Salama Leeds work to share information and resources to churches across Leeds supporting those affected by self harm and/or eating disorders. Their primary vision is that “Leeds will be a place where many people experience healing, restoration and freedom from self-harm, depression and/or eating disorders” and for Leeds to be “a place where it is easy to access safe places to receive support”.
Salama has just created a new resource aimed at improving access to specialist support for those affected by self-harm and eating disorders across Leeds. The resource is a compilation of the different support options available, making it easier to find relevant support for those who need it.
In the early days of Salama, Dan Chadwick, leader of Mosaic Church in Beeston, commented, “Thank you, what you are looking at will provide a valuable contribution to our church, the city of Leeds and perhaps beyond.” And since then Salama have achieved just that. Where initially Salama resources were targeted at church communities, other agencies have also been interested in the work that Salama are doing, and they are now partnering with secular agencies both locally and nationally.
The new resource has seen Salama partner with Leeds City Council to maximise the availability of the resource, which is now available through the Leeds City Council website. The information is organised into a clear table giving details of individual organisations and the services they offer and how to contact them. The information includes details of more specialised support available to those in crisis, and also services aimed particularly at young people.
Abbe Smith from the Salama team explains:
“As the motivation, intention and underlying root causes of self-harm are wide ranging, treatment and recovery paths will look different for each person. So we created a resource that would enable people to have a clear list of a range of the specialist support options available locally.”
This new resource is a huge and exciting step forward for Salama as they begin to expand their work to reach more groups across Leeds and are able to build connections across support services to better equip and support those in need of help.
Charlotte Hanson, (Health Improvement Specialist for Emotional Health and Well Being at Leeds City Council) welcomed the new resource saying, “It’s vitally important that people are provided with the right information about how to access help when they need it. This directory is a useful resource which contributes to the wide ranging work taking place to reduce self harm rates in the city.”
Launched in August of this year the resource is still relatively new but the hope is that more people will become aware of the support options available, and it will become a well-known and recognised point of reference.
The resource can be found at www.leeds.gov.uk/salama and will be updated regularly in order to provide consistent care and information for those looking for the support offered. For further information on the work that Salama does please see their blog at www.salamafreedom.com or e-mail leeds.salama@gmail.com.
