Syston MADS Group

As a lot of people may be unaware, Syston has its own Mental Health support group called MADS. It stands for Mental health, Anxiety and Depression Support.
The group is run by locals Bev and Deanna Johnson, Georgina and Lillie Mae Blount, this team keep everything running behind the scenes. They also have other volunteers to help them during the sessions and they are always looking for people who want to volunteer.
They take time out of their own lives to run this group, which is open every Wednesday morning, 10am till 12pm at the Syston Brookside WMC and members pay £1 towards their teas and coffees every week to help fund the group.
The idea started based on a simple coffee morning, but they wanted it to be more than that. They wanted people to have somewhere safe to go to, whether they are suffering with Mental Health or simply just felt lonely. They are not medical professionals, but they use their own experiences to help assist people they best way they can, and every volunteer has a variety of experiences with Mental Health. Bev also has a Level two Counselling Skills qualification which gives her that slight upper hand in being able to help more people. Although, she isn’t a counsellor, it gives her that level of knowledge to understand and help more people. They are in touch with multiple healthcare professionals that they can signpost people to. Think of it as the middle ground between realising someone needs help and getting that professional help they need.
They try their best to come up with ideas to help keep people’s brains busy and to even make them laugh. They have had guests come in and speak to the group too including the Leicestershire Police, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue, Hypnotherapists, Warm Homes and Pete Lewin Newfoundland’s.
They regularly have a guy called John bring down some animals for a bit of Animal Therapy too which is very popular. They get everyone taking part in Craft Days, Quizzes, Board Game Days and occasionally some Bingo too. They are always trying to think of something new for the members and they take great pride in this group. They have even taken their members on a canal trip with The Baldwin Trust to give them some new scenery and something new to look forward to.
They have faced several challenges that have given them concerns about the existence of the group, one being the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to the nature of the group and what they provided, they were still allowed to continue the group whilst adhering to COVID Guidelines. After all their challenges, they still managed to pull through and are still running today.
What these ladies have achieved is nothing short of amazing, and it’s a group that the community of Syston really needs and we would like to thank them for what they are doing for the community, and we hope that their group will succeed much more than it already is doing.
If you are interested in attending this group or volunteering, you can find their contact details in the directory of the Stn.