Recovery Academy launches autumn / winter term with focus on mental health access
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s (GMMH) Recovery Academy is set to kick off its autumn / winter term on 1 October 2025 in timing with the launch of World Mental Health Day on 10 October.
Whether you're seeking support for yourself or others, the Recovery Academy’s new term offers a wealth of opportunities to stay well and grow.
This year’s World Mental Health Day global theme, ‘Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies’, underscores the importance of timely support during crises and while the Academy is not a crisis service, it offers a range of courses designed to build resilience and understanding.
Among them ‘Understanding and Responding to Crises’ and ‘The True Face of Trauma: Understanding and Supporting Adversity and Trauma.’
The Academy is committed to making its resources widely accessible to service users, carers, peer mentors, volunteers, the GMMH team and staff from other organisations.
For those awaiting face-to-face courses, essential materials such as the Anxiety, Fear and Panic Information Pack and the Live Well with Pain resource pack are available on the Recovery Academy website in the self-help resources section.
To coincide with World Mental Health Day, the Academy will launch its new prospectus and host two Introduction to the Recovery Academy (HOPE) courses: one on 7 October at Start in Salford and another on 9 October at The Curve, Prestwich. The HOPE course, which stands for Health, Opportunities, Progression, Education, serves as a gateway for new students, helping them overcome barriers and begin their recovery and learning journey.
Recognising the therapeutic power of creativity, the Academy is introducing three new courses this term:
- Introduction to Creative Writing for Mental Wellbeing
- Introduction to Improv. for Mental Wellbeing
- Neuro-graphics for Mental Wellbeing
These additions are part of more than 65 face-to-face courses offered across the GMMH footprint. Any member of the public, aged 18 or over, can register as a Recovery Academy student.
Claire Watson, Head of Service User / Carer Experience and Engagement, said: “While the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day is access to services in emergencies and the Recovery Academy is not an emergency service, it is recognised that empowering people to develop their knowledge and skills in maintaining good mental health can prevent people reaching that point and avoid the need to access emergency services at all.”
Service users, carers, family and friends must register as Recovery Academy students to access resources and book courses.
For more information go to the Recovery Academy website.
For any questions or queries, the Recovery Academy team can be contacted by email on recoveryacademy@gmmh.nhs.uk or phone on 0161 938 5122.
