Emotional and Mental Health Support with Sarah Rampton

Melanie:

Welcome to the Family Carer podcast, where we help mums, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends, anyone caring for a family member or loved one, feel supported in their role and connected to their community. This week, we're joined by Sarah Rampton, founder of In Jolly Good Company. In Jolly Good Company provides activity days for older people in Dorset, enabling them to be creative through music, song, dance, yoga, gardening and theatre. They're dementia friendly and open to all. In this episode, we're going to look at the impact that loneliness and isolation can have on people's physical and mental well-being. how creative activities can help alleviate some of these issues, and the benefits this can have for the well-being of the family carer. So if you're interested in learning more about how Sarah and the team support family carers and are using creativity to spark joy, then this episode's for you. I'm Melanie Cohen. Stay with us.

Melanie:

Hi, Sarah, how are you today?

Sarah:

Hello, I'm fine. Thanks, Melanie. Thanks for having me in.

Melanie:

You're welcome. Thank you for joining us. So welcome to the podcast for anybody that doesn't know you or hasn't heard of In Jolly Good Company before. Perhaps you can start by just giving us a brief introduction to yourself and your company.

Sarah:

Absolutely. So In Jolly Good Company is a small charity, I would say. still and we're based in Dorset and we offer Jolly Days which are creative days for people and our Step Outside allotment group and I started in Jolly Good Company about five years ago and we've been going ever since and our groups are filling up with people who want to come and connect with others and enjoy themselves.

Melanie:

Amazing, so I think perhaps we should just start by acknowledging how isolated family carers can sometimes feel and how important it is for us to normalise those conversations. I'm sure that loneliness and isolation can have a profound impact on people's wellbeing, physical and mental, which in turn can make it incredibly challenging to reach out for appropriate support. And I know that it can also sometimes be difficult to recognize that in yourself. We all like to feel like we're strong and that we're managing and that we can just keep going. And sometimes just taking a step back and seeing that you are feeling quite lonely and isolated can be a difficult thing to do. So maybe you can start by talking to us about some of the impacts that you see on people's health and well-being of loneliness and isolation.

Sarah:

Well, you know, there are studies that say that loneliness is as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or something like that. So and I think also for people, there's a huge stigma around loneliness and isolation. I think we all feel it at some point in our lives, maybe at several points in our lives. Yeah, we would feel that. And so I think it can be hard to reach out for help or to admit that you need it. But interestingly, I am getting more and more calls from people who don't have a health diagnosis, they maybe don't have dementia, but they are reaching out because they just need to get out of the house. That is how people would put it. And some people even say that they're lonely. I had a lady who phoned me yesterday, unfortunately, all the way from Southampton, who said, I saw your name in Jolly Good Company and I've just been bereaved, and that's what I need, is good company. That's a human need in all of us, no matter how old or young we are.

Melanie:

And nothing to be ashamed of.

Sarah:

Absolutely not, because absolutely all of us will feel that at some point in our lives. I can remember feeling very lonely you know, through childhood and maybe in my 20s and even when I had children, you would think that was bizarre, but it isn't. I mean, a lot of people feel very isolated at these points in their lives and carers, goodness me, You know, it can be that friendships fall away. You can't keep up social events. Maybe you're caring for someone whose behavior is a little bit less socially acceptable. Friends find that awkward. And so you don't get the invites that you used to get or that you're so busy caring that you don't have time to go to social things. So we're providing that kind of break for people that they can come to and meet people who are in a similar situation to themselves.

Melanie:

Yeah, and I guess although people may not have a medical diagnosis linked to loneliness and isolation, we see the impact that it has on how people are feeling, their health outcomes, their energy levels, their motivation, the priority that they give to looking after themselves. It can impact all of those areas, can't it?

Sarah:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're aiming to give people things to look forward to. But having said that, groups aren't for everybody. So things like your podcasts are really interesting because that's another way of keeping people connected. and maybe listening to something that they find entertaining or interesting. Not everyone wants to come to a group. But those who come, we find very often they stay for a long time, you know, throughout their their caring life, if you like, and well beyond. So we have a lot of people who come once the person they care for has gone into a home or sadly died.

Melanie:

Yeah, absolutely. So again, it's going back to normalising those conversations and making sure there isn't a stigma attached to it. And if people come along to one of your groups, it's something that they can, it's a place to make friends, to connect to other people and something that they can continue with regardless of what their caring responsibilities are now or in the future.

Sarah:

That's right. And actually, we're all doing that. So staff are doing that. We're connecting with people. The volunteer group are doing that. For some people to be involved, they need to be a volunteer, but actually they need it as much as any of the guests.

Melanie:

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah

So we all need it in some shape or form and I think through having the arts as part of our offering that gives people a real really deeper sense of you know maybe trying something new expressing themselves through singing or gentle movement and there's a lot of laughter I mean that to me is just brilliant. Someone described our jolly days as a playgroup for adults the other day, which I thought was just brilliant. And that was one of the guests where people feel free to express themselves or not. People are not forced to join in with things that they find awkward. They can sit back and relax and people get fed at our groups as well. So they feel, you know, some carers will say, oh, someone's made me a cup of tea. You've no idea how big that is for some people. To be actually made some food and presented with it, maybe a hot meal, which we have with the Friendly Food Club at our Jolly St. Giles Days. That is really essential for people. and now we're starting to do some meal deliveries in a very small way in rural East Dorset for people who can't access the Jollies and who are really struggling to get their own food.

Melanie:

Yeah, that all sounds incredible. I know that you do a lot of wonderful activities, we'll go into a bit more depth in those in a minute, but your vision in Jolly Good Company was to alleviate some of the issues through creative activities, and creativity is clearly central to what you're offering there. So can you tell us a little bit about why creativity can have that impact for people?

Sarah:

Well, because people connect with a deeper part of themselves when they're being creative, and they sometimes forget about the everyday worries. For example, we do something at the Jollies called Instant Theatre, which is a way of making a story. We enable the group to make their own story through asking them open questions. There are no wrong answers. This is critical to this because it's very liberating if people have memory problems to know that what they're going to say is completely acceptable and they can be very creative and they can make their own jokes. and they just have a ball.

Melanie:

A very accepting environment.

Sarah:

Exactly. And then we will enable them to act that play out as well. And it's absolutely hilarious. And people then are caught for a whole hour in the world of their imagination. And when you step into the world of your imagination or something helps you to do that or someone helps you to do that, you can forget for a little while about the pressures upon you. Yeah. Because very often if people are stuck at home, that's where the stress is. and to get out of the home and to get out of your conscious mind of this to-do list all the time and the stress is a brilliant thing.

Melanie:

It's power of play, isn't it? We don't play enough as adults, we lose that. And yeah, it's very powerful. And we're talking there about some of the activities that people with maybe memory issues, memory problems can take part in. So the family carers, if they come along, what do they can they bring their loved one and to participate in the activities? And then do they go away? Do they stay? Is there opportunity for other carers to connect there? Talk to us a bit about that.

Sarah:

Yeah, there's a mixture, really. I mean, it depends on when people first come. We just kind of do a very an assessment is too clinical a word. We just kind of see how people are. If they're happy to be on their own and we can meet their needs, because we're a very small staff team, we would have two, three staff, sometimes four maximum. and then a team of amazing volunteers who we train and support. But if people's needs are beyond that support, for example, if they need to take medication during their stay with us, or they need help going to the loo, or they need help with eating, then we can't provide that. We can't provide one-to-one care. In which case, a carer, and it could be a professional carer, not a family member, needs to stay with that person. If, however, they're happy to come on their own and we can support their needs and enable them to join in, that's absolutely fine. So some carers get a critical break in their day when they can go off and do their own thing for a few hours.

Melanie:

Yeah, really valuable.

Sarah:

So that can happen, but it doesn't always happen and it changes over time.

Melanie:

Yeah and as valuable as the breaks are is also we know that the best support for carers is other carers so having that opportunity to meet and talk to others even if you're not leaving the building can also be a huge support can't it?

Sarah:

Yes and I mean I think with our outdoor group that gives more space for that so it might be it's quite a big area that our plot is on so it gives chance for maybe carers to wander off and do something together yeah whilst the person that they care for is doing something with one of us maybe yeah so there's there can be distance even though they're physically at the same thing they can create distance and they can then be involved in their own activity and get a bit of time to talk to other people, like you say, who are in similar situations and gain huge support and reassurance from that.

Melanie:

Yeah, and sometimes just connecting through activities, having other conversations with different people can be an amazing rest in its own right, can't it?

Sarah:

It really can, and that goes back to what we were saying about getting out of the house. The difficulties of course with that are quite enormous sometimes with transport. Transport links aren't great, not everybody still drives, so that's another whole issue in itself.

Melanie:

Yeah, and I know that there's other organisations that can help sometimes with transport, so we're lucky in this BCP area in Dorset and that there are other voluntary groups that can sometimes help with transport so we will try and pop links in the show notes for those sort of challenges to try and overcome those barriers so as people can access the groups that you're providing. I loved actually one of the things that I saw on your website was that an evaluation report confirmed what you always suspected that attending Jolly Days has a positive impact on the well-being of guests, carers and wider family members. people make new friends, keep mentally and physically active and try new things. As a result 84% of guests feel happier and 86% feel less lonely. That's incredible.

Sarah:

I know, when those figures came out I think I had a little cry to myself because of course you don't know until you do these evaluations what the impact is. You think you're doing a good thing, you know people seem happy but when you're confronted with those figures. I mean, that is it's amazing. I'm very happy and very proud of what we're doing.

Melanie:

Absolutely. As you should be. And if your vision when you when you founded In Jolly Good Company was to alleviate some of the issues around loneliness and isolation there with that, those figures really show that you're you're hitting the mark, which is incredible.

Sarah:

Yeah. And that's what we need to continue doing. So to us, the quality of what we offer is of paramount importance. So keeping working with local musicians, actors, artists. Plus, we bring our own creative skills. Kate, who works with me, she plays the piano and sings. Annie is our head gardener. Max is our jolly ambassador so she's out there everywhere making sure people know about the jollies. So although we're a really small team we have lots of different skills and I'm from a theatre background as well so that's where the instant theatre comes from.

Melanie:

Incredible and I think also involving other local people, local creative people, other local organisations helps to build an understanding of how we can collaborate and be more inclusive for people who find it difficult to access the services that we're providing in the community. So that's another great, I guess, an arm of what you're doing there.

Sarah:

Yeah, it's really important for us to collaborate with other organisations. So, for example, Prama Life are very, you know, central to that with their offerings and they're doing a carers day. I think it's the 21st of November. So that's really important. Carers can come and see what's on offer in their area and pick up all the leaflets and meet real people. And I think at their carers day this year at the Allendale Centre, they're offering a room for people who are cared for to be engaging in activities. so that the people who are carers can go and look around and not be too worried about whether the person they look after is okay or not. Because so many carers events, you can't take the person that you care for. And I mean, it's impossible for people to do that.

Melanie:

You're already juggling day to day life, actually finding some time to leave the house alone is almost impossible for a lot of people, isn't it? Yeah. So let's talk about some of the activities. We've touched on them a little bit, but let's start by talking about your jolly good days. Tell our listeners about the activities that you provide as part of that.

Sarah:

Well, we tailor the activities according to the guests who are coming, so it's different. Every time it's different, every group is different. But we know in Blantford, they love to sing. So there's a lot of live music at Jolly Blantford, and that's what they want. Yeah. Plus, since Covid, we've added in a bit of exercise, gentle exercise. So we have a bit of dance. People don't have to join in. They can just watch if they want to. And it can be very uplifting watching dancing. It can be. And chair yoga we do with a lovely yoga teacher called Suzanne Greenwood. So, you know, we bring in specialist people sometimes according to the needs, but also the interests of people. So Jolly Wimborne, they love poetry. They're a very literary group. They love to read poetry they've written or that they've selected from published poets. And that's a beautiful thing. So we always make sure that that's part of it. So it's led by the guests. If they want something, they come and tell us what they want and within reason. we can try to find someone who will do that thing. So in Jolly St. Giles, that's where we have our lunch. It's a longer day and we maybe have a chance to go out for a walk and we have other visitors coming in. Sometimes people will bring a dog in or something like that. So it's tailored according to the needs and the interests of those people. And we're gonna have a theater company come in the spring. And the school children from just around the corner will come in as well. So we've got that. We've got more time there. So we've got more of an intergenerational thing going on when we possibly can. So each group is different and it changes over time according to what people are enjoying and what they tell us that they like.

Melanie:

So how many of those groups do you host per week? Is it set days and set places?

Sarah:

Yeah, there are. So we've got six groups all together that are up and running at the moment and they tend to meet kind of roughly every two weeks.

Melanie:

And do people tend to come every time it's on or do they?

Sarah:

They do. It's quite a regular. They do. And some people have been coming for years. I mean, previous to setting up Jollies, I work for Alzheimer's Society, running groups for them. Some of those people, I mean, I've known now for 10 years because that's what I did before this. And that's what that work, that that work and that training informed what I wanted to do with Jolly. But with Jolly, we've opened it up to more people. So it's not just people with a diagnosis of dementia. Yeah. And I feel that's critical because we're working against the stigma that is attached to memory problems and diagnosis of dementia. Yeah. Because people are getting to know each other as people. Yeah. And they're not looking at a diagnosis or a label. Nobody knows. what people's health conditions are, unless they choose to talk about it. And so it's very freeing, I think.

Melanie:

Absolutely. And the other thing that you run is Step Outside. Tell us a bit more about that. Tell us where it is, what it what it looks like, the opportunities that people have whilst they're there.

Sarah:

Well, so we have some beautiful allotments up at Kingston Lacey near Wimborne that are attached to the kitchen gardens. It's their growing spaces. So we have two and maybe soon three raised beds that people can access. And it's a fully accessible site. So anyone who's a wheelchair user could come and we have accessible toilets that are there and we can provide hot drinks and other refreshments. They absolutely love a cream tea. We're about to have pumpkin soup with cheese scones next time. I mean, that's next level with music. Sometimes we have people come and play music. Meanwhile, we're growing crops, harvesting crops. People get to take home veggies, and we talk about how to cook and prepare them. We had a friendly visit from the Friendly Food Club, and they showed us how to build our own salad, make our own dressing, and that was just utterly delicious. We have a farm school. We have Lisa from All Hallows farm school and she gave us cream tea, absolutely beautifully made. People are very well looked after there, I have to say. And they get to take the veggies home and they work as hard or not as they like. You'll see a lot of people sitting back enjoying the absolutely beautiful landscape that's there. You've got a kind of panoramic view of the kitchen gardens. It's a big sky. There's a lovely tree line, beautiful red brick Victorian buildings around. So there's a lot to look at and enjoy. And we tailor the activities according to the people who come as well.

Melanie:

So people don't need to be, you know, expert gardeners to come. They can just come along and get involved.

Sarah:

Absolutely. Well, I'm not an expert gardener, but Annie, who is our head gardener, is. She's had her hands in the soil most of her life. And so she keeps it up and running, along with our amazing volunteers at the allotment who will work all through the winter. When we close for sessions for guests, they work all winter to get it ready to open again in spring.

Melanie:

Wow. Great to benefit from all that expertise, isn't it?

Sarah:

Yeah.

Melanie:

So if people wanted to come along to any of your jolly days or to get involved in Step Outside, how do they go about doing that?

Sarah:

Well, they just literally phone or email me and then we can have a nice chat about them and their needs and where's the nearest group and spaces. Yeah. What we do is we don't charge a set fee, but we ask people if they can afford it to leave a voluntary donation in the tin. And that can be anything from a few pence to a few pounds to help us keep up and running. And that's really important. But we don't we know how hard it is for people. And I was just looking today at what the carers allowance is. £89.10 a week. So, you know, people can have real financial worries as they're caring or ill. So we're very mindful of that. We want to remain open to all. So essentially people could attend for free, but we always have a tin there in case they would like to donate.

Melanie:

OK, and then so talking about how you can make this sustainable long term, if people want to support you, how can they go about doing that?

Sarah:

Well, they could donate to us online through our website. We've got a donate button that goes straight to our local giving page. They could phone me up if they want to offer some kind of support. We've got an amazing jolly Christmas raffle at the moment with huge prizes. that my colleague Max has organised so people could buy a raffle ticket if they wanted to do that.

Melanie:

So do you do fundraising events through the year usually?

Sarah:

Yes we do, we have a jolly tea, we've got a jolly quiz coming up at the end of November, we've got all sorts of exciting things happening so people can, and a beautiful coffee morning coming up in November as well, people could just contact me, I know where all these things are happening. They can also sign up to our lovely newsletter So they can get all the updates and events of exactly what's happening at every group. So they can see where their favourite musician is performing and come to that group. I mean, how amazing is that? Yeah, brilliant.

Melanie:

Really brilliant. OK, well, we'll make sure that we pop a link in the show notes for people to be able to sign up to the newsletter. And then you also mentioned volunteers. How, if people wanted to get involved on a voluntary basis, is there opportunity for them to do that?

Sarah:

Absolutely, yes. Again, just phone me or email me and I can talk to the person about where the gaps are, you know, where we maybe need volunteers, what their role might be, what their interests are and how it would work. So it would just start with a conversation and then we would take it from there.

Melanie:

Okay, and presumably also if there are any musicians or other creative people in the local area who'd like to get involved, they'd give you a call.

Sarah:

Absolutely and you know obviously we honour their skills so we do pay our musicians as much as we possibly can and all of our artists and yoga teachers and so on and that's why I'm constantly fundraising and applying for grants and things so that we can keep the jolly show on the road.

Melanie:

Absolutely and you did say earlier that you really want to make sure that it remains a really good high quality sort of support service that you're offering for people so it sounds like you've got your work cut out but hopefully some of our listeners will be able to get involved with some of the fundraising as well to help.

Sarah:

Yeah, absolutely. I'm the point of contact for all of that.

Melanie:

Okay, Sarah, thank you. Well, we're fast running out of time. So I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to you for joining us on the podcast today. Really do appreciate it. All this wonderful information that you've shared with all of our listeners. And I really hope that if any of them feel like they want to come along or get involved with In Jolly Good Company that they'll reach out to you, but also that they'll tell other people about what you do. I think we can become quite complacent in this part of the country. We have a lot of wonderful things that are going on and I think sometimes we take them for granted. such brilliant impact that you're having on people. Loneliness and isolation is an epidemic that we're experiencing now. You know, we know that it has such profound impact on people's health and well-being, and so many people are struggling with that. So I hope that people will also, the listeners will also spread the message to other people they know that could benefit with getting involved and having a jolly good time with you.

Sarah:

Thank you, Melanie. It's been a pleasure.

Melanie:

You're welcome. So thank you for listening to the Family Carer podcast and a huge thanks to Sarah for joining us. All right, folks, remember to subscribe and share this with anyone you think needs to hear it. And finally, in 2023, a survey from Nextdoor in partnership with Marmalade Trust revealed that 85% of UK adults had experienced loneliness in the past 12 months. And almost half felt chronically lonely. So as well as Jolly Good Company, there are many other groups in the area that can support. So if you are feeling lonely, if you are feeling isolated, please know that you're not alone and please do reach out to one of us. 

Thank you.