindy, Co-Production Lead, and Phil, Community Development Lead in North Devon, were invited to participate.
Ilfracombe has consistently ranked among the poorest communities nationwide, and the Poverty Truth Commission seeks to highlight these issues. Cindy and Phil heard how, in one Ward in the town, more than 35% of children live in poverty, compared to the Devon County average of less than 1.5%.
Community Commissioners (those telling their lived experience) shared deeply moving personal stories.
The commissioners are drawn from the local area and willing to share their stories of struggles against poverty. One commissioner had suffered horrific childhood trauma; they were eventually brought under the care of a Mental Health Ward and on being released, were given a tent as accommodation. This story highlights the gap in care offered by each service involved, and how it is possible to fall through these gaps. Commissioners gathered without rancour or judgement, seeking to help solve the systemic problems that create poverty traps. One participant brought paintings depicting the road to homelessness to visually represent his experience alongside his spoken account.
Cindy reports:
“Along with the Community Commissioners, there were representatives from many areas, including the Devon and Cornwall Police commissioner, the newly elected MP, a commissioner from the ICB [integrated care board] (who has fought to put the funding in place for a number of years), local councillors, representatives from education, the VSCE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) sector, business leaders and more! I have to say it was deeply impactful and I, along with all the attendees were so moved by each of the stories. I was invited so I could support the ‘Community Commissioners’ for a post event de-brief.
The event was funded through the ICB. Sounds like something that is needed in other locations in Devon. It’s really about the effect of poverty on wellbeing, both physical and mental, so very relevant!”
"Nothing about us, without us" which is the Poverty Truth Commission's motto.
Leading up to the Truth Poverty launch, the commissioners met bi-weekly from June to be supported to write up their accounts. James Lander, the co-ordinator, (Royal Devon NHS Foundation Trust) reached out to DMHA to ask for mental health support for the group, post sessions. Cindy was able to assist by offering an hour of phone listening, which provided an opportunity to de-compress and chat through any issues that had come up as a result of the session.
The Devon Mental Health Alliance is in a co-production role alongside the Commission, supporting the focus of the commission and helping to embed learning within our communities. Social factors play a huge role in mental wellbeing, and being able to help highlight these determinants enables localities to better understand, and come together, to find informed solutions: the Commissions motto is "nothing about us, without us, is for us".