The Mental Health Foundation says the new Prisoner Correspondence Network will benefit both the mental health of prisoners and those who are in correspondence with them. “Fostering connection, building friendship and offering support are really good for our mental health,” says Mental Health Foundation Chief Executive Shaun Robinson. “We think this is a great initiative. LGBTI people are more likely to experience mental distress for a number of reasons, but one of the key factors is that they are more likely to feel isolated and excluded.” The new initiative pairs incarcerated people from the LGBTI community with people from the LGBTI community who are on the outside in the hopes to provide LGBTI prisoners with friendship, support, writing practice and personal expression free from judgement following concerns about the welfare of queer and especially trans prisoners. Robinson says “We also know that many people are likely to experience poor mental health in prisons – they are not environments set up to foster positive mental health and wellbeing.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 29th July 2016 - 10:32am