NSFT team fundraising for a Voyage to Recovery
Service users and staff from a Suffolk mental health community team will be setting sail in the spring as part of a Voyage to Recovery around the British Coast.
The group, from Suffolk Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP), will be sailing 208 miles from 13-18 April on the first leg of the voyage.
This week, they have launched a fundraising appeal for the adventure, which is organised by The Cirdan Sailing Trust with EIP teams across the country, each sailing a leg of the circumnavigation of the British coast.
Sailing adventure therapy aims to empower service users and reduce stigma and self-stigma, encouraging sailors to re-discover dreams that may have been become buried under psychosis.
Staff and service users will be learning new skills side by side, and past crews have found that exposure to challenges and overcoming them in a supportive team environment has led to sailors returning home with improved self-confidence and sense of achievement.
A radical shift of environment and inspiration from nature led an EIP service user who sailed in 2023 to summarise their experience: “I learnt that it is a beautiful world and life is worth living.”
The team needs to raise a total of £7,875 for the voyage, with £1000 already in the bag, and has set up a Just Giving page linked to NSFT’s charitable funds for £7000. The team also plans to arrange fun events and sponsorship activities.
The 10 service users, supported by five members of staff, will join the crew aboard the 22m yacht Faramir, sailing, socialising and cooking while on board under the guidance of the Cirdan team.
Kate Parkes, Early Intervention in Psychosis Service Lead, based at Wedgwood House, Bury St Edmunds, said. “We are a county-wide team so people will join a crew from all over Suffolk. We will all meet up and get to know each other in the coming months so that by the time the sailing comes they will have spent time together and can work as a crew.”
The service users and staff taking part will receive a Royal Yachting Association “Start Yachting” certificate.