About the Jess website area
Jess follows the experiences of a service user experiencing mental health issues and the mental health system for the first time. It follows Jess's journey providing useful information and advice on the way.
So what was the idea behind Jess?
As an organisation that has worked in mental health for many years, we have had numerous conversations with people who use services about where the best place is to find information, all in one place.
One of our managers, Simon Peat, was working in Warwickshire when a colleague, Christine Minnette, approached him about a website she had seen that depicted a journey of a postman. They both new that the idea would be a great way forward for a website dedicated to people who use mental health services or are yet to use them. They were adamant that Jess would need to represent anyone, any faith, any gender, any race or sexual orientation. They realised that the best was to do this was to form a character that could be what you wanted it to be, so people could see themselves or develop their own ideas in Jess.
From here we approached Warwickshire County Council Social Services commissioners with the idea, who agreed to fund some of the work. With the funding we were able to approach one of our employment services in Nuneaton and they suggested making the most of one of the service users skills, Sam Middleton, who was on a work placement with them in a print and design social enterprise.
Sam then took the opportunity to utilise her talented artist’s skills and produced a set of paintings that eventually formed the basis of the images you see on the website today. From here we set up a working group with our colleagues from North Warwickshire User Forum, Social Services and a carer. This working group would become responsible for the ideas and information subjects that have led to the final design.
At this point we had come to the end of the money that was given to us by Social Services and we approached Lloyds TSB Foundation Trust to see if they would further fund the site for completion. They agreed to fund us and turn it into a reality. We then approached Michael Ashby of Splash Design to put the website content together and form the basis of the mechanics. Michael, being someone who has experienced mental ill health, was a real asset to the team and made many suggestions that polished and rounded our approach and finished article.
All that was left to do, 2 years on, was to bring it back into the Rethink website suite of websites. In April 2006 Rethink were re-launching its own websites and the Jess site not only complimented them, but gave them the angle and innovation to make them a national success.
Here at Rethink, we are proud to be able to offer you this chance to experience mental health and all of it trials and tribulations from the perspective of the person who uses those services. We are also excited about the possibilities of education and information that this site will offer for carers and other professionals supporting people at home or in mental health services.
One of our managers, Simon Peat, was working in Warwickshire when a colleague, Christine Minnette, approached him about a website she had seen that depicted a journey of a postman. They both new that the idea would be a great way forward for a website dedicated to people who use mental health services or are yet to use them. They were adamant that Jess would need to represent anyone, any faith, any gender, any race or sexual orientation. They realised that the best was to do this was to form a character that could be what you wanted it to be, so people could see themselves or develop their own ideas in Jess.
From here we approached Warwickshire County Council Social Services commissioners with the idea, who agreed to fund some of the work. With the funding we were able to approach one of our employment services in Nuneaton and they suggested making the most of one of the service users skills, Sam Middleton, who was on a work placement with them in a print and design social enterprise.
Sam then took the opportunity to utilise her talented artist’s skills and produced a set of paintings that eventually formed the basis of the images you see on the website today. From here we set up a working group with our colleagues from North Warwickshire User Forum, Social Services and a carer. This working group would become responsible for the ideas and information subjects that have led to the final design.
At this point we had come to the end of the money that was given to us by Social Services and we approached Lloyds TSB Foundation Trust to see if they would further fund the site for completion. They agreed to fund us and turn it into a reality. We then approached Michael Ashby of Splash Design to put the website content together and form the basis of the mechanics. Michael, being someone who has experienced mental ill health, was a real asset to the team and made many suggestions that polished and rounded our approach and finished article.
All that was left to do, 2 years on, was to bring it back into the Rethink website suite of websites. In April 2006 Rethink were re-launching its own websites and the Jess site not only complimented them, but gave them the angle and innovation to make them a national success.
Here at Rethink, we are proud to be able to offer you this chance to experience mental health and all of it trials and tribulations from the perspective of the person who uses those services. We are also excited about the possibilities of education and information that this site will offer for carers and other professionals supporting people at home or in mental health services.
We would like to offer special thanks to:
- Sam Middleton for your beautiful artwork, enthusiasm and belief.
- Michael Ashby for your ideas, humour and courage.
- Warwickshire Social Services and the staff we worked with for their foresight and dedication to mental health services.
- Lloyds TSB Foundation for their relentless pursuit in making lives better for disadvantaged and marginalised communities.
- Chris Minnette for the idea and support.
- North Warwickshire User Forum for their support and hospitality.
- Simon Peat for the concept, his patience and turning it into a reality.
